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On May 4, 2009, Josh and I discovered that our soon to be little girl, due on August 25th, would be born with a CHD known as HLHS (hypo-plastic left heart syndrome). Upon hearing "something is wrong with your baby's heart" our lives changed completely. Our little Ruth Elizabeth was brought into this world on August 18, 2009. She was delivered via c-section and rushed immediately from Barnes to Childrens' Hospital for a cardiac cath intervention. Her arial septum was reopened and a week later, Ruthie underwent her first open heart surgery, the Norwood. Unfortunately, Ruthie was not able to survive on her Norwood heart and the Glenn procedure would not work for her. Ruthie was placed on the heart transplant list Feb.3, 2010. After waiting in SLCH, Ruthie received a new heart on July 5, 2010. We are so humbly blessed to receive this gift of life. We now are on the road to recovery. We have had our ups and downs. We have become SLCH regulars due to countless hospital stays and ER visits. We are learning how to manage life outside of SLCH and with another little girl. Now that we have two children, we are learning the about being a heart FAMILY.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Slow and Steady!

Ruthie is slowly working her way up the scale.

She is 6.87 kilos, which means she is a little less than 15 lbs. She has gained .17 of a kilo in a day! GO RUTH! Her max feeds are at 36 mils an hour, continuously, through a NG tube.

She is still on 8L of o2 through high humidity nasal cannula. She is stating 98-100%!

She is so happy and so playful. She is working hard on sitting up and coughing. She is clearing most of the "junk" from her lungs.

Ruthie's chest x ray is starting to show some clearing. Her doctors also believe that her breath sounds are more defined on her right side.

We are getting there! Slow and steady is Ruthie's pace. We need not rush her. She will let us know when she is ready for a push.

So, hopefully the end of the this 7 month hospital stay is in sight.

Everyday, we are thankful. We are so blessed.

Thank you for the prayers. We are only as strong as the prayers behind us
Heart Hugs from on

2 comments:

  1. The Smith'sAugust 26, 2010 at 1:23 PM

    Way to go, Ruthie! We love slow and steady when it's in the right direction ... and you are definitely going in the right direction! Praying you are home so soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ShannonAugust 28, 2010 at 12:10 AM

    Go Ruthie, go!

    We're always praying for you sweet girl! :)

    ReplyDelete

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