100!!

A few weeks ago, we went to a local park with a friend of ours who is a professional photographer. She took some beautiful photos of our family and Rebekah. Hop on over to her blog to see some of her work and check our family blog for pictures of the boys. Thanks for such great pictures, Rachel!!

I realized just as I was about to start this post that it will be the one-hundredth post on Rebekah's blog! It has been a short, yet long, journey to this point, and we are just at the beginning. We are so thankful for all the Lord has brought us through to this point and for all He will do in Rebekah's life.

We made the difficult decision this week to go ahead with the surgery to have a G-tube placed for Rebekah. In some ways, this is even harder for me than her heart surgery. I know that Rebekah needs her heart surgeries in order to live, but the G-tube is somewhat different. It will be closing the door on nursing Rebekah - something that I have always had as a goal once we got past her big heart surgery. It will also mean the end of bottle feeding as well, and I am so very torn about this. For some reason, I am really struggling with giving up feeding Rebekah in conventional ways. I know she will still be getting breastmilk and that the method of delivery isn't really important, but it is disappointing just the same.

The details aren't in place yet, and we will let you know when we know the dates for sure. It looks like we will be heading to Charleston in the next couple of weeks for a one-day pre-op of sorts. Rebekah will probably have another upper GI done and we will meet with the surgeon (or one of his assistants) to go over procedures and anything else that needs to be done. Then at that point they will be giving us a firm surgery date. It is possible that the surgeon will be able to place the G-tube laparoscopically which will be a much faster surgery and recovery time. Please pray that he will be able to do the surgery this way. If he can, we will probably only be in Charleston 2 or 3 days and then back home.

Rebekah has an appointment on Wednesday with BabyNet (a division of the No Child Left Behind act which services 0-3 year olds). The purpose of the appointment is to evaluate and assess Rebekah's strengths and weaknesses and determine which services she needs at this time. She has been a little slower to meet some of her developmental milestones, but nothing out of normal ranges yet. She may possibly qualify for up to 16 different categories (not all of them apply - they are just available if needed).

Miss Bekah is now weighing in at 7 pounds and 13 ounces. She made a 4 ounce weight gain in her last week. She is 21 and 1/2 inches long and some of her newborn outfits are starting to get a little snug. Her newborn clothes are adorable, but I must say after almost 10 weeks of being in this size, Mommy is ready for some new clothing options! :) I'm anxious for a little more hair so we can start accessorizing with hairbows and barrettes! :)

Rebekah has started to suck her thumb just a little bit. Usually she misses her mouth and pokes herself in the eye or nose or something, but a couple of times recently I have caught her getting her thumb in her mouth. It is so cute!!

Please keep Josiah and his family in your prayers this week. The doctors have decided that it is time to take him back to the OR this week for a surgery similar to the one Rebekah had to band his pulmonary artery.

That's about all the news for now. Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone! :)

Nancy