The good news is ...

... Josiah is as cute as ever!  His smiles are amazing.  His oxygen saturation levels are within the acceptable range and he is breathing well.  The antacid medication has seemed to help his feeding issues due to reflux.  He took his first bottle from his Grandma without any problems whatsoever.  We are so grateful to know that he is always in God's hands. 

However, his feet are purple.  This was his first sign of increased cyanosis.  We had a surprise visit to Grand River Hospital yesterday to check his saturation levels (Isaac was such a patient big brother in the hospital room) and today we went to McMaster Hospital.  During an echocardiogram this afternoon the doctor quickly found the problem.  Josiah now has severe leakage in his one main heart valve.  The doctor called the valve a "sprinkler."  This means that there is decreased cardiac output and thus his extremities are often more purple, especially when he's fussy.  He hasn't been too interested in feeding today so that is also a concern.  We've been asked to go to McMaster's ER if he becomes sleepier, feeds less and has drier diapers. 

Leakage in valves generally increases.  This could certainly affect when Josiah needs to have surgery.  He is now two and a half months old and usually surgeons don't want to do the BPCS surgery until four months of age.


Prayer Requests:

• That Josiah's saturation levels remain in his normal range and that his breathing continues unhindered.  
• That the leakage in his valve decreases
• That Josiah will be able to wait until he is at least four months old for surgery
• That Graham and Elizabeth will have wisdom to know when to go to the hospital
• That Josiah will learn to take a bottle (he hasn't taken one at home yet)
• That Josiah would feed (and sleep!) perfectly and have good urinary output

It's sort of surreal I guess - to hold this beautiful gift from God in my arms and try to believe that his condition is life threatening.  Although all of his heart issues are extremely serious, there are also successful surgery techniques to help correct them.  However, my understanding is that there are not great solutions for fixing valves yet.  If nothing changes, our next appointment is on the 10th of July at SickKids (kidney ultrasound) and then back to McMaster on the 12th of July and then his first sedate echocardiogram at SickKids on July 24th.

Hopefully we will not need to visit the hospital for Isaac.  He has decided that he should try to climb on everything he sees.  He has also realized that if he places those objects near desks and tables, he can reach things that Mommy and Daddy have placed "out of reach."  He keeps us laughing and on our toes!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support!  We serve a good God who loves us and gives us His peace and joy. 

Blessings,

Elizabeth and Graham
    

Reflux

Josiah has reflux.  We had a surprise visit to SickKids yesterday where this was confirmed.  He is now on antacid medications which have already helped.  He slept better last night, fed better today and was clearly in less pain.  We'll hold off on the bottle feeding for a little longer (though I received some great advice in the nursery on Sunday about which bottle to try so I'm looking forward to breakthrough!).  Isaac is also now sleeping past 6:30 so there is joy in the house! 

Blessings,

Elizabeth and Graham   

2 Months Old!

Josiah turned two months old on Wednesday!  He also received his immunizations the same day and thankfully he did not react to them.  At his visit to McMaster on Tuesday his weight was recorded as 12 pounds and his cardiologist was very pleased with how he's doing.  The doctor's main concern is the leakage in Josiah's primary heart valve.  We won't know if the leakage has increased until his next echocardiogram near the end of July.  He said it's possible that the BPCS surgery (explained in a previous post) would reduce the load on the heart and that the leakage would decrease without needing to do anything to the valve.

Isaac also had an important day this week - he is now a year and a half.  He certainly makes us laugh but he also keeps us on our toes as he tests the limits.  Does disciplining your child get easier over time?!

The attempts at bottle feeding haven't gone well yet.  The main advantage to being able to bottle feed is that the doctors could easily increase his caloric intake in hospital if necessary after surgery.  Of course, if he didn't need surgery until he could use a sippy cup, that would work too (this would involve one or two miracles!)

Josiah has had very fussy feeds of late.  We'll talk to the paediatrician about this on Monday.  We're having him sleep on a slight incline and that has improved the nights to some degree though he's still on Elizabeth a lot.

It was nice to visit Listowel Pentecostal Church a couple of weeks ago (where Graham's parents attend).  We appreciate all the people there praying for our family.

Apart from visits to the paediatrician, Josiah's next heart visit is at McMaster on July 12th so there may not be much news until then as we're praying that all continues to go well.

Prayer Requests:

• That the leakage in Josiah's heart valve would stop
• Wisdom as we discipline
• That Josiah would learn to take a bottle and that he would feed well
• That Josiah would consistently sleep in his crib

Thanks for your prayers and support!  We are blessed beyond measure.  God is good.  We are thankful for the last eight years of marriage that we celebrated on June 12th.  Where does the time go?

Blessings,

Elizabeth and Graham


P.S. We're looking forward to Josiah's dedication to the Lord on July 15th.  All of his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins will be there, including those from Ottawa and British Columbia!!!

P.P.S. In honour of our anniversary last week, we thought you might enjoy this song by JJ Heller. 

No Appointments!

Last week was our first week without any appointments and Josiah was in fine form!  It was also our first week being completely solo in our house overnight (just the four of us).  Isaac has still enjoyed lots of fun trips with his grandparents during the day (apparently he's a fan of Home Depot).

Josiah is an excellent eater and for that we're so thankful.  He's certainly not having trouble gaining weight.  We visited the paediatrician this morning and Josiah weighed 11 pounds 12 ounces.  Last week we made our first attempt at introducing a bottle to Josiah.  He was not impressed.  It is important that he learns to drink from a bottle so that if/when he has surgery, he is able to be fed from a bottle while recuperating. 

We were recently blessed with the gift of a double stroller.  Both boys enjoyed their first joint stroller ride to the library.  Josiah's favourite place to be is snuggled up in a wrap on his mommy.  The stretchy wrap has not failed to soothe him when he's fussy - another great Kijiji find!  Josiah was giving out some smiles today which was a nice change from his cries - he seems to get a lot of gas. 

That sums up our news.  Our next appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday at McMaster. 

A few prayer requests:

• That Josiah remains balanced.
• That Josiah learns to drink from a bottle and also keeps nursing well.
• That Josiah would consistently sleep in his crib at night.

Thanks for your support and prayers!

Blessings,

Elizabeth and Graham