Happy New Year!!!

Tomorrow is the 1-st day of the New Year and we can't wait for this eventfull "09year to be GONE. Also... someboby is going to be ONE...soon.

Speaking about birthdays "HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT VERA"... we love you.

Livi's first Christmas!!!!

Can't wait for Christmas this year. I think this will be the best Christmas EVER!!! Getting ready for this day, putting up the Christmas tree, buying presents for others and above all Celebrating JESUS Birthday...you can't ask for more.
Our GOD is so gracious that send us HIS only Son to save us and wash our sins away.


Since this was Olivia's first Christmas I didn't want her to get too many toys because she doesn't really understand the benefits of them, BUT that didn't stop her daddy. Every time Peter goes out comes home with a couple of toys for her :P . In the same time it is very cute & wonderful how involved he is in her life (she is a dada's girl after all). I have to admit, Christmas is my favorite holiday and getting together with family makes it even more special....
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL & GOD BLESS!!!

Time...

Time goes by so fast...Olivia is already 10 months old and 15 lb & 1/2. I can't even believe how in such short period of time you can learn and go through so much...I FEEL BLESSED. Olivia is the most wonderful gift GOD has given us. She is growing so fast it's unbelievable. Yesterday we tough her how to do/say "good-bye" and she loves waiving at everything now. It's amazing how fast of a learner she is, it takes just a couple of times to show it to her and she grasps it :)). Livi also learned how to drink out of a sippy cup which we try to introduce to her about 3-4 times a day...LOVE IT.

Thanksgiving was very special also this year since it was Livi's first one but turkey(the jar one) we found out wasn't her favorite food...you should've seen her face, couldn't even swallow it, she kept gaging herself...LOL...

This thanksgiving I'm thankful for all of you that think, pray, and love us unconditionally and above all thankful for GOD and the "miracle" that he has given us this year...MAY GOD BLESS EVERYBODY!!!

My Auntie Tina!!!

Okay, you all know for how long my mommy and daddy have been trying to get auntie Tina's visa extended...and it finally happened. Auntie Tina can stay until march 29-th and than she has to go back to Albania. We all are so happy that she'll be here for my first birthday and baby-sit me a bit longer...LOVE our "together time" .

The swallow test...

Yesterday we took Olivia for her 2-nd swallow-test and it went great. She did amazing drinking out of the bottle with the "honey & nectar thick consistancy" (thickening gel for people with respiratory problems). The therapist was so shocked to see how well she cordinated her breathing that she gave us the OK to start giving her some foods by mouth (as tolerated) and thin it out as we go so she can get use to her eating skills, hopefully once and for all :)))... so ready to get rid of the pump and 24/7 tube feeding.
Olivia's weight today was 14lb & 14oz ... growing and getting stronger everyday.

Just discovered my voice :-)

Like every week today was my day off which is usually filled with doc's appts. Around 9 AM we had the developmental therapist ladies come to do Livi's evaluation. They played with her for about 1 & half hour and did everything beside getting Livi to say any word. A couple of hours after they left I was holding her in my lap, admiring and feeling the great joy that every mom does when they cuddle with their little ones. She looked around, took a deep breath and started yelling out loud "DADDA-DADDA-GADDA-GAGGA"... I couldn't believe it... my little baby said her first word... what a precious moment.
There is nothing more beautiful that listening to your child's joyful voice, even though what they're saying doesn't make any sense :P .
It is AMAZING how GOD works in all of our lives to make us realize how precious HIS creation is.

Livi's first Halloween.

Since this was Olivia's first Halloween we wanted to get a costume that fitted her personality the best. We thought hard about it and we decided to make her a "WHOOPY CUSHION"...i know you guys think that's not cute for a girl, but Olivia s.m.times wakes us up from a dead sleep, that's how loud she is...LOL.
Anyway after looking around for 2 straight weeks with no luck in finding her size we ended up making her a "flower". She looked so cute in that outfit even though home was the only "trick or treating" that she did due to the flu season. We both had fun taking Livi's picture and eating the candy that we bought to give out ;))) .

My little trooper ;-)

Livi is such a trooper. After a long day spend at the hospital the surgery went great and now she has one less tube out of her precious body. It was funny though yesterday when I was trying to wake Livi up to take her @ the hospital for the surgery, she was having such a hard time awaking. My sister Tina that was standing right behind me slowly whispered at her: "Liiivi, time to go to schoool..." (she said smiling...mine as well say school cuz hospital and school are the same for Olivia since she goes in and out several times a week with no problem). We both looked at each other and started laughing because it is sooo true and we both needed a good laugh to take the edge off on a stressful day like that.
I love my sister Tina. For all of you that don't know her she is one of the greatest,more lovely and tenderhearted people I know. She came to the states just to baby-sit Livi and she has been a second mom to her (sometimes she does her care better than I do it). Tina's visa is expired though and she might have to go back to Albania which it will be very sad for all of us since we have spend such a close and wonderful year with her. Please pray for my sister so she can get a visa extension and be able to spend some more time with us and Livi which she spoils constantly.
God has been very wonderful to all of us and I know that no matter what He will be there in our every step of the way.

Next in line for the tooth-"Fairy"

Our Livi Lu just got her first tooth on Thursday...such a joy. Peter and I feel so blessed looking at her grow everyday and seeing how much better she already feels. I call her our little "Energizer Bunny" because since we got home she hardly naps and even at night time she gets up and wants to sit-up with her eyes still half way closed...sooo funny. Her recovery has been great. Her labs are still very manageable so her Dr. Steinke (the nephrologyst) decided to take the P.D ( peritoneal dialysis) catheter OUT. When they first told us we were sooooo shocked...our eyes teared, our hearts felt such a relief and OUR HOPES got even bigger. This all means that we can POSTPONED the TRANSPLANT until they see it necessary :-)))))))))))))))))

Her P.D surgery is on Monday around 2:30 - ish but she shouldn't be in the hospital for more than a day. I know everything will go well since YOU ALL are praying for our little angel.

Home sweet home!

We finally brought our baby girl home last night. It feels great to be able to hold her without all the tubes and monitors. It is amazing the difference in "energy" that she already has compare to before the surgery. Livi loves even more to sit-up now and also sleeping in mommy & daddy's big bed...not by our choice, it will be until she gets over her anxiety of doc & nurses... or anybody that gets close to her but us... temporary I know. Thanks again to everybody for your prayers, we couldn't have done it without you ALL.

Change of plans.

Not even minutes i posted the last post Livi's Dr. came and told me that she doesn't feel comfortable sending us home tomorrow due to her cardiomiopathy and some med. changes she likes to make due to that condition. ...Bummer... oh well whatever is best for our princess.
She did say though it might be Sunday or Monday so it's still close enough. Hopefully no more change of plans :( ...

On a mission.

Today Livi and I were on a mission. Around 7-ish in the morning the cardiologist came for the morning round and told me that in order for Olivia to be discharged she had to get certain tests done (EKG,Eco & chest X-ray). Once I heard the word "HOME" that was IT. All the tests were ordered for this weekend and Monday but after we talked with the Dr. she changed her mind & sended us downstairs to get EKG and ECO today around noon. Olivia did great even though not sedated she stayed still for the whole time...made me so proud. Once we got back in her room I couldn't stand the thought of another day here if we didn't have to. Here I grabbed Livi again (disconnected from monitors) and went right at the Dr's desk with a big smile in our face and asked when did we have to get the x-ray... The Dr. started laughing and replied " I ordered it for tomorrow but I see you already disconnected her and i know you're shooting for home tomorrow so we'll get it within the next hour...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED :-) .
We don't know what time tomorrow but so far Livi is still stable. Her labs are not the greatest but our office in GR will be able to get her back in shape. I'm so proud of my baby girl, to go through so much and still have that sweet big smile in her face as a testimony of our AWESOME GOD.

We sure miss dadda. .

I know you all got a taste of Peter's sense of humor with the last post. Livi and I couldn't have done it without Peter, his jokes, his optimism, his knowledge and above all his role as a father and husband which he does so great. Peter went back to work two days ago and we sure miss him a lot. Every time he calls I put my phone on speaker for Olivia and she goes crazy...her arms and legs go up and down followed by her blowing raspberries like he is there in front of her.
I have to say thing are getting better for Livi. As of last night she is finally off the oxygen & she has been tolerating that fine. She is still getting her 'fix" (adavan) but now is every 12 hrs through the IV and the oxycodone and Tylenol every 4-6 hrs. I just spoke to the night doctor and she thinks that we might go home early next week...YAY... "home sweet home" can't wait.

Still recovering.

We are so happy and feel so blessed with Olivia's recovery. She is currently trying to adjust to life outside the intensive care unit. It's been stressful not only for Olivia but for Dajana and I as well. There are two patients to each room and Olivia's roommate cried all night creating a chain reaction. We're trying to ween her off some of the pain meds but its proving to be a bit of a slower process than we originally thought. Our little "junky" seems to like the drugs a little too much :) They're giving her very little doses but after last night she needed a "fix" badly. Just a few minutes ago one of the nurses came to check on Livi and began talking to her in the usual "baby-voice" that most adults use. After a few minutes of blank stares from Olivia, the nurse retreated and said "Oh yeah, she's stoned." We all laughed. She's now closing her eyes to sleep, with no doubt the smooth melodies of Jimmy Hendrix swirling in her head. Anyway, Olivia's biggest challenge now is getting her lungs clear and dry so she can go home. She seems to be doing better each day so please continue to pray for us. We could not have made it this far without your prayers and support. We love you all.

Great news...

Things have gotten better..way better :-)))))) . Olivia is finally off the ventilator and all the tubes are out(beside the PD catheter and feeding tube). She was up for a couple of hours last evening which gave Peter & I the privilege of holding our little princess. We couldn't steel a lot of smiles from her since she is very congested and not feeling well from the vent-tube BUT she gave us a bunch of them today. By the way she is such a daddy's girl. She has been reaching for Peter the whole time and has been 'blowing raspberries" at him since they do that a lot at home together... ADORABLE...
Today they moved Livi out of the PICU to a general/moderate care room...healthy upgrade :p.
She is recovering very good and there is rumour that she might come home this coming weekend(as long as they get her lungs under control ). Thanks again for all the prayers... our GOD is an AWESOME GOD.

GOD is watching ...

Olivia had another good night. She has been pretty steady for the most part with saturations. This afternoon they took out the two chest tubes which is AWESOME ... less pain for her. Before they got the tubes out the nurse was changing her diaper out and she decided to hold her breath until she turned blue... just to show everybody who's the BOSS...it's sooo Olivia. It was scary to watch but didn't last long since the nurses came and suctioned her out pretty fast. Now she looks way more comfortable. Also today they started to do "sprints" on her which is allowing her under the ventilator to take "breaths" on her own for about one hour. She really did very good but they are going to repeat it a couple more times today and HOPEFULLY tomorrow they can get her off the ventilator. Can't wait to see her pretty face that is trying so hard to keep her eyes open and move her hands and legs in front of us so we can kiss them :))))) .
Thanks again for all the prayers because GOD IS WATCHING OVER US...

Progress...

Today I have to say has been a better day so far. Livi looked so much better. Her face isn't as swollen and nor is her belly. They took out one of the chest tubes (3 more to go), went down on the morphine drips and her chest X-ray looked so much better (they couldn't even see her lung yesterday). So far her blood pressure has been stable (one less med) and they are hoping by tonight to go a bit down on the ventilator. Livi is tolerating her feeding fine so she is getting almost 0.5 oz per hr.
She did open her eyes for the first time around 10:00 am ...YAY...and it was soooo precious. She looked at us back and forth and her little mouth start drooling because she wanted to talk so bad :-) . We had to stop talking no matter how much we wanted to play with her so she didn't start getting too much stimulation and had to get more sedatives.
I brought her favorite nite-nite book "On the night you were Born'' so i could read it to her but couldn't do it... tears covered my eyes as soon as I opened it so, Peter took it and read it to her as we both held each one of her little hands until she went back to sleep.
The day is still long but thanks to all your prayers we believe things will get better soon :-) .

OUR LITTLE SALSA DANCER!

Not many changes today beside her being more awake. When we got there in the morning, I don't know why but I was expecting things to look better ( a bit unrealistic). Her belly is still swollen quite a bit & her left lung is partially collapsed due to all the fluids which means she is still on the ventilator probably for another couple of days. She still has the 3 chest tubes and the dialysis catheter to drain her.Every time we called her name today she would start to move her legs and hip as much as she could so the nurses are calling her "Olivia the salsa dancer"... It fits her perfectly. Beside that she has been holding our hands all day and really squeezed them every time we tried to let it go. I know she is really sedated but I swear she knew we were there. It was just another hard day since we can't do much to help her & she squeezing our hands/fingers it made it harder... It was like she was calling for help and her mommy & daddy couldn't do ANYTHING. We don't know how much we can take seeing her like that,I hope GOD will heal her little body soon. We can't even look at her without falling over her and bursting in tears :((( .On the positive side we're hoping for a better day tomorrow. They just started feeding her so hopefully that would help...

Post Op...

We finally got some sleep last night after this past stressful week. Before we left our hotel room around 7-ish we called the hospital for any updates since we didn't get a call during the night. When we called her room, the doctors had just finished their round on Olivia so the "verdict'': They decided to take her back to OR and put a permanent dialysis catheter on her since things weren't looking the greatest :((( .
I felt like putting the phone down and start screaming just thinking the pain my little baby girls is going through...
I guess she hardly peed during night time,so after all the fluids given to her for her heart are just sitting around her lungs and her little belly looks like a beach-ball, sooo sad. Just during the night time she has gained 1 kg (2 lb) and is all drowning her body. We rushed to the hospital and asked to speak with both docs (cardiology & nephrology) to why all this change in just 7-8 hr.
They are all blaming her kidney function and all the fluid in her body is pressing even more on her kidney which is making it harder to pee. Livi is in so much pain meds because she has been so restless and each time we talk to her she tries to move her hands & feet from excitement... it brakes our heart ...I wish we can just take her and cuddle with her to comfort her little body.
Her other surgery is around 2:00 pm. They'll put the catheter and two draining tubes by each kidney to drain her body hoping this will help with everything and above all the ventilator which is running pretty high right now.
I pray that God helps her during this time and makes her better soon because our heart aches for ou little Livi since nothing is in our hands... she is so innocent like million of other children and have done nothing to deserve this..
Thank you all for all the prayers and comforting words that you have sent our way...

Olivia's surgery

Tuesday morning was so hard... We all got up (after having Olivia sleep with us for the first time ever) got dressed and headed to the hospital. She was being soooo cute like she knew where she was going. Around 7:40 the surgery team came and got her and the surgery didn't start until one hour later. Before that the surgent Dr. Ohye spoke to us and told us that he wasn't going to put the dialysis catheter yet thinking to give Olivia another chance on her kidney as long as she continued to pee. Within an hour and a half he had everything done ( the surgery was supposed to last 3-4 hrs). What a relief that was when he came out and told us the good news... no dialysis and her heart was finally working right.
At around 11:30 we finally went up to see Livi. She was on a ventilator and asleep from the anesthesia and the morphine. Our baby looked so peacefull asleep and beautiful as always that it was hard to believe she just went through an open heart surgery. The day seemed long ... not much changes during the day, so we left around 8-9:00 pm for our hotel expecting a better day tomorrow...

Getting ready...

... Yesterday I got a phone-call from Livi's U of M nurse and she told me her surgery is scheduled at 7:45 Tue. morning. Her pre-appt. on Monday will be from 10:00 am until 5-6:00 pm so the good news is that they'll let us take her to our hotel room for the night. YEAY!!!

Today was a very hectic day since there is so much stuff to take care before we leave for An Arbor. Since we got up this morning Olivia helped me get all her clothes and blankets ready including aunt Lydia's awesome quilt that aunt Vera just finished washing. We're so thankful for our aunties including our auntie Tina that babysits Livi everyday even when she doesn't have to :-) .
Well packing is not much fun but I hope next time we pack, is for a family vacation which is very much needed.
Thank you all for all your prayers, ph-calls and txt-mssg, we really appreciate'em :)))

Apple is our favorite fruit - ) since we live in MI.

Two weeks ago we finally got the okay from Dr. Steinke (the nephrologyst) to start giving Olivia baby-cereal by mouth. You should've seen Peter and I after the doctor's appointment... we drove right to Meijer, headed to the baby-food section and with the "allowed food list" in our hands tried to pick up as much as we could hold. Neither one of us was looking at each other until we headed for the cart and... it was too much food since we can give Olivia just one fruit or vegetable per week, sooo... we both laughed and had to put some back and try to take the shopping EASY :-)
It was a great experience. At first we had to start with plain rice cereal, which she wasn't much into, then I decided to add a bit of apple and what a difference that made. What can I say, she likes sweets :-) probably because when she was in NICU the nurses (which we love them) always gave her sweeties -) .
She eats everyday about 1-2 tsp of the apple cereal, sitting on her big girl "bumbo" chair. I love her messy face when she smacks her lips so she can taste the food better. Can't wait for the doc.'s appointment this week to see how much she weights.

The surgery date!

For the passed couple of weeks I have gotten phone calls from the surgeon's office in Ann Arbor that i have purposefully ignored... I just wasn't ready to set a date yet. Peter and I have had long talks and shed many tears over this date but it has to get done to better Olivia's life.
Friday afternoon Livi's cardiologyst office called me with a date since I couldn't decide on any one during September... and it will be SEPTEMBER 29-TH.
Also during the nephrologist appointment last week we found out that Olivia's kidney(whats left about 29 %) will shut down for good and she will be in dialysis until the transplant(which will be next year before she reaches two).
Even though we were somewhat prepared about all of these I have to say it has been harder than we thought... I feel like days are going too fast and hours are flying by :( .

Livi still looks more beautiful than ever and she can almost sit up by herself. Also since she just had her 6-months birthday mamma gave her a pedicure which makes her look like such a girl that she is :-)
Please pray for our little princess that God watches over her and that everything goes great so we can bring our Livi back home soon.

Our big girl is now 12.lb !!!

One of the best parts of a doctor or nurse visit for us is Olivia's weight. Today was one of those days. Livi finally reached the goal that we had been waiting for a long time ..."12 lb" . Our little girl is finally growing :-)

Olivia loves her bottle!!!

It is such a wonderful feeling to be able to feed Olivia by bottle. Every other day we have been able to give her a bottle around 6 o'clock PM and has been going great. Seeing Olivia suck on that nipple and really coordinate her breathing it's really God's miracle. She is now taking about 2oz with no problem and be content at the end by keeping her oxygen levels in higher 90's.

At the doctor's appointment today Livi's weight was 11 lb 15 oz and 24 inch long. God is really watching over her and us everyday, thanks to all the prayers said for us from all our family and friends. Dr. Steinke didn't do any changes this week with her feeding beside increasing the formula-volume since Olivia is continuing to grow :-) .

I know I have mention it before how much Olivia loves bath time... it gets better... she can now sit up when I give her baths (with my help) and loves it even more because she gets to play with her legs and feet, splashing them like she is running... LOVE IT...
Her hair still sticks-up even though I got a big part of it combed down.
Also no matter how much lotion I put over her after bath-time it doesn't last long. Livi is continually putting both of her hands in her mouth (maybe teething soon) which has given her a new nick-name from Dada: "Daddy's Sour-dough bread"... got to love it...

We are so thankful with Livi's progress and can't wait for the years to come...

Our Livi Grace is now 5 months old.

Olivia is now five moths old and more alert than ever. She loves to sit up ... with help, suck on her fingers, especially on the left index and doesn't like to be cover at night at all. It is so cute to see how upset she gets when you put even a light sheet on her... she wiggles her feet as fast as she can and starts pulling the corners of the sheet away from her making cute little sounds :-) .
She still loves bed time stories or mommy to sing to her in Albanian... puts her right to sleep.
Also twice a week with the home-nurses help Livi is taking milk out of the bottle and she is doing great. She is consistency taking 1 1/2 oz by herself and enjoying every single suck.

Yesterday we had her cardiology check up. She is doing so much better. Livi is now 11 lb 6 oz and 24 inch long (quite a difference to us from a four pounder when she was born).
Her cardiologist Dr. Lee had spoken to the surgeon in U of M and they think that they can wait to do the surgery until the end of September-beginning of October as long as she continues to grow.
Also her labs are way better to what they have been since she was born. We took Olivia every week to the nephrology office for check -ups since she was discharged from NICU but we're finally getting a brake and spacing those appointments out to every other week due to her progress... she is such a FIGHTER.

Peter and I can't tell her enough how blessed we are to be her parents. She is growing so fast and we can't be more happy with her progress :-)

Our Family pictures

On memorial day Lisa Kae (aunt Lydia's friend) came over and took beautiful pictures of our family. It was so nice of her to do that for us in her day off.We finally have family pictures and I can't wait to print them all and fill-up our walls with our little angel's pictures.
Here are the links:
slide-show:
http://lisakaephotography.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=8378770&AlbumKey=tivhD

gallery: http://lisakaephotography.smugmug.com/gallery/8378770_tivhD/1/549781177_PLCvD

Thanks Lisa. You're a great person and above all an awesome photographer :-)

Smiling makes everything better !!!

One thing that we can always describe Olivia is "smiley" and "happy" no matter what she is going through. Yesterday we had the cardiology appointment and once again Olivia had the biggest smile and the loudest "gu-gu's" as soon as Dr. Lee entered the room. After they got her vidals, EKG and ultrasound Dr. Lee sat-down and told us that there was something different about Olivia this time. First of all he said she looks so happy and content, her blood oxygen had gone up from high 80's to high 90's, her blood flow from her lungs to her heart had slowed down compare to a couple of weeks ago and she no longer has the extra open valve that was dripping fluids from her lungs into her heart(which she developed after she got that bad "pneumonia" 3-4 weeks ago).He couldn't explain it why but he said it was nice to see things not get any worse after what she went through this passed month. Considering all of these Dr. Lee told us that it's time to consider the surgery now in a couple of months and he strongly recommended U of M due to her weight (still at 10lb & 2oz) and the size of her large whole. Hoping and praying that there is no more set-backs like that last one :-( she'll be climbing the 'big mountain' that we have been waiting for so long (it seems) at only six months old. Dr. Lee thinks that she'll handle the surgery well but we still don't know the recovery since she'll be in dialysis due to her kidney failure...
Please pray for our Livi to continue to be strong and grow bigger so her little body can handle this "huge" surgery .
For all of you that haven't met Olivia yet:
She likes to sleep at night time and take naps during the day (just like dadda);during the day every time we turn the mobile on she moves her feet so fast you think she is running; After she discovered her hands a couple of weeks ago Livi thinks that her left thumb is the most delicious thing in the whole world; her hair... well lets just say it's not going down anytime soon... I guess it makes her look taller(she is now almost 23 inch. long). She loves her swing that grandpa and grandma bought her and when she sleeps at night likes to scoot down in her bed and put her feet up (maybe better back support or holding herself down from always wanting to move and run). Olivia likes to be changed (especially her diaper) and stay just in her diaper with nothing on her no matter how cold or warm is in the house. She has been out two times each in both grandparent houses and uncle Steve & aunt Vera house too, one time at the church and one time at the mall with mommy, aunt Tina, her little cousin Briana(that loves to hold her hand) and aunt Vera( I guess six is our lucky number so far :-P ). Livi is always happy and looking at her bright smiley face every morning gives Peter and I strength no matter how rough our days can be...

Livi is a fighter

On April 24 Olivia had her first surgery, Nissen G/Tube,rotation of her intestine and an appendectomy. The surgery went very well but as they were bringing her to us she decided to stop breathing for an instant which gave all the nurses and docs a big scare because of her heart condition. When they brought her upstairs to the PICU she was on oxygen, pale as a ghost and had a big rolled sheet under her shoulders to open her airway (made her look very uncomfortable) and was very hard to see. Being a strong baby as she is Livi got herself back off the oxygen in a couple of days. For the rest of the recovery she was put on level 7 which is the nephrology floor so they could get her electrolytes back to normal before she got home. During her stay there things got worse. The nephro team, being so big on her nutrition forgot about her health conditions and filled her up with IV fluids so much to the point of having the chest x-ray look like two big clouds instead of lungs in her little body. I was at home that night since Peter did the night shift so at first I didn't know what was going on until I called to check up on both of them and I got the answer that no mother wants to hear;" Dajana, I think we're loosing her. She can hardly breathe and she looks blue... " We both thought we were living a nightmare. Peter was there next to her crib, by himself, trying to comfort her. The Kidney doctor, Dr. Bunchman enters the room and as he was looking at him said: "I'm worried about her Peter. I think what I'm seeing here is heart failure..." Can you imagine what was going through Peter's head at that instance... screaming probably wouldn't have done justice to what he was feeling right there an then. Not even minutes later, Olivia's cardiologist, Dr. Lee entered the room and said "I don't believe what we're seeing here is heart failure. What I see is that Olivia has been overloaded with fluids. What a relief that was. It seemed like 20 doctors swarmed to her rescue by putting her in PI CU (again) and giving her some Lasics to get some of her extra fluids out. I got there right before they transferred her upstairs and seeing her in agony and breathing for her life was one of the hardest moments we've experienced so far. I don't know how Peter did it all night long. As we waited for them to take her to PI CU, Peter and I looked at each other with tears in our eyes, listening to the monitors loudly beeping and Peter's dad gently holding Olivia's hand, promising her that if she got better, Grandpa would take her for a ride in his big green truck.
This experience has cost us more heartache and ups and downs that her NI CU stay. She was there until May 5-Th, Tuesday and rushed back to ER on Monday and admitted again on May 13-Th for another week. We can definitely say that she has spend more time in the hospital that at home since she was born. Scary but it's always rewarding bringing her home and getting to cuddle with her again, giving her baths that she loves so much and cover her with kisses without having to worry about all the wires that she was connected to and the loud monitors that beep continuously. Livi has been home for almost a week now and she is doing much better. She is on continues feeding(non-stop drip feeding through a pomp in her G/Tube all day)and seem to tolerate that fine. I don't think we can do it without all the prayers that are said for us everyday. Olivia is God's miracle and she shows that to us everyday through her precious life.
Livi got her labs drown again today and they are finally normal (as normal as they can be) thanks to Dr. Steinke which is working very hard for her. If you ask us how we're feeling right now despite all the different meds and feeding receipes that change every week to keep her stable,we would say:"Life is good... our little miracle is finally home, again, and we're trying to take one day at a time." Thanks for all your prayers.

I'm finally home and I'm loving it

Olivia is now at home after 5 weeks in NICU (Jan 31-March 08)and she is doing great adjusting to the new environment. She sleeps great during the night time and is pretty alert during the day. Even though on a lot of medications Livi is really growing fast and really good with all the health issues. She gets her nutrition through her NG/tube (tube from her nose to her stomach) but we're trying to get her to breathe slower so we can give her a bottle.Our precious baby girl now weights 8lb :-) . Olivia loves to roll on her belly and sit up when mommy and daddy helps out, being sang to and have her hands held (no matter if she is crying you'll always get a smile out of her if you hold her hands). Finally we feel that our life is somewhat close to normal since we don't have to drive every morning to the hospital to see our little angel. Our LIVI is finally home and we're loving it :-)
P.S
(We just want to thank everybody for your love and support and our favorite nurses Jill, Janelle, Miranda and Marsha that took care of Livi so good)

Olivia Grace Harrison is finally here

Olivia was born on January 31-st, 2009 at 2:47 pm. She was delivered by c-section at Spectrum Health Hospital with a weight of 4lbs,15oz and a length of 17.5 inches. After she was born Olivia was diagnosed with hypertrophy-cardiomyapathy, ASD - VSD (whole in her heart) and severe hydronephroses which has left her with about 20% of one kidney. Our beautiful baby girl which is in NICU at the moment, has a head full of black hair and blue eyes. While waiting for her arrival we both were so curious to see who she looked like...well, there is no doubt, Olivia is the spitting image of her father. Take a look at the pictures and judge for yourself.

Waiting for Olivia's arrival...

Her room is finaly finished... 11 more days to go...