Another great day!

Today has been another wonderful day ... My Mom (Becky) spent the night with Mia and then Robert's parents, Dan and Betsy went to visit early this morning. Betsy and Mom came back home to sleep while Dan took the morning shift until Katie and I arrived in the afternoon. Apparently Mia was more alert for Dan and my Mom because when Katie and I were there, Mia was pretty sleepy the entire time until I was able to hold her a few hours later - then she opened her eyes! Katie was able to get several great shots of Mia, so we'll post a few ...

More great news is that today God TOTALLY surprised us with allowing our daughters to finally meet each other!! Katie and Mercedes were looking into the NICU through the doors from the hall and Karla, our great nurse, saw me waving to Mercedes and asked if that was our other baby. She walked over to the door and waved hi to her and Cedes got all shy and dug her head into Katie's neck and Karla thought it was so cute... then Karla asked what Mercedes thinks of Mia and if she understands what's going on, so we talked about that for a little bit.... then she asked if we thought Mercedes is wanting to meet the baby. We said that of course she does - she can't wait!! Karla asked "Do you think she'd want to meet her now?" Our jaws dropped!! We answered with a VERY big 'yes'!! She went to talk with her manager and they talked about it and her manager asked if Karla thought it was an appropriate situation for our 2 year old to meet the baby given the circumstances... Karla said yes and the manager gave her the permission - Mercedes just had to wear a mask. Once Robert got a mask on, Mercedes was very willing to wear one, so she came in and was able to meet her baby sister, "Baby Mia Amornay"! What a huge blessing!! =)





My lack of rest is catching up to me, so I need to get to sleep... Robert will finish with the rest of the details from the doctors... =)

Rachael

Hi all, today we had a good meeting with the neurologist and another doctor. The neurologist was able to look at the EEG that was taking the day before. He said that he is very happy with the control of the seizures and that the medicine she is taking was working very well. He said he did note that there was some activity in her brain that without the medicine would likely cause more seizures. For now he's satisfied and noted that as far as the seizures go, they will either burn themselves out on their own as she develops, or she might have to take some medicine but overall he has happy that they are controllable.

The other item to note is, they are still trying to diagnose Mia and come up with some sort of explanation for what she is going through. He said that looking at the MRI results that everything for the most part looked intact and normal. He said there was still some signs of the hydrocephilis but not to any extent to be of immediate concern. He said that it was likely that as Mia grows what swelling there is will likely go away on it's own. The neurologist still thinks there is some sort of genetic abnormality involved here and is hoping that the lab results will be able to give him more answers.

Overall, Rachael and I are very happy with how the last couple of days have been. Mia has been improving so much and we know that God is doing a miracle through her. Some things to continue praying for are her jaw to continue to relax (it opened quite a bit today!) and for her breathing that she will continue to do more on her own. They also need to change the IV line from her umbilical cord to something more permanent. This can be challenging because they have to find a vein and you can imagine how hard that can be on a small baby.

On another note... I just spoke with my mom who is staying at the hospital tonight. She told me that she met another mother who is in the same spot we were just a few days ago. Apparently her son is also on a ventilator and is also showing signs of not being responsive. The doctors have told her that she might have to make the decision to remove the ventilator to her son and let him go. From what my mom gathered, this lady does not have a support network and she is facing this mostly alone. She has seen some signs of improvement by her son but he apparently isn't progressing enough that the doctors think he will make it.

As someone who was there just a couple of days ago, my heart goes out to this lady having to face that decision. Just having my mom tell me about this ladies situation brought that horrible feeling back into my stomach. It is one thing to lose a child through circumstances such as an accident, or sickness but it is an entirely different thing to have to make the decision to remove the life support and let them go. Please pray for this lady and her son, that God would do a miracle on this little boy just as he has done in Mia. Also pray that the doctors would give her some breathing room and not pressure her into the decision.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. We are so grateful and moved by hearing just how many people have been praying for Mia. We ask that you continue to pray for her full recovery. Please also continue to pray for her two NICU mates that are right next to here, there is the little boy that has had three? heart surgeries and is barely a month old, and the little boy that was born prematurely at 27 weeks of age. Also, please pray for the lady and the boy mentioned above. Finally, continue to pray for the nurses that are working in the NICU. These people are so phenomenal in what they do every day. How they do it, I don't know but I'm so grateful that there are people that are willing and able to work in such an environment.

Robert