Thursday, November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving!





"Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things." Psalm 107:8-9

Saturday, November 19, 2016

2 Months Ours!

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful!" Proverbs 15:13


Monday, November 7, 2016

Presley's Heart

We are in the preliminary stages of discovering exactly how unique is our little Presley's heart. She had her first visit with our cardiologist a few weeks ago. Based on the echocardiogram, the initial diagnosis is . . .

Complete AV Canal: A large hole in center of the heart affecting all four chambers where they would normally be divided. When a heart is properly divided, the oxygen-rich blood from the lungs does not mix with the oxygen-poor blood from the body. A CAVC allows blood to mix and the chambers and valves to not properly route the blood to each station of circulation.

Double Outlet Right Ventricle: The aorta connects to the right ventricle (the chamber of the heart that pumps blood to the lungs), instead of to the left ventricle (the chamber that normally pumps blood to the body). Both the pulmonary artery (which carries oxygen-poor blood to the lungs) and aorta (which carries oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the body) come from the same pumping chamber. No arteries are connected to the left ventricle (the chamber that normally pumps blood to the body).

 Pulmonary Atresia: The word "atresia" means "no opening." With pulmonary atresia, the valve that lets blood flow from the lower-right chamber (the right ventricle) to the lungs has not formed or is closed. Instead of following the normal route through the lungs, oxygen-poor blood travels directly from the upper-right chamber (the right atrium) to the left side of the heart. This oxygen-poor blood is then pumped back into the body. The lack of oxygen-rich blood makes the fingers, toes, and lips appear blue, a condition called cyanosis.



Although this information is a lot to take in, none of it was surprising. It actually revealed that the report from China was accurate. However, the specifics of Presley's anatomy cannot fully be known until she has a . . .

Heart Catheterization: A procedure used to diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions. During cardiac catheterization, a long thin tube called a catheter is inserted in an artery or vein in your groin, neck or arm and threaded through your blood vessels to your heart. 

This is scheduled to take place in exactly one month. Presley will go under anesthesia in the hospital, and our doctor said the cath should take approximately 3 hours. It is meant to be an outpatient procedure, and she should be able to go home later that day. But depending on how Presley handles everything she may need to spend the night. We are praying fervently for our precious girl! Presley loves to pray!!!


The results of the heart cath will give us more detailed insight into the intricacies of Presley's heart. And this will hopefully and prayerfully lead to surgery possibilities. A big question about whether or not Presley has two ventricles has already been answered from the echo. She does in fact have two good sized ventricles that are pumping well. This could be good news if she is a candidate for a full repair. However, being that she has no interatrial septum (the wall of tissue that separates the right and left atria) a full repair may be extremely difficult or impossible. There may also be other possible surgical options to make her heart as functional as possible for as long as possible.

We know that our precious girl is in her Father's hands, and He knows the plan! We trust Him completely! Since we have been down the hospital/surgery road a time or two, we know it will be so hard to watch our baby suffer. We love our little Presley so very much, and yet God loves her even more! His will be done in her life, and may His name be praised no matter what!


"I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever."
Psalm 86:12

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

"Spunky Spice"


 I mean just look at her! We have been home with this little "spunky spice" for 1 month!
There is a big personality inside this tiny little body!
Our precious Presley is doing amazingly well considering all of the change that she has endured. We love her to pieces, and we can't imagine our lives without her! She is fitting into this family so well, and she loves everyone! Her attachment is going very well, and that is such an awesome answer to prayer. I had prayed that the Lord would give me an instant love for this child, and I have to say that she is very easy to love!

She is high energy and pretty much runs everywhere she goes! She is constant entertainment, and the cuteness is absolutely unbearable!

 She is mama's girl and a little cuddle bug! I get to lie down with her every night as she drifts off to sleep. As her little hands reach for my neck, I cherish every moment that I get to hold her in my arms. Presley is also a talker . . . she talks non stop in both Chinese and now English= Chinglish! She is understanding a ton already which is extremely helpful. She is really good at charades, so communication doesn't have to be only verbal! However, she has picked up many words and phrases already and is capable of getting her point across. Some of her favorites are, "one minute", "go car", "come on", "dinner's ready", "Bible", "pray", and "I love you"! She doesn't like to be told "no", so we look for as many ways as possible to say "yes". She is a bit of a control freak (which is totally to be expected when you have never had the chance to make your own choices). We are patiently teaching her to trust mommy and daddy to help her make good choices and to accept that she can trust us to be in charge. We are trying to rely on the One who has complete control, and we are constantly asking Him for wisdom and guidance. We have already seen changes in Presley in just over a month since she became our daughter. She is still very active, curious, and busy, but she can now focus for longer than 5 seconds to enjoy an activity. She can get easily overstimulated, so keeping her world small is extremely important. We did take a trip to the pumpkin patch and made it through without a meltdown.


Our three China dolls took a brief stroll through our neighborhood last night for trick or treating, a.k.a. "tu tu fee". Presley must have been thinking, " these people sure have strange customs!"

 But she was very pleased with the results!
Presley likes things to go a certain way, and she always has a plan. We are working on flexibility within structure! Her little unpredictable self likes everything to be predictable, exactly the way it was the time before. She is smart and learns very quickly! She adores her sisters, so she is learning so much by watching them. To sum it all up . . . she is "sugar and spice and everything nice"! She is our adorable Presley, and we love her so much!!!