Mia is doing better, I think there has been a slight improvement in the irritated spot. She seems to be ok with sitting on her bottom more, pray that she would adjust to her carseat in the next few days because we have a trip to LA next week to see the surgeon. Thank you for continuing to pray for her!

I just talked to Mia's surgeon, and he looked at the pictures and isn't extremely concerned. He thinks it might be irritation from a stitch, he did leave the stitches in there, he says to just watch it and make sure it doesn't get any worse. And at the moment, it does appear to be a bit better, so we'll just keep a close eye on it. Pray that it heals and doesn't turn into anything serious.

Waiting

After we talked to the doctor on Saturday, we are still waiting to hear. She was an on-call doctor, not a regular, and said that she would email the team, but we might not hear anything until today. She did say that if she thought it was an emergency, she would get back to us, so I think it is pretty safe to say it's not an emergency. If I don't hear from them this morning, I will call again to talk to someone. As for the spot, it looks a little better. It's real close to the incision site and it is puffy and red, but it is looking less red today. We've just been trying to be real careful and gentle in that area. She doesn't seem quite so uncomfortable as Friday and Saturday...she even sits on her bottom occasionally which is a really good sign. Please continue to pray that it would resolve itself and that the doctors would have some good insight on how to care for it or what to do next.

Mia did get weighed today and she is 19 pounds 11 ounces, so we are making progress gaining the weight she lost, Praise God! Thank you for praying for that also.

Please pray for Mia, yesterday I noticed a red spot near her incision and was slightly concerned, but wasn't sure. Today Brad looked at it and was also concerned, so we sent photos down to the doctors at UCLA to look at. Pray that it would heal on its own, she still has a very hard time in the carseat and often chooses not to sit directly on her bottom at all, so pray that whatever is irritated down there would heal quickly and it wouldn't become anything serious.

Here's a photo from today with her love, Daddy. We joke about the fact that she says Mama for everything...even when we ask her to say Daddy, she'll say Mama, but the truth is she loves him dearly and adores everything about Daddy.

Today we took Mia to the pediatrician for her 18 month check up. She thought Mia looked great. She's gotten a little bit longer, she's now 30.5 inches, and she weighed in at 19 pounds 8 ounces. She was pleased with how her incision looks and it continues to heal nicely. Thank you for praying for no infections! We're not out of the woods yet, but we are encouraged that her incision site continues to heal so well.

We've turned a corner on feeding also. Not feeding more, just feeding differently. She now does fine with pieces of pasta in her food and she has started to self feed! Yay! She will now bring food to her mouth and she likes to taste Ritz crackers. She does just fine with pieces of banana also, so I am so encouraged by this. Pray that she would continue to feed better and be able to eat bigger solid pieces.

The car ride to and from the pediatrician wasn't her favorite, and we managed to get there without tears, but had a few tears on the way home, so I know her bum is still sore, but it's getting better. Pray that riding in her carseat would get better real quick as we are going to start back up with therapy in a few days.

Mia continues to heal from the operation. She's still sore and does not like riding in her car seat or sitting on her bottom for too long, so we try our best to not do those things. She also lost some weight from the surgery, today she is 19 pounds 8 ounces, so pray that she would continue to eat well and regain that weight. We worked so hard to get to 20 pounds and I know we will get back there eventually, I'm always a bit disappointed when she loses weight.

She started getting a cold yesterday, this morning she woke up with a cough, but appears to be doing much better this afternoon, so pray that she would get over it soon.

Mia is doing great, so far no infections, so Praise God! We'll keep praying that she heals quickly and doesn't get any infections. She's crawling around all over the place. Her favorite stop is the bookshelf where she pulls as many books as she can down. And the other day she found the door stop on the back of the office door and thought that was a fun noise! We are taking a break from therapy for just a bit to let her heal up. Thanks for continuing to pray!

Pictures

Waiting for the operation...isn't she so cute in her hospital gown.

Mommy, I really like the carrots you are feeding me. This was taken on Saturday, shortly before we left to come home.

I like hanging out with my Mommy!

This was taken this morning, she's doing great and we continue to thank God for a successful surgery!

She's showing me her hand in this picture. Thanks for continuing to pray for her! She's still sore, but is tolerating the pain well and we continue to pray for no infections as she heals over the next couple of weeks.

18 Months

Today is Mia's half birthday! And it's been great being home. For her half birthday, we sang her half the birthday song. This is a tradition on the Sturm side of the family, they usually also get half a cake too, we didn't get as far as half a cake, maybe next year...I guess you could say we did half a job of it!

This morning we got up and went to church to hear Nana sing in the choir. It was real nice and Mia did real well with it.

Since we've been home, she hasn't been so constipated and continues to do real well. We will post some pictures in a bit.

Hoping you are having a Happy Easter!

Coming Home

Hi all, we got discharged this afternoon and are now on our way home. Pray for safe travel and a comfortable ride for Mia. Pray that her wound would continue to heal and there would be no infection. It should be completely healed in about 3 weeks. God is Great!

And I know this is a few hours early, but He is Risen indeed!

Mia is doing really well, the doctors looked at her this morning and are pleased with how everything looks. No infections, thank you God! She hasn't had any pain medicine since last night, she's been in real good spirits. There is talk of sending us home today, the only concern is that she is slightly constipated, so pray that things would start flowing, we've tried yogurt and she just got some prune juice, we are waiting for some medicine to help, but I'm praying things will get going on their own. Pray for wisdom regarding the best time to come home, we know home is better, but we want to be sure she's ready.

Mia has been doing really well today, she's drank about 7-8 ounces of milk and just ate 2 ounces of carrots, that's pretty good for her! We've given her some more pain meds, but overall she seems to be doing really great. She's been kicking her legs and grabbing her feet and this afternoon she even sat up for a few minutes. Pray that we'd be able to discern the appropriate amount of pain meds for her and that she would continue to heal quickly. So far the incision area has remained infection free and that's what we want.

So far Mia is doing well, the doctors looked at her wound this morning and are ok with how it looks. Pray for continued healing, the nurse last night told us he wants her more upright today and that will help make sure nothing settles into her lungs that we don't want. I'm not sure how that's going to work, so pray for us in that area today. Pray also that she wouldn't need too much pain medicine, at the moment she's only had some Tylenol with Codeine this morning, so that is very good. I'm always awestruck at how differently babies handle pain. We continue to be grateful for your prayers. We want to always remember to give God the glory!

I forgot to mention yesterday, the surgeon told us that her intestine was connected down very low and that is great news because it means the chances of her controlling her bowels is very high! Praise God!

She is out and everything went great!

Mia is recovering and we have seen her! Everything went really well and we want to say thank you for praying!! We'll be home on Sunday or Monday! Love, Brad, Lisa and especially Mia.

What you can be praying for in the next few days is that she doesn't get an infection and that she heals quickly.

We just got another update, Mia is doing well, they have at least another hour and a half to go. Please continue to pray for Dr Shew and the surgical team. Pray for sharpness of skill and alertness as they've been in there for awhile.

We just heard from the ER that they are just starting surgery now. Thank you for continuing to pray.

IV's are in

They just called us in the waiting room, the IV's are in and she has been intubated (breathing tube). Things are going well!

Mia in surgery

They took Mia at 1pm to go into surgery. We're doing fine. I expect her to be in surgery for 4 hours. We love you all. Brad & Lisa

Hasn't started yet

Update (12 noon). There has been a delay, the surgeon is still in his first surgery. We are still in good spirits, Mia has stolen the hearts of everyone in the pre-treatment unit. We will post again when the surgery starts.

We just got to the hospital and are waiting to get checked in. Surgery is scheduled for 10am, pray that they would get IV access quickly and easily, she's always hard to get a line in. Pray also that she wouldn't get hungry, she hasn't eaten since last night. So far, she's doing fine.

Surgery On Thursday

Mia continues to keep on improving in crawling and just the other day she realized it takes her to the bookcase and she loves pulling off her books, we think that's great.

Surgery is on Thursday and here are a few things you can pray for:

1. That everything would go smoothly and there would be no complications.
2. Pray for the doctor to be rested and to have wisdom throughout the surgery.
3. Pray that she would be able to control her bowel movements, that her intestine is connected real low down.
4. Pray for a quick recovery and a short hospital stay.

Thank you for praying!!!

She Crawls!

So, Mia started crawling a bit on Sunday night/monday morning and I've been trying to capture it on video to share. She will only go a little bit at a time and if I put a toy too far away, she'll go onto her tummy to get it because her arms are so long that it's just easier. But, we figure she'll be getting around better and better as she gets stronger and it won't be no time before I'll be chasing after her. :) Praise God!!!

By the way, I put her down in the office and she immediately went towards things plugged into the computer...hmm...we'll have to start baby proofing I imagine! That makes us very happy.

So I can't figure out the video, but I will have Brad work on it when he can and hopefully in the next day or so you'll get to see her in motion a bit!!

Update: here it is! See for yourself!