6.30.2008

Please pray for:

I think the best thing for me to type is our major prayer requests for our girls.
  • Adleigh's PDA to close. Her hole has gotten larger and the doctors put her on the medication they used to use that has more side effects but they believe had a greater rate of closing the hole. She is only going to go one round on it and we will find out on Wed. if it has worked. We need everyone to pray that this hole will close with this medication. If it doesn't close with the medication then they will do the surgery and that may set her back a little with her breathing.
  • Liana's lungs to become stronger. Liana was put on a round of steriods. The doctor said her lungs are very sick, the sickest in the nursery. She has been having a lot of difficulty in this area and has been on the oscillator for a long time. They really need her lungs to get stronger and move on to the next step. Steroids are the last thing they can really do in an effort to help out the lungs so she really needs to respond well to this treatment.
  • Liana's MRSA. We just found out about this one late in the afternoon, but Liana somehow got MRSA. I really have no idea how to explain this one except to say that Liana had to be moved into a different nursery where each baby there has MRSA. They are isolated from the other babies. This has something to do with staff infections, but she doesn't have an infection she just has a bacteria that is resistant to the medicine they would give for it.

6.29.2008

Praising God

I went to church today and it was so amazing to be back with so many people worshiping our God. I loved singing out songs that declared how great our God is!
Adleigh had a good day. She was on the nasal cannula today and she looked so much more comfortable. She was eating some food, but they decided to stop that so they could watch her PDA a little more closely and give her digestive system some rest. Please pray that Adleigh's PDA closes on its own so that she won't need the surgery.
Liana is doing pretty well after the surgery. She had a few times where her oxygen level dropped really low and they had to give her more oxygen. Her incision looks good and the surgeon is happy with how she is doing. We just continue to pray that she stays in a stable condition and that she will get off of the oscillator soon.
God is using our girls to minister to a lot of people in the NICU, online, in our friends lives, and beyond all of that too. We are really excited to see how God specifically uses our daughters to make His name famous.

6.28.2008

Liana's heart surgery

Well, today ended up being a complete roller coaster. We called this morning before we left for the hospital to check on the girls and they let us know that Liana's echo showed that her PDA was open and pretty large. They recommended surgery and were trying to get hold of the heart surgeon to coordinate everything. We got to the hospital as fast as we could and the surgeon came into the room while we were visiting with Liana. He told us that it would be within the hour that they would start the surgery so everything went so fast.
The surgery only lasted around 45 minutes and we prayed so hard for our little girl. She ended up doing really well and the surgeon said everything looked good. She will have to recover from the surgery, but after that we will see signs of her being able to breathe better and that will lead to her progressing a lot faster. We are so thankful to God for keeping her safe and guiding the doctor's hands. Here is a picture of our sweet Liana.

Adleigh had a great day. She actually got two drops of food today and digested it and her oxygen level on her CPAP is still really good. We are continuing to pray that her PDA will close by itself. For some reason Adleigh has a new nurse like everyday. But each one talks about how fiesty she is. We are going to have our hands full when they both come home.

6.27.2008

A prayer for heart healing

I had plans to write my post early, but I have just been so exhausted today. The girls have had a great day today with all of their vitals. We found out that Adleigh's PDA has not closed yet. They don't want to do another course of the medication so we were given the options to wait it out or to do surgery. She is doing so well with her breathing that the doctor feels that hers could possibly go away on its own with time. So the plan is to watch her today, tomorrow, and so on to see if her breathing keeps getting better or worse. I specifically prayed over Adleigh's isolette that no surgery would be needed and that her PDA will close quickly.
Liana will have her echocardiogram tomorrow to see if her PDA is closed. If hers is not the doctors recommend that she immediately go into the surgery because her lungs cannot handle all the extra blood flow. We are praying hard for her that this PDA will be completely closed tomorrow and stay closed! She needs this so bad because she has more trouble breathing than her sister does. Our God is our healer and we know that He has Liana and Adleigh's health securely in His hands. Join us in praying tomorrow for their PDAs! Also, Liana had her bilirubin mask taken off today since she was no longer on phototherapy treatments and we finally got to see her beautiful little face. I don't think anyone could find two more gorgeous babies than mine!

6.26.2008

How Great is Our God!

* I wrote this last night, but the video had trouble uploading. So here it is today!*

Another day with the girls in stable conditions! They seemed so peaceful today. It was pretty hard for me because this was the first day that I went to the hospital without Wade. It was even harder for him since he wasn't able to go see the girls until this evening.
Both Liana and Adleigh are on their medication to close their PDA's. We will find out tomorrow if Adleigh has closed and on Saturday about Liana's. We are praying hard that both will be closed because the medication they are on seems to have a negative effect on their kidneys.
Adleigh had her brain ultrasound today and I actually was in the room when they came around so I asked if I could stay. The ultrasound tech said that her head looks good!
God is so faithful and good to us. He has given us strength to handle the rough days and shown us how to rejoice in every situation. We are getting to know other families in the NICU and being an encouragement to them and also trying to speak words of how powerful our God is to the nurses and doctors. Apparently some nurses think we are in denial about the health of our girls since we have put scriptures on their isolettes. They will be amazed at the power of our awesome and mighty God when our girls are healed and leaving before any believes possible.

Here is a video of Adleigh having one of her temper tantrums. I am so thankful to hear a cry come out of that throat and to see arms and legs moving around!


6.25.2008

One week

The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me. Your love oh Lord endures forever–do not abandon the works of Your hands.
Psalm 138:8

We left the hospital today. We were there for a week so it was pretty hard for me driving home today without having our two precious girls in the car with us. I got pretty emotional, but Wade was there to strengthen and encourage me and to speak truth into me that our girls will be with us soon and that God is doing something mighty in their lives and ours.

Liana had her brain scan today. It ended up being at 3 in the afternoon and then we had to wait until 9 to get the results back. First, I want to say THANK YOU for your prayers. We have been blown away by all the people that are standing with us in agreement that God has healed our daughters. Liana's scan came back that her brain bleed is starting to resolve. This means that everything is moving in the right direction as the blood is clotting and starting to dissipate. God is healing Liana and using this situation for us to talk to the doctors and nurses about our faith. We are continuing to pray our "sun stand still" prayers that Liana's brain will completely heal and that both girls will come home healthy and sooner than anyone expects. Also, we found out that Liana's heart valve (which we learned is called a PDA) reopened and she is having to go on another dose of the medication that can close it. Once this valve closes the doctors believe she will have a much easier time breathing so this is a very important prayer for Liana.

Adleigh is still trucking along. She is still on her CPAP and on the medication to close her PDA. I got some good touch time with Adleigh today and Wade and I sang to her. We got to see another one of her daily temper tantrums which at this age is a good thing. The fiesty ones have the advantage!

Please continue to pray for both of our girls. We can definitely feel the power of all of your prayers surrounding us and them. Please also pray the Lord will use us as an encouragement to all the other families in the NICU.


6.24.2008

We love our girls

God has given us two great days back to back. Liana has been looking so peaceful. We had prayed that she would get off the breathing machine that made her shake and this morning she had been taken off of it! Praise God! We also found out today that the valve in her heart had been completely closed. So it is possible she might be able to eat something tomorrow. She is making so much progress and we are so proud of her. God is doing an amazing work on her little body.
Tomorrow, possibly between 3 and 6 am, is the brain scan on Liana. We have told both of her nurses that we have prayed for a complete healing. We placed some bible verses on both Liana's and Adleigh's isolettes that speak of the healing that the power of Jesus brings them. We are excited to see what God is going to do tomorrow through this brain scan and we can't wait to tell the doctors that it is all because of Jesus that she is healed.
Adleigh still never ceases to amaze us. She went almost 24 hours on her smaller oxygen tube, but then needed a little more help so they put her on the bubble CPAP again. We know she will be back on the other one soon though. Her heart scan showed that she still had the hole in her heart, but that it had gotten smaller. She is going on another round of the medication to help close this, so in three days we believe that that hole will be completely gone. We have been able to hear Adleigh's little cry a few times and every time my heart leaps. It is so exciting to hear a sound come from your daughter's lungs.
Besides all the medical stuff, Wade and I began to really feel like parents today. I got to take Liana's temperature and change her diaper and Wade did the same for Adleigh. We were so nervous because we were changing our daughters diapers for the first time, but it was also with like 5 wires and tubes to deal with. But afterwards we couldn't stop smiling! God is being so good to us and we are so thankful that He has our two precious daughters in His hands.

6.23.2008

A Day of Progress

Today was truly a gift from God.

First off, Liana had a very stable day. Her heart rate is still a little high but it has slowed down significantly. She has done really well with her blood pressure and is now off of the medicine regulating that. She is still on an oscillator for breathing, but the doctors and nurses seem to think that it is likely she will be able to get off that machine soon and on to the next step for breathing. She was more relaxed and we were so proud at the progress she accomplished today.
(This is our precious little Liana)


Adleigh was a little diva this morning. She had been pulling off her CPAP (this bubble breathing tube) throughout the day and at one point even had it on her forehead and was breathing without any assistance. They decided to go ahead and see if she could handle the next step up which is just a small tube that looks way more comfortable than the CPAP did. She ended up doing amazing with it. Because of this progress we were able to hold little Adleigh for the first time today!!!!!!! Wade and I were so nervous, but once I started holding her she began to calm down and would look up into my eyes and even reached out with her hand and touched my face. As we were putting her back in her incubator, Wade was able to hold her and it was the sweetest moments I have ever experienced. As we walked out of her NICU nursery we were elated and were so joyful at the gift God had just given us of letting us hold one of our little girls. We can't wait until the day that we will be able to do this with Liana.
(This is us with our sweet Adleigh)

6.22.2008

Our twins are here!

You might have read from Wade's blog that our two beautiful girls are now officially in this world. They are so precious and every feature is perfect, from the little curls on their head to their tiny toenails.
Liana Hope Joye and Adleigh Grace Joye were born June 18th from an emergency c-section because Liana went into distress. I will have to post a blog on the craziness of this past week.

I am going to use this blog to have updates on our girls progress. Right now Liana is going through a very difficult time, but we are standing firm that God will completely heal her. Please go read Wade's blog for the exact situation and how you can pray on our girls' behalf.

Here are some pictures so that you can see how gorgeous our baby girls are.

(This is Liana)
(Here is Adleigh as she is holding Wade's finger)
(This is Liana with Wade's mom's hand)
(Adleigh)
(Liana with her eyes open)

6.06.2008

What's in your belly?

I came back a little while ago from going on a walk with Scooter. He is now laying by our glass door to our backyard completely stretched out and exhausted. I had one old man on our walk tell me the secret to a great pregnancy and quick recovery is walking, walking, walking. It is awesome how many random people talk to you when you are pregnant. I had a little girl come up to me at Coldstone yesterday and say, "What is in your belly...a baby?" To which I replied, "Yes, there are two babies in there." And then she walked up and poked me in the stomach. Seriously! It was the greatest thing ever.

Wade's parents came up yesterday and prepped the girls' room and the bathroom next to their room for painting. They come back today to prime and Saturday is the actual painting of the rooms. I think I am already in "nesting" mode because I want everything to just magically be in place. I have gone crazy about things needing to be organized. I am sure I am driving Wade insane. Don't worry Wade, we only have at the most 13 weeks to go!

6.03.2008

I've lost my mind

Last night I was on my way back home from Lowe's. It is probably about 5 minutes from my house and it was almost 9 so not many cars were out. I was listening to some Bloc Party and I saw a little bug on my windshield. It looked like one of those flying ants...a type of bug if I found in my house I would normally kill instantly.

However last night I felt sorry for this little bug. Somehow he stumbled onto my windshield and had no idea he was in for the ride of his life. He clung on for dear life and would get a small break at a red light where he would then re-situate himself for the massive wind. I figured out that if the car went past 40 mph he had a harder time holding on. So of course I went 35 to 40 in a 45 mph speed zone. I had two cars whiz past me and probably thought I was some old lady who needed to stop driving but instead I was just some crazy preggo lady hoping to get this little bug to safety.