We're Celebrating!

No, I'm not talking about the Badgers' win yesterday. It's much bigger than that! We're celebrating our "new" little baby, with a perfectly formed heart, who is now eating without the ng tube!!!  I have to admit, I was skeptical that she would take off so quickly. The cardiologist had predicted this, but I'm still just in awe that it just "clicked" and she's eating like a pro. We had been working on making Erin's eating sessions positive again to regain the association of pleasure with eating. It took just a few days and she was no longer crying at the sight of her bottle. I would sing to her, cuddle her and rock her. The kids would get her to laugh by making goofy faces and sounds. And we all prayed.  God intervened in the strangest way, proving He does in fact have a sense of humor :) Here's what happened: Friday night Bridget was sitting on Erin's ng tube, but didn't know it. Eileen came along and picked up Erin.....and out came the ng tube! Ouch! Because the reinserting of the ng tube is traumatic, we took a leap of faith and decided to leave it out overnight. At 10 pm, she took only 1 1/2 oz.  At 2 am, she woke up on her own (for the first time ever!) and took 2 1/2 oz. At 6 am and 10 am, she took 3 oz each. All day yesterday, she took her bottle, better and better, each time. By last night, she was eating like a pro, guzzling it down like she'd been doing it her whole life. At first, Bridget and Eileen were in a bit of trouble for not being more careful around Erin. However, by last night we were joyfully thanking them. :) Yippee!!!

"When is Our Tooth Fairy Going to Retire?"

Yes, these were the words I recently heard from Teresa. Aidan lost his first two teeth about a month ago and has been waiting patiently ever since for the Tooth Fairy to arrive.  Thankfully, Aidan Andrew has a little bit of his uncle Andy in him, whom he is named after. He's a cool cat and is rarely demanding. With this personality, and being number five of seven, he sometimes just does a lot of waiting, without complaining. It doesn't help the matter that he lost the first tooth and swallowed the second.  And of course life has been extremely busy for his Tooth Fairies, and for our family in general, with Erin's heart surgery. But Teresa has a point. This Tooth Fairy needs to either get the job done, or pass the job onto somebody else. I think Aidan will be writing a note to this incompetent Tooth Fairy today and his patient waiting will be rewarded!

Here's Aidan with his new teeth already coming in...



And speaking of Erin's heart surgery, she continues to heal very well. Her scar is already almost healed, and she's sleeping less and has more energy in general. She's just a happier kid. One thing she has started doing more and more is laughing. It has taken us by surprise; she'll just have a good belly laugh, out of the blue, for no apparent reason. I think she's just letting us know that she feels so much better! We are also making slow but steady progress in the eating department. She no longer cries at the sight of her bottle, but this retraining could take some time. The cardiologist explained to us that before Erin's heart repair, Erin's feeding sessions were the equivalent of walking a brisk five mile hike. As you can imagine, asking her to do that several times a day has built up a very negative association with eating. It was just too much work. Having the ng tube helped a lot, but now we have to work on making eating a positive experience again. So, we sing to her and make her very comfortable while she's eating, with lots of praise.  It is working. Although she's still only taking up to 1 1/2 oz per feeding, more importantly, she's enjoying it for the most part now. We stop at the first sign of distress. I'm hoping that in another couple of weeks, and once she's off her heart meds, we'll see even more improvements. We'd still appreciate any prayers for this intention!

Here's Grandma McKillen, holding Erin before she went home. Both grandmothers were an incredible help while we were in the hospital. Thank you both!!

More Homecoming Photos

Erin's Home!

Moira, Eileen and Mike arrived to pick us up at the hospital on Monday afternoon. What a happy day!

Eileen and Moira waiting for Erin to wake up...






When we arrived home we were greeted by this sweet welcome banner (ahem....WHO is their spelling teacher, anyway?!)

A picture is worth a thousand words. Aidan, Teresa and Molly Grace are thrilled that Erin is home...



Bridget finally gets her turn to hold Erin...



Hail, hail, the gang's all here... Thank you for all your prayers and kindness!  (Molly Grace is not wearing lipstick....her lip was burned on a hot pan).

She's Coming Home (Finally!!!) {Moira}

My dad came home last night only to be called back to pick up my mom and Erin, early this afternoon. We (a couple kids and my dad) are leaving for Milwaukee to pick up Erin and my mom any minute now. This morning Erin had some final tests; all went well. WE ARE SO EXCITED TO SEE THEM!!!

Again, BIG thanks to everyone for all the prayers and support!!!

Erin Update 7

Erin's doing very well and improving so much each day! She has her smile back now and is playing with toys, but she is still a little tired. We're still struggling with the eating issue so she'll be coming home with the ng tube. Hopefully, as her strength comes back, so will her ability to eat! She is now down to just one IV line which is not being used. She's ready to come home, which should be tomorrow. She'll have one last sedated echo, EKG and chest x-ray, and if all goes well, as we're expecting it to, we'll be heading home!

Puckering up to give you all a kiss!

Relaxing in the crib.



Erin even had visitors!  Our long-time friends, the Wiebersches, who live in the Milwaukee area stopped in.  It was SO nice to see them.

Mary Rose and Samantha

Our Godchildren, Joey and Michael, and big brother Josh

Erin Update 6

I thought I'd give a little update on Erin now that I've had a little sleep myself :) She had a very good and restful night. There has been no needed morphine in the last 36 hours or so and she's healing fast. From a cardiac standpoint, she continues to do awesome and has had no setbacks at all. She had a small amount of fluid in her lungs yesterday morning but a little diuretic fixed that. She's much more alert and smiled for the first time since surgery.

We were so thrilled that she did so well with feedings on the first post-op day! Unfortunately, we had a setback yesterday, and she did not take any feedings all day. We're just not sure why. It could be nausea, or it could be that she just wasn't hungry with all the IV fluids. She has proven she CAN eat (with three 3-oz bottles yesterday); now we just have to be patient and help her relearn. I continue to try to nurse her as well. At 10 pm, after not having had anything except IV all day, we put the ng tube back in so we could give her some nourishment through the night. She'll be waking up soon, then we'll start working on the feedings again all day today. Erin has a strong will when it comes to (not) eating, but lucky for her, I think her mom's will is even stronger :) I'm determined to get her eating again now that her heart is fixed. I think she'll be discharged quickly once we have some successful feedings!

I've had a quick minute to read some of your comments. Thank you so much!! All of your prayers have been so wonderful! The doctors and nurses often comment on Erin's amazing recovery and I know it's all the prayers that have made the difference!

Erin Pictures {Moira}

Here are some pictures of Erin a couple days before they left for Milwaukee. We miss her so much! Also, my mom and dad. ;)

How big is Erin???........SO BIG!

We hope she will be able to come home over the weekend. We still don't have anything official.

Erin Update 5

Erin is now out of the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit). I got to hold her for the first time since her surgery, which was a thrill for me. Amazingly, before Erin left the PICU she drank 6oz. in two feedings! For those of you that know Erin well, this is quite a big deal for her, (and us!). Erin is in a great deal of discomfort now, as she continues healing from her surgery. She's a tough little girl and she's hanging in there. We are so proud of her.

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! The prayers of so many of you have certainly meant a great deal to our family.

Erin Update 4

Erin continues to amaze us! She came out of surgery yesterday afternoon, after 4-5 hours, breathing on her own, which is unusual. She had a fairly restful night. She is starting to feel some pain which the nurses quickly relieve with morphine. I arrived here at the hospital early this morning, and shortly after, the doctor removed her drainage tube and wires that were in the chest and heart. They will most likely remove her central line later today (which is in her neck), leaving three IVs rather than four. Things are moving quickly and they are already talking about moving her out of ICU today! She recognizes my voice and becomes a little agitated when she does. Although she has still not opened her eyes while we've been here, she is starting to move around a bit and show us all that she's not pleased with all of the wires and probes. But all in all, things could not be going better. Thanks be to God. Thank you for all of your kind comments and prayers. We'll try to check in later today. God bless.