August 16

I realize that my post is titled August 16 and this is only July; I haven't lost my mind....yet! :)

We received our phone call from MUSC last week to schedule Rebekah's next heart catheterization, and it is scheduled for August 16! As of right now Rebekah is scheduled for first case, and we are thrilled about that. Since she cannot have anything to eat after midnight and only clear liquids till 3am on the night before a heart cath, we are so happy that she is first case and will be going back around 7am for her heart cath.

Hi, y'all!

Rebekah has been making great strides in almost every area of her development. She is walking more/better, talking much more, interacting more with Drew and I, her brothers and almost everyone she sees! It takes us forever to get through a grocery store because Rebekah wants to wave and say "hi" to people she sees. It's really fun! :)

Sporting the movie star look!

Rebekah has been putting two word phrases together for several weeks. Just this week she began to put three words together: "Mommy drop it," Daddy, please stop!" or "I get it" have been some of the sentences we heard this week. It is so fun to see and hear Rebekah make so many great strides in her vocabulary and expression. She is learning to communicate more with us, and we have definitely seen Rebekah express her opinions!

I just love how Rebekah posed so casually for this picture!

Rebekah has had lots of opportunities to play with friends and visit grandparents this summer. She has had so much fun experiencing things like swimming, going to a bounce house, going to the park and just having fun with friends. It is much different now that Rebekah is walking (almost running!) and able to interact with new situations on her own, not because Mommy or Daddy is holding her.

My adorable birthday outfit from Aunt Aimee and Uncle Scott!

Rebekah has still been experiencing unexplained fatigue several days a week. This is one of the reasons that we are having Rebekah's heart catheterization sooner rather than later. We are hoping that the cath will give us some direction to explain the fatigue that has Rebekah sleeping sometimes 17-18 hours a day. If the cath does not give us some explanation for the fatigue Rebekah is experiencing, the next step will be a sleep study to see if Rebekah has some kind of sleep disorder that is not allowing her to have the deep restful sleep that she needs.

Beautiful girl!

This is probably one of my favorite pictures of Rebekah! She is doing so well right now, and we are so thankful to be able to enjoy our time with her. Please continue to pray for Rebekah's health as we approach the cath date and for conclusive results from the cath so we can figure out why Rebekah seems so fatigued.

Nancy

Thankful for Colds!

Yes, you read that right - we are thankful for head colds around here! For one, I'd take a head cold any day over some of the stuff our friends have had. Yucky!! Second, this weekend we were very concerned about Rebekah because she began to show a dramatic decrease in both appetite and activity level. While in most kids that is not cause for great alarm (for a day or two), those can be warning signs of early heart failure. So on Sunday morning we decided to call cardiology just to let them know what was going on. We were reassured (somewhat) by the on-call cardiologist that heart failure usually does not present that suddenly (but we are talking about Rebekah, here. When does she ever do things the usual way??). He gave us a few other things to watch for, but basically we ended the call hoping that by mid-week Rebekah would start showing signs of her brother's cold, and we would have an answer for her lack of appetite and energy level.

Aaron, Rebekah, and Caleb playing with homemade maracas.

Well, this morning Rebekah was gracious enough to wake up with a very congested nose and cough. While we certainly wouldn't wish her to be sick, we are very thankful that we can blame all of these symptoms on a cold and not on her heart. Now we are praying that she can fight this cold off in a couple of days and avoid a hospital trip. :)

Zac and Rebekah, our oldest and youngest.
When did they get so big??

Rebekah was a little couch-potato over the weekend. She wanted to be held, cuddled, and loved on, and we were all happy to comply. :) In the above picture, Rebekah snuggled on the couch with Zachary for a long time while all the kids watched Snow White for the first time. They loved it! Rebekah was especially cute; she kept pointing to the TV saying, "Look! Look!"

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The kids and I made cookies for Valentine's Day on Saturday. We all had one after dinner on Saturday night. Rebekah wasn't sure what to do with hers. She kept pointing at it, poking it, pinching frosting off, and talking about it, but she never did pick it up and eat it. Oh, well, she had lots of fun with it! :)

Rebekah is "so big!" She also has frosting everywhere.

In other news, we did hear back from MUSC last week regarding the schedule for Rebekah's next heart catheterization. Dr. Bradley (Rebekah's surgeon) does not see any benefit to moving the heart cath any sooner than it is already scheduled (March 7). He really feels that the high pressure is due to the one-lung situation and is not something that will be resolved in the cath lab. So, his expectation is to get a general "lay-of-the-land" so to speak, of how Rebekah's heart looks now in preparation for another open heart surgery. I'm not sure exactly when that surgery (if needed) will be, but according to Dr. Lucas, he does not anticipate it immediately following the heart catheterization (as in the same week). He said what will probably happen is that we will have the cath, come home, and wait for a phone call from MUSC after all the cardiologists, cath doctor and surgeon have had time to review Rebekah's case and get it on the surgery schedule.

Even covered in frosting, I'm still cute!

I guess that about wraps up the latest developments here. Continue to pray that Rebekah recovers from this cold quickly and that she stays healthy between now and time for her heart catheterization. As I recall, last year around this time we were also praying for Rebekah to stay well prior to a heart cath. Same song, different verse. :)

I just have to quickly share a huge praise for our little buddy, Owen. He had major open-heart surgery last week Tuesday to repair or replace his tricuspid valve. The surgeon was able to repair Owen's valve, so there was no need for replacement! This means that he will be a candidate for the third surgery of the three HLHS surgeries, and will be scheduled sometime later this year for that surgery. His recovery is going wonderfully, and there is talk that he might be going home as early as tomorrow!!! Way to go, Owen!!

Rebekah says hi to Grammy and Nana!

Ummm, yes, she can talk! Matter of fact,

we have a hard time getting her to be quiet sometimes!!

Nancy