While 9/11 is often filled with tears of grief and sorrow, 9/11 for the Swiss contingent was filled with tears of joy. Our last update (Facebook) left off with the continued reduction of Mayla's medications and the hope of removing her oxygen dependence. Since then Keri has posted a couple picture updates, first, the removal of Mayla's oxygen, a blessing too great for words, and second, Mayla's arrival to neonatal (NICU) and us finally being able to hold her, and more. The last two days have certainly been exciting, or exhausting, at this point they might have the same definition. Yesterday, minutes after Mayla's oxygen tube was removed she was transferred from Intensiv A to Intensiv B, the cardiac intensive care unit. The doctor in Intensiv A offered that she could probably go right to NICU, but there was no sense rushing it, tru that. The reason for the move, Mayla was becoming more and more stable and no longer required the level of care offered in A. The stay in Intensiv B was short-lived, praise God for that! However, after surgery Mayla will for sure be back to Intensiv B, for I'm sure a much longer time period. This morning, upon arriving for Mayla's morning feeding, we learned she was being transferred up to NICU which was a welcomed move as we had visited the NICU yesterday for a tour. NICU is so comfortable compared to A & B; for us, Mayla likely doesn't know the difference at this point. With the transfer to NICU, Mayla was given a window office with plenty of opportunity for Vitamin D, read "sun-tan". For us, NICU provides more comfortable chairs, a brighter environment and a much more comfortable and convenient room for Keri to pump.
Once to NICU, the first order of business was cleaning out a nasty diaper; I've now nicknamed her, super-puper. The next order of business was feeding, since Mayla was moved just prior to feeding time. Up to this point, our feedings consisted of syringe to the feeding tube and about 5 ml via a bottle, one time. I was hopeful with the move that we would have more opportunity to feed with a bottle, boy was I in for a surprise. The first question related to feeding was not, "do you want to do it," rather, "would you like to breast feed?" Directed to Keri of course. I'm sure the women reading this can imagine the excitement after not having nursed our 5 day old and only holding her for 2-3 minutes maximum. Of course! There is no way we would pass this up. The nurse directed me to a room housing the "comfy chairs" for nursing moms where I picked out a doozy for Keri and Mayla's first nursing. Keri had a seat while the nurses got Mayla ready and I armed myself with the camera, uh yeah, I took pictures. It is a bit more complicated for Keri to nurse right now because Mayla still has one needle for her meds and an array of sensors. Nonetheless, it was arguably the most beautiful sight in 5 days, Keri receiving Mayla to begin nursing. A couple of our fears which have surfaced over the last days are (1) Mayla not adapting to nursing well, and (2) Mayla not being a snuggler since she's been "alone" with only hand touching up to now. One of the two of these has been relieved, Mayla will certainly be a snuggler, no doubt about it. Nursing on the other hand is going to take some time, patience, and prayer. While nursing didn't go too well, the two together was still an incredible sight to behold, one which brought a large amount of tears to my eyes, and clicks from the camera.
Since nursing was not such a stellar experience, Mayla's feeding needed to be completed by syringe and Keri had to run off to pump and meet with the mid-wife (by the way, another answer to prayer, finding a new mid-wife that would come to the hospital, who speaks English, and is incredibly nice, wise, and helpful). But before Keri ran off, it was time for tear shedding round two. Leading up to this point, I had not held Mayla. I have touched with every bit of love my heart, hands, and lips could muster, but I was unable to hold her after the birth before being rushed to the Kinderspital, and I had not yet held her here. Keri having to leave opened up such an opportunity and now was my turn. Keri armed the camera, I prepped myself in the "comfy chair", which isn't so comfy after three hours, and Mayla was placed into my arms. I'm not sure if tears came faster from the time Mayla was put in my arms or from the time she was born, but it probably doesn't matter. This was arguably the most special moment I've had since marrying Keri. I cried and cried and cried, posed for some pictures, then spent the next 2-3 hours staring at my daughters beautiful hair. While the Lord has the hair on our heads numbered, I've got a pretty good idea of how many are on half of Mayla's, and I certainly know the direction of them and which ones are curly (and yes, they curl, praising God for that too). I could have stayed there all day, until I started getting cramps in my legs, and even then, I stuck it out a bit longer. This was another of many, many incredible blessings over the last 5 days.
The remainder of the day was filled with more tears of joy, us, and some tears of grief, Mayla. All in all, Keri and I had a great day today, even the last few days. Mayla, on the other hand, had some hi's and lo's today. She is still doing very well, but has her moment's of extreme fussiness, painful and agonizing cries, some issues with blood sugar, and a few extra pokes and prods that she doesn't really care for so much. Despite this, it really was another fantastic day of seeing the Lord's hand at work in our lives and the life of our 5 day old child.
While things have been on the upswing for the last few days, we are not out of the mess yet and realize it will get worse before it gets better. We have probably another 3-4 weeks minimum in the Kinderspital. We have yet to speak with a surgeon but the rumors are that surgery will happen the beginning of next week. Following surgery, we have probably 2-3 weeks recovery before we can bring her home. The recovery will likely include visits to all three intensive care units once again, which means, while we have the opportunity for so much closeness with Mayla right now, we will be losing that for a time beginning next week. Prayers are certainly needed for that adjustment.
This is certainly long enough, but we would be remiss for not thanking each and every one of you around the world praying for our daughter and us. Obviously we can not do this by name, but please know our hearts and thanks go out to all of you praying for us, supporting us, encouraging us, loving us, etc. The outpouring of love is so humbling, but I really do not have words to describe how it makes both of us feel. We have been blessed in more ways than we can count, by persons both near and far. Keri and I have shared with eachother on numerous occasions that we are definitely strengthened by the prayers of all of you. The Father continues to provide for us in what were once unthinkable ways. One of our prayers is that all of you are able to see the hand of God in this situation, turn to Him, and give Him all the glory for everything that is going on. I only hope our updates reflect enough of what He is doing to encourage you to do just that. So before I outline a few specific prayer requests, I ask you to turn your eyes now to heaven, and thank Him, praise Him, glorify Him, worship Him, stand/sit/kneel/whatever in awe of the work of His merciful hand. Because without it, none of what we have shared and you have read about would be happening. All of the progress made by Mayla and our strength for getting through each and every exhausting day comes from Him, and only Him. He deserves the praise for this. Now some specifics for all of us, as stated Mayla's blood sugar is low and she is receiving a significant amount of Glucose to supplement that. When we learned this evening how low the blood sugar was we immediately began praying for a miracle before the next checking of her sugar. That prayer was answered as her blood sugar was in the perfect range the next time it was checked. We pray for this blood sugar level to remain and for God to continue to perform his miracles in this babe. Another is for Mayla's adaptation to the bottle and nursing. This is a struggle for both Mayla and Keri, as you mothers can probably imagine. We pray the Lord quickly adapts Mayla to feeding from the bottle and especially nursing. Keri also has a significant amount of swelling and while we take every moment we can to rest, we pray the swelling subsides and the brief periods of rest throughout the day sustain us throughout each day. Lastly, amidst all of this, I am now without a job (truthfully another blessing as working right now would make the situation significantly more difficult) but I do have a second interview Friday morning at 9:30 and pray the Lord's hand on me during the interview and pray ultimately for a job offer. Okay, this one is last; all three intensive care units at the Kinderspital are virtually full. That means there are well over 30 children receiving intensive care treatment with more coming on a daily basis. Keri, Mayla, and I regularly pray for the other children and their families, but please lift them up also for strength, healing, and the Lord's revelation in their lives and situation. We really don't believe this experience is just about us and Mayla.
Before we go, I want to thank again all of you around the world who have joined us in prayer, and who have taken time out of your busy days and schedules to support us. So many of you have been here for us and we could not do this without you. We thank you, and we love you. We also publicly thank all the staff at the Kinderspital Zürich for your love, tenderness, compassion, mercy, wisdom, knowledge, experience, etc, and for doing what you do so our baby can have an opportunity at a full life. I apologize this is so long, but we could really say so much more. Thank you! We love you! ~ Will, Keri, and Mayla
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| I've seen this pose, oh yes, your mother does this exact pose... |
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| First time wearing clothes, and FINALLY, a proper name sign (read, lacking pink...) |
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| Miracle... |
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| after miracle. Thank you Jesus |
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| Daddy sharing with his beloved daughter stories of healings performed by our Savior, while being one herself. |
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| We've already broken so many of our own rules, not being "those" parents on Facebook (you know which ones) and now already a iPhone. |
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| Last feeding of the night. She took about 20 ml by bottle, but we are praying for more and can't wait for tomorrow. |
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