Monday, October 24th 2016, 139 days in the NICU

I know it's been awhile since Ira's last blog update,  and I know everyone who is following along is wanting to know how she's doing. The biggest thing that has been going on, is her feeds.  She hit full feeds about a week ago and she has been working on consolidating her feeds into every three hours. She's currently getting a 2 hour break, then getting her full feeds over an hour. She is still throwing up a lot, and at first we thought, Oh No, but they said she's a Happy Spitter  and they aren't worried about it! So, thankfully that won't hold us back! They were wanting to send us home on her taking gravity feeds, which is pretty much a bottle but through her GTube, and not ran by a pump. They were also wanting to send us home with her not throwing up a whole lot......but, we found out today, Monday October 24th, that Ira has some sensitivity issues to my breast milk, so for now she's on formula until her throwing up/gagging stage comes to a near end. Then thankfully, we can use the 10+ gallons of breast milk I have pumped for the last 4 in a half months! I just  about died at the thought of pumping this long, and her not being able to have all of it!!! Ahhh!!!! 

But do we have some news for you....

We found out Thursday, October 20th....

that we are HEADING HOME!!!!!

We will be coming home with a feeding pump and working on consolidating her feeds at home! We will have lots of follow up appointments, and will have some medical employees come to our house every week or so, to help Ira learn to suck from a bottle. But, we are heading HOME!!!! Best part is, we are heading home.............TOMORROW!!!!!!!! (Tuesday, October 25th!) Hopefully discharge will be between 11am and 1pm! We have to stop by Dayton Children's to pick up our supplies, but we will soon be showing Ira her home! FINALLY!!! It's been a long time coming, but our NICU journey, dare I say, is over!!!!
We would LOVE for all of you to visit Ira; however, we are asking for just a few short days to get home and get use to our "new" normal!! I will definitely let everyone know when we are accepting  visitors. All we ask is that if you or someone in your family has had anything, even a runny nose in the last month, that you wait just a little longer to meet Ira. We also ask that if you or anyone in your household is unvaccinated , that you as well, wait just a little while longer to meet Ira Jo. Not that we want to start problems, but Ira's body is working so hard to recovery, develop, and heal, that she could not take getting sick. Specially, with a big illness that a vaccine could prevent. We were told there has been a big outbreak of whooping cough and there are many children being hospitalized here at Cincinnati. So we are being EXTRA careful! Whooping cough could do lots of damage to any baby or child, even adults, but specially to Ira. Ira was obviously born prematurely and her lungs weren't 100% developed. Because her lungs weren't 100% developed, she has a small case of chronic lungs disease. She will eventually grow out of it, but we are going to do everything in our power to keep Ira  Jo out of the hospital!!! We are DONE with hospitals!! So please don't get offended by our choices. They are not personal by any means...we are just making what we think is the best medical choice for our child. We hope and pray that ALL who have been following along, loved on us and prayed for us, get to meet our big NICU miracle soon! Thank you for understanding, and your  cooperation. Also, and most importantly, THANK YOU for your prayers, your sweet uplifting messages and for all those who have helped by giving financially, meals, or anything!! We definitely couldn't have done any of this without your prayers, love and support!
We will be posting LOTS of pictures on Facebook and Instagram, so make sure you stay tuned!!!
:):):):):):):)
EEEKKKK!!! We are so excited!!
The Sinks! 💕

Psalm 37:5 {9/19/16}

Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:5

Nothing worth doing --and doing well-- comes quickly or easily. 

But the wisdom, patience, strength. and even joy God provides will definitely help!

"Slow and steady wins the race" that's the phrase that has been programed into our heads since day #1,  and it could not be anymore accurate or frustrating!

Saturday, September 17th, Ira Jo official started feeds! 1 mL an hour and she stayed at 1 mL until today, Monday, September 19th. She's now at 2 and hopefully each day she can go up by one or two until we reach full feeds! She has had multiple dirty diapers since her surgery, so they know things are moving from top to bottom, which is showing them that the surgery worked! So far they have still not been able to figure out why any of this happened and that's okay, we know God has some amazing reason why this happened and we are satistified with that, but for now all we know is that Ira had about 10 inches of bowel that just didn't work! 

At this point we are doing what by now you'd think we'd be great at...but we definitely aren't, or at least we don't feel like we are...but we are...... waiting!!

We have specific instructions that Ira needs to reach a point where she can take 90 mL (3 ounces) every 3 hours by bottle and have at least one dirty diaper every day or every two days in order to go H-O-M-E!! We also know in order to get where we need to be its going to be awhile and that's okay! Like I said before...nothing worth doing right comes quickly or easily, and it's going to take much patience, strength and choosing to find the joy in every extremely long day! 

(Now, if I can remember that when I have two screaming girls at home!)

But we are at the very beginning very anxiously awaiting that drive home! We are trusting in God and giving Him all our weariness and knowing that This Too Shall Pass! We will walk this journey a little longer, very slow and steady, but with God's help, we will conquer this race!

All I ask is that you please pray for the feeding situation, that she continues to do well with her feeds, she continues to pass stool like she has been..and that Linden and I don't loose our minds! :P 

My constant reminder is that this too shall pass! This is a small phase in our life that will soon be a distant memory.

Thank you all for your on going prayers and loving thoughts.

We are truly blessed by you all!

XOXO

Linden 

Lani

Ada Lou

Ira Jo

Psalm 37:5 {9/19/16}

Commit your way to the Lord, 

Trust also in Him,

And He shall bring it to pass.

Psalm 37:5

Nothing worth doing --and doing well-- comes quickly or easily. 

But the wisdom, patience, strength. and even joy God provides will definitely help!

"Slow and steady wins the race" that's the phrase that has been programed into our heads since day #1,  and it could not be anymore accurate or frustrating!

Saturday, September 17th, Ira Jo official started feeds! 1 mL an hour and she stayed at 1 mL until today, Monday, September 19th. She's now at 2 and hopefully each day she can go up by one or two until we reach full feeds! She has had multiple dirty diapers since her surgery, so they know things are moving from top to bottom, which is showing them that the surgery worked! So far they have still not been able to figure out why any of this happened and that's okay, we know God has some amazing reason why this happened and we are satistified with that, but for now all we know is that Ira had about 10 inches of bowel that just didn't work! 

At this point we are doing what by now you'd think we'd be great at...but we definitely aren't, or at least we don't feel like we are...but we are...... waiting!!

We have specific instructions that Ira needs to reach a point where she can take 90 mL (3 ounces) every 3 hours by bottle and have at least one dirty diaper every day or every two days in order to go H-O-M-E!! We also know in order to get where we need to be its going to be awhile and that's okay! Like I said before...nothing worth doing right comes quickly or easily, and it's going to take much patience, strength and choosing to find the joy in every extremely long day! 

(Now, if I can remember that when I have two screaming girls at home!)

But we are at the very beginning very anxiously awaiting that drive home! We are trusting in God and giving Him all our weariness and knowing that This Too Shall Pass! We will walk this journey a little longer, very slow and steady, but with God's help, we will conquer this race!

All I ask is that you please pray for the feeding situation, that she continues to do well with her feeds, she continues to pass stool like she has been..and that Linden and I don't loose our minds! :P 

My constant reminder is that this too shall pass! This is a small phase in our life that will soon be a distant memory.

Thank you all for your on going prayers and loving thoughts.

We are truly blessed by you all!

XOXO

Linden 

Lani

Ada Lou

Ira Jo

Surgery #3

Surgery #3 = Complete!

Remember how this surgery was to determine whether we got an ileostomy bag and a mucus fistula, or we don't get anything and Dr. Helmrath just resects the bad bowel and reconnects the healthy???

{Expect the worse...pray for the best!}

 WE GOT THE BEST!

Dr. Helmrath is confident that Ira Jo's bowels are going to work properly this time! Obviously he's not God, so we're praying things work, but from a surgical stand point, he is very hopeful!

(Huge Sigh of Relief)

Dr. Helmrath told us that the surgery went well. They opened her up with the same incision and he said there didn't seem to be a whole lot of scar tissue around the incision area, but further up, closer to her stomach there was quit a bit. They did in fact put a G-Tube into her stomach and Dr. Helmrath said it was a better they did it now while she was already in the OR rather than wait, because it would have been very invasive. When the surgical team looked at the piece of bowel they reconnected the first time, they found a big ball of scar tissue around the two ends they connected, and a leakage/hole. Before we thought that her bowel had perforated in another spot on the opposite side of her body, but that wasn't true. Instead, the hole that developed in the ball of scar tissue had leaked and all the stool that came out of it just built up on the opposite of her stomach, causing the infection. Dr. Helmrath said that the leakage at the reconnection sight would have never healed on its own, but he did mention that he could see a blockage of stool in the part of the bowel that just didn't function right. The same part of the bowel he wishes he would have taken out the first time. So he went ahead and took out that whole area, 10 centimeters or 4 inches to be exact, then he reconnected two healthy ends! :) He said she didn't lose but a few tablespoons of blood!

Yes, he is that good! 

Ira is obviously in pain, but if you didn't know, your bowels have no nerve endings...so her bowels aren't causing her any pain. Her incision and her stomach muscles hurt and that's it!

Dr. Helmrath is an amazing surgeon! We can't say enough good things about that man! It was truly a God thing that we got Dr. Helmrath as surgeon! It really was!

That's all about the surgery; however, I do want have a share a story with you folks!

I'd like to show you just how awesome our God is and continues to be through this whole process!

So some of you may know this already, but just last week when we found out we were starting over, Dr. Helmrath came to Ira's room and I just so happened to be here! 

Thank goodness!

He wasn't coming for any update or any new news...instead he was coming to spend sometime and just check up on Ira! He was quit thrilled to tell me that the days that I'm not here and he is...he makes it a part of his day to come and talk to Ira and see how she is! :)

Well I thought while he was here I might as well ask about his research and how it's going!

Turns out... Ira Jo has helped him further his research a lot!

He was telling me about how he works on regrowing bowels for transplants and etc...then he told me "Im thankful for two reasons. One because I was only on call that one week in June that Ira was born and two because you signed the paper giving me permission to research on the things I have taken from Ira. I have been able to grow an entire new bowel system, muscles and all. Literally everything your bowels need to work correctly. I also have an esophagus, and a stomach growing, all from the things Ira didn't need. Once they are fully developed, I will be able to do a transplant for another baby that needs it. Your daughter will help save other babies lives."

I remember asking God when this all started, why he would use the one thing in this world I loved most to teach me whatever lesson I have to learn. Then also why He had to do it like this...

Well, it turns out God is trying to shows me that not only does He love my children more than I do, but also because He loves me more than I love my own kids. I need to learn to trust Him with EVERYTHING in my life, my children included.  I need to trust and be patient, along with everything else under the sun I need to learn! Plus, He showed me that every single little detail in His plans matter...Ira having a bowel problem, the fact she was a preemie born just the right week for Dr. Helmrath to be her surgeon, his research project and so much more... all of it, all of it mattered. God is truly always for us!

Starting Over!

Okay folks, hang on because we are going for another ride! 

We are starting over from square one! 

So as you all know, Ira has already had 2 surgeries. With the first she had the mucus fistula and ileostomy bag. With the second they reconnected her and hoped she would get better and things would start working correctly, then we'd be able to go home.

 Attempt #1 = FAIL

*If at first you don't succeed, try try again!!

*Don't give no for an answer!!

*Just keep swimming!!

(Every other "don't give up quote"...enter here!) 

To explain...after Ira's first surgery, her body started stooling out of her incision. Her body had made its own mucus fistula internally, and was leading her stool out the path of least resistance. Dr. H (head of the surgical team...his job is literally bowel problems!) said that he was pretty sure that her bowel had perforated again, and the reason for that was because there is a part of her bowel that just doesn't work at all. We have no clue why it doesn't work, but looking back he wishes really badly he would have just taken that part out while he had the chance. But he was trying to be hopeful and give her body time so that it may heal up and start working correctly on its own.

Eventually, her body closed up that hole, and that's when we all got excited because she was finally stooling through her bottom! Well, we got excited...not for no reason, but not the reason we were wanting! After her body stopped leaking stool out of her side, Dr. H was nervous that something like this would happen. She'd get sick. Thankfully, she didn't/hasn't gotten near as sick as she could. Her body...rather than continuing to stool out her side, closed one hole, backed up the upper part of her bowel (because remember that one section of her bowel doesn't work at all), and created another hole on the other side of her abdomen! Well that hole and mucus fistula, unlike the 1st one didn't have a way to get the fluid/stool outside of her body! So she was stooling out, internally! That's why she got sick! Her bowel perforated again, her body got an infection, her belly got very swollen, her fevers were high and finally they caught the build up of fluid/stool. So they placed a catheter into her abdomen to drain the build up...they got out 3 ounces of fluid.

>>GAME  PLAN!!!<<

1. Let her heal this week and get this infection under control, hopefully that means delt with!

2. Not this week, but the next...go in for surgery #1 (technically surgery #3), make a mucus fistula and ileostomy again...AND place a feeding tube into her stomach! (Will explain the feeding tube in a minute)

3. Wait until she recovers and they make 100% certain that all her colon works (feed her)...wait a little longer...preform surgery #2 (technically #4)  and reconnect her bowels.

4. Heal up, start feeds, teach her to eat from a bottle during the day and get a constant feed during the night through her feeding tube, then....GO HOME!!!! 

So yes, we will have a daughter with a feeding tube in her stomach.

No, you will not see it! (Unless you ask!)

No, you cannot touch it!

Yes, it's awesome!

Yes, it kind of makes me nervous! But oh well!

No, it will NOT be forever!

Yes, that means it will be temporary!

Our baby girl will be 100% PERFECT and pooping like a champ before we all know it! 

The reason she will have a temporary feeding tube is to help her gain weight faster. She will have the feeding tube, which looks just like a cap to a beach ball that you put your mouth on to blow up, and she will have it until she gets a little older. How long? Don't know. Don't care. It will be placed right on the side of her stomach and her clothes will cover it up.

We will have to change it out, just like an earring and put a bigger one in as she grows and eats more, but like I said this is just temporary! 

Eventually, they will just pull the feeding tube out and her body will heal that spot up all on its own, so there is no surgery needed to take out the feeding tube! 

Now...the Game Plan could be effected in a major way IF Dr. H, while in surgery...sees that Ira's colon looks AMAZING!! If it does look amazing, he may be able to just take out the bad section of bowel, reconnect and be done. We are all pretty confident that her colon works correctly because we have seen it, but Dr. H says...better to be safe than sorry. With this upcoming surgery she will lose more bowel, but if you didn't know...as your body grows so does your bowels. Your body makes more bowel as you grow and develop. So Ira will be fine as she gets older and has more bowel!. Either way,  this upcoming surgery, they will either make a mucus fistula and an ileostomy, or they will reconnect the two bowels. The rest of the plan will be the same IF all things go accordingly!

Your constant prayers have been much appreciated, but prayer warriors, we ask that you still make mention of Ira Jo! We've been on such a long journey and still have months to go.

Thank you for all your love and support

~Linden, Lani, Ada Lou & Ira Jo 

2 Steps Forward 1 Step Back

To sum up NICU life...two big steps forward and then one big step backwards! :(

Just when we get excited about one thing it all changes and breaks a little piece of your heart all over again.
Wednesday, August 10th, we were SO excited. Ira got rid of her breathing vent and all her tubes! Her sweet face was completely clear and we could finally see her cheeks with no tape on them! The whole day was so needed! The snuggles were none stop! Daddy even took off work to come down and snuggle sweet baby!! Have to get those kisses in on the clear cheeks while you can...because just like this, everything changed. After we left Wednesday, Ira threw up 6 times. It was just stomach liquids because she's not getting feed yet, but they were hoping she wouldn't throw up at all. So they took an x-ray and decided to put her suction tube back in her nose and into her tummy to suck out all her stomach juices. The x-ray showed that her stomach is enlarged and unable to do its job correctly. Yes, it has worked correctly before because she was on full feeds before surgery, but it's not working correctly now. :(
They obviously want to get her to start getting milk so that her bowels have more to work with, so they've came up with a plan. On one side of her nose she will have the suction tube in her stomach...on the other side of her nose, they are going to put a feeding tube in past the stomach all the way to the top of the bowel and feed her bowels directly. They are hoping that will help her bowels have more to push threw and hopefully work correctly or faster. She did have 2 dirty diapers that she has pushed out herself; however, she hasn't pushed anymore out, so they have had to help her. They do whats called irrigation every 8 hours...I'm sure you can all guess what happens when they do that!  It helps her that's all that matters! That and it doesn't hurt her at all! Anyways, that's the plan for now. The surgeon was honest with us and said that the stomach issue...yes, it's a pain, but it's not a surgical procedure...in fact it's something that will go away with time and if it takes a long time (he's seen cases were it takes months for the stomach to work again) we can come home with a feeding tube and little by little her stomach will learn to work again. Of course it's not ideal, but we will do WHATEVER is needed to help our baby! The bigger issue would be if her bowels closed where they were reconnected. X-rays are showing that that has happened a little, but not enough to be worried. If it does happen there would be another surgery and just that much longer of a stay. (Praying that DOESN'T happen!) But also if her bowels don't start pushing out the stole by themselves, she will have to be irrigated every day, every 8 hours, and yes that is something we can do at home as well, but they are not fond of the idea of letting us bring her home and doing that right now. They aren't comfortable with us bringing her home with two tubes in her face. (Pray she starts doing EVERYTHING herself!!!) Surgeon said there was a boy they kept at the hospital for 3 extra months to watch and irrigate everyday..then one day his colon woke up completely and he was able to go home! I was happy but my eyes got huge at the sound of 3 extra months! The surgeon looks at me and so sweetly says, "I know you want your baby home and we want you to have her home, but we want her to be safe. We don't want you to have to worry about anything..even though we know you will...but I do want to tell you, your family has a good couple more months here at the hospital. Specially, with this stomach issue now showing up. So, please don't get your hopes up on having her home for awhile, but obviously we don't know for certain so we will just hope her stay time is much shorter than we expect!"
A smile on my face...my heart on the floor.
We knew it was going to be a long road to recovery, but like I said..when you see the two big steps forward, you get so excited, then you're taking that big step back, and it hurts. We are just praying she comes home for Christmas!
There is so much to pray for...we feel selfish to ask for a miracle, but we know God is capable, and in the end we will be happy with whatever God's plan is because Thy Will Be Done!

Prayer Requests
1. Ira's bowels don't narrow, close, or develop any blockages.
2. She starts pooping by herself, at least once a day...out of her bottom.
3. Her stomach size goes down, and it starts working properly so they can feed it rather than suction it.
4. Over all health and development...that everything can just start working the way that it's suppose to so that she can be a happy healthy little girl!
5. Mom and Dads hearts are feeling very weary so prayers that we find peace and patience on this long constantly changing road.
6. Ada Lou is feeling plenty of love and attention through all this..specially because we honestly have NO idea how long our lives will be like this.

P.S. Don't be alarmed if this all changes and this isn't the plan by like..oh Morning? Sorry everything is so unpredictable!! Things are just getting a lot more complicated than just dirty diapers!

August 6th BEST DAY EVER!

Other than June 8th (Ira's birthday), August 6th is going down in the Sink Family Record book as the best day in 2016!!!

HER FIRST POOP!!! 

Then about an hour or two later....HER SECOND POOP! Lol 

I will never forget the months of my life were I prayed so hard that God would give me a dirty diaper to change, and I can promise you,  I will NEVER complain about dirty diapers, explosions or anything else that may come! Lol 

The surgery team is very impressed that Ira started pooping on her own after her little set back, and of course they have to thank surgery, but we all know the real reason behind her life and this miracle!! So we know WHO is really to be thanked for all of this! ;) 

All the Glory to God!! 

Aurter...(pronounced Aurther)...can't say his last name..(surgeon fellow...from Ukraine...AWESOME accent! Lol) 

Says Ira has made HUGE progress, but with surgeons,  good news also comes with  bad news! He said although she's pooping, there could be another set back. Knowing her colon works is awesome, but also knowing that there is still weeks of recovery isn't. Unfortunately, there are cases were the bowels heal together all the way...all the way meaning, it literally heals the bowel completely shut so she can't pass stole. How do you fix that? Surgery! They would go back in, cut out the bowel that was shut completely, and sew two new ends together. 

My question was, "what would stop those two ends from doing the same thing?!"

His answer...."nothing." 

Perfect. 

But good news is, that if that doesn't happen, which we are praying it doesn't {HUGE Prayer Request}, she wouldn't need anymore surgery at all! Woohoo! Liking the sound of that! Of course they are wanting to see a poopy diaper everyday, so my poop praying days are not over yet! 

Ira is not a fan of the effort it takes on her end to poop...poor thing isn't use to all this gas and the hard pushes, so she's very unsettled and grumpy. {Prayer request}

So for now that's all the updates I have other than my baby is 2 months old today! :) 

But thank you for your prayers and your love!! 

Please help us continue to pray for Ira's healing and that there doesn't have to be anymore surgery!!! 

Thank you all so much!! 

Love to all! 

~The Sinks 

All Things Are Possible If you BELIEVE!!! Mark 9:23

God is here with us! No doubt about it!

As many of you know, Ira had her second surgery (reconnection surgery) on Monday, July 25th. Friday, August 5th, God showed just how in control He really is!! First I HAVE to tell you about the past week in a half!

After Ira's surgery she took a nasty turn for the worst. Thankfully, she never spiked a fever, but she did what the doctors called "clamp downs" several times. "Clamp Downs" are when a babies stats drop very low, and if not helped immediately, it could result in death. The reason for these so called "clamp downs" was because Ira was having a very hard time breathing. There was a big build up of liquid in her lungs, as well as, an unbearable amount of pain from surgery that she could not handle. On top of all of that, she has a breathing tube down her throat again which is very uncomfortable. So I don't blame her at all for being scared, in pain, and uncomfortable, I just wish I could have skipped seeing my baby turn blue and be bagged in order to breath again. 'Bagged' is when a nurse or doctor has to take matters into their own hands and literally hook a bag up to a baby's vent and initiate breaths for the baby because they stop breathing for whatever reason. 

Fast forward a few days...

A red spot developed on Ira's tummy, doctors proscribed antibiotics right away just in case it was an infection. It presented itself to be an infection at first, then all the sudden it went away... Then things got interesting. 

Monday, August 1st, (1 week after surgery) she started leaking something through her incision...more antibiotics were given for infection...not infection. Instead, POOP!

Her body had made its own mucus fistula out of the incision that the surgeons had made.

(Note...I told my daughter "Ira...this is mommies birth month..please be a good girl and poop for me!"....Guess I should have been more specific!?)

That Monday quickly turned into the worst Monday Linden or I have ever had!

Hearing a surgeon apologize to you because the surgery didn't work, and the next step is to start completely back over..is heartbreaking. But then to hear to the man who's suppose to help save your child look you in the face and tell you "If her colon is the problem, and it doesn't work at all..we will take her colon out and reroute her small bowel to her bottom. Now please know, babies have a very hard time living without a colon. Yes, it is possible for babies to live...but not very often do they live long." Those words set me back into my seat...Tears STREAMING down our faces, we felt helpless. Right then and there we died inside at the very thought that we could lose our baby. We held each other, prayed, cried, and repeated. Just thinking about what the surgeon said and the feelings they give me, still makes my eyes fill with tears and my heart hurt. 

That was THE worst night of sleep I had ever gotten. 

I remember countless amounts of times, while Linden slept...I just stood over Ira and cried out to God, "please don't take my baby!"

He heard me!

I didn't sleep...I sat in the chair next to Ira and watched the time roll by.

7:00 am Tuesday, August 2nd...God showed himself to me and told me that everything was going to be okay...that I just need to be still.

Beside every baby in the pod...there is a computer. Us parents are not suppose to look at any other computer except the computer next to our baby! HIPPA!!

Anyways, at 7:00am the nurses switch from night shift to day shift...they sit at the supply desk next to each baby and give the updates and notes for how the baby did for them and so on. As I sat next to Ira, I watched the nurses across from me chat. I could not hear a word they were saying because I was in my own mind, thinking about all the news we received the night before. For some reason, my eyes drifted towards the computer next to the baby's bed across from us....there I saw a perfectly white screen...it looked like it was in word excel with nothing else around it...in the middle of the screen there looked to be a column with about 10-15 blocks, filled vertically. (No idea what any of them said) About a forth of the way down the vertical column there was a horizontal sentence going clear a crossed (no idea what it said)...It made an absolute perfect cross right smack in the middle of the computer screen. I stared in disbelief until the nurses got up and walked towards the baby's bed, passing the computer. Without either one of the nurses touching it or the keys, I watched the screen go back to its home page. I was meant to look at that screen. It was the first time through this whole big journey that I smiled, felt joy, happiness, peace, and KNEW God was telling me that He had this all under control, all at the same time. I finally fell asleep after that and it was the best sleep I've gotten since Ira's been born.
Fastforward to Friday, August 5th...my parents went to see Ira Jo.
I received a text message at 6:04 pm from my mom that put me in joyful tears for the very first time!
Ira is passing gas out of her bottom! LOUDLY!!! She's proclaiming to the world that her colon is waking up and wanting to work! The surgeon came to take a look at Ira just before my parents left, and he mentioned to them just how big of a deal her farts were! (lol never thought I'd say and/or type that!) We aren't sure what the next step is exactly, but as of right now the surgeons are not planning on doing any surgery, in hopes that this miracle continues to happen and she poops out of her bottom!! That would mean her body is fixing itself! How Great Is Our God?? Seriously! Now please know we are not getting over the top excited because there's not been any poopy diapers...but let me tell you the day there is a poopy diaper, every single one of you will know!! New Center 7 will broadcast about a crazy young white female running around Cincinnati Ohio screaming and crying "Hallelujah" all while holding and waving a poopy diaper above her head!! LOL (You think I'm kidding...you wait!)
But seriously guys how AWESOME is our God!?!? (Im squealing!)
Thank you all so much for praying for Ira Jo and our family!
Please continue to pray for Ira to poop correctly and her body to heal itself without needing surgery again...but most importantly that Gods' will be done through all this! All the glory be to HIM!
Thank you all so much! Much love!
~The Sinks

Surgery #2

Today, Monday, July 25th marks Ira Jo's last and final surgery. (Lord willing!) This morning was by far the hardest yet. I couldn't be more thankful for what's about to happen...but every part of me just wants to cry. Why can't it be me going into surgery instead of her? Just as any mother would do, I'd  do anything to take her pain away.
12:36 pm- Ira Jo is being wheeled back to surgery...
Good news...Surgeon said this shouldn't be near as bad of surgery as the first! Thank you Jesus, I needed so badly to hear that!!
2:33 pm- Still working on her, but Ira's doing fine.
3:00 pm- We entered a private room for the surgeon to come in and talked to us.
He said....
"All went well and baby Ira is doing great. The main goal was to reconnect the bowel and that was reached. The only problem that came up was that some of her bowel that the mucus fistula was in, was unhealthy and not able to be reconnected. Therefore, we had to take out 10 centimeters of that bowel just to get to a healthy piece to use so the reconnection would be successful. So there is no more mucus fistula or ostomy bag, but while she was open we took a look at the rest of her abdomen, and there we found a couple calcified cysts but nothing that we were worried about. We are still very unsure of why any of this happened, or why her bowel with the mucus fistula was not healthy enough to use...we've done all the tests we can to figure out why this happened and nothing has showed up. It must just be one of those things that happen with no clear answer of why. Thankfully, I have good hopes for this surgery and that it will be very successful. I've had many of these cases and they do not go near this good, she should not have any life long issue from this, but of course the future is always unclear, but for now I suspect that we have fixed the problem for good. The next step for her is her incision to heal and have her first dirty diaper. Hopefully this will be within the next 5-7 days. After that we will start feeds again, but for now she will stay on TPN...all in all she's doing really well."

4:30 pm- I'm finally allowed to see my baby girl! My heart is so broken seeing all the tubes and the vent in her mouth again...I have NOT missed seeing any of these on her. So badly I just want to pick my hurting baby up, love on her and take her pain away. Mommy is suppose to make everything better and I can't...I can't do anything but hold her hand, kiss her head and sing to her. There is no feeling like the helpless feeling you get watching your baby be wheeled away from you, knowing they are about to have a very invasive surgery done...then you feel it all over again but worse when you see your baby lay lifelessly in a bed in so much pain and there is not one thing you can do to help them. My heart hurts and I so badly want to cry but my eyes have no more tears to cry...I am just SO thankful this is over with and we are past it. Now we rest, recover and pray that when her body is ready, that it poops. Here we are again...praying for poop. Out of everything I thought I'd pray for in my life...poop was not one of them, but hey we will pray for poop!
The next 72 hours are the most critical for her recovery...we are praying hard that the pain goes away quickly and she can be comfortable and heal. We also pray that when the time comes for her to poop that her body has healed itself and will work properly!
Thank you all for your love and constant prayers!
XOXO
Linden, Lani, Ada Lou & Ira Jo <3

Game Plan as of 7/17

The surgeons and other medical staff has came up with a plan!

They started off telling us by saying, "all this could change depending on how Ira does!" so I honestly have no idea if this will be the plan come next week, but for now this is what we know and what everyone is planning on!

We just found out 2 days ago, Friday July15th, that Ira developed a small infection around the mucus fistula sight so they are giving her antibiotics for it...of course a side affect from this antibiotic is diarrhea! Just what she needs when they are concerned about her having to much stool output! Anyways, the plan is that once she is done getting her antibiotics in about 5 days, they are going to go ahead with replacing her mucus fistula tube, and start feeding stool into her lower bowel! Sadly, that means they will have to put her under General Anesthesia . This is not ideal, but in Ira's case doing the General Anesthesia  is the only way to help her! (For right now!) The results of the plan will hopefully be that by putting the stool back into her lower bowel, it gives her body a little longer to absorb the nutrients her body needs to gain and keep weight, as well as getting the lower bowel working again and ready for reconnection surgery. 

We are praying SO hard that within the next 5 days that her stool output becomes exactly what the surgeons and medical staff want to see plus she gains weight beautifully as well so she doesnt have to be put under. We don't really want Ira to have to be put under General Anesthesia , but we must do what needs done to help regardless if it's the most ideal thing to do or not....

But guess what.....everything I just told you could very possibly change tomorrow!! 

On the plus side Ira Jo is working on not being on any oxygen anymore at all! She was off of all oxygen tubes for about an hour in a half but had to be put back on. She's not quit use to being off so it will take her a couple of days still but soon she will have one less thing on her face...but we did get a photo of her being off of it for a little while! :)  

Love to all! :)

Linden, Lani, Ada & Ira

It's been awhile since the last update but we finally have a little news to share!
(more to come regarding this post!)

Other than the countless amounts of fun new visitors Ira Jo got to meet this week,

Ira's over all game plan has changed a little, but lets start at the beginning!

Tuesday (7/5) - Ira Jo finally got to meet her Uncle Jenson for the very first time, and although she has met her Aunt Sean before, this was the first time Aunt Sean got to snuggle her for a bit! 

Friday (7/8) - {1 MONTH OLD!} I can't believe she's 1 month! It was a bit harder than I thought it would be seeing her turn a month old and still be in the hospital, but my baby is where she needs to be, and for that reason I will choose JOY! My baby is alive and doing great at 1 MONTH OLD, so I have many reasons to celebrate...but miss Ira Jo celebrated her 1 month of life by getting some hugs from her great Aunt Becky!!

Sunday (7/10) - [FAMILY DAY!!!!] The first time being together all four of us...the first time feeling like "our little family"....best feeling ever! Not going to lie, I had to fight back so many tears walking into the room with Ada Lou to introduce her to her baby sister for the very first time. Ira was finally switched over to a crib, so we could put Ada right in the crib with Ira, but it definitely was not the way we thought we would be introducing our girls for the first time, but it was still a special moment. This was the first time, the feeling finally set in that I have two girls and they are sisters, and they will one day (hopefully) be best friends...we will one day be a complete family, under one roof, at one supper table, together. Can't tell you how hard we are holding on to that one simple word, 'Togetherness'. It seems like such a distant goal, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel approaching slowly, but we are so badly longing for that 'togetherness' in our house, as a family, but we are growing in our patience and lets be honest...we have two girls that are 17 months apart...some patience will one day be greatly needed, so growth is good! Just a few hours as a family was amazing for us, gave us an extra push to keep going because we know what will soon be coming! :) We are excited for that day, but we will be patient!!

 "The pain that you've been feeling, can't compare to the joy that's coming" Romans 8:18!! :) 

Gods' gentle and loving reminder

Monday (7/11) - We got some really unsettling news...Ira is having a really hard time putting on any weight and keeping it on. She's been growing very little, but she's also been losing enough weight that it's not equalling out. Unfortunately, that means there is going to be a bigger delay on the second surgery, but it also means they are going to have to start reinserting her stool from her ileostomy bag, into her mucus fistula. The first plan was that she wasn't going have any stool reinserted at all, and they were going to go ahead and do the second surgery and reattach her bowels because her body was using the nutrients from feeds correctly. But the amount of feeds had to go up to accommodate her weight, and the more volume she got, the less her upper bowel could keep up, so they have decided it's important to reinsert her stool, so that her lower bowel could continue to get the nutrients, and hopefully that will allow her to gain weight faster and keep it on. The upsetting part of all of this is, in order for her stool to be reinserted into her lower bowel, they have to replace her mucus fistula with a bigger one. Thankfully, this is not a surgical procedure, but she will have to be taken to specialist that will do this procedure under x-ray. Ira's surgeon reassured us that it shouldn't hurt her at all, he said that your intestines don't have any feeling so that wouldn't hurt, but they will be pushing and messing with her belly, which could cause some discomfort. Worst case scenario, surgeon said they'd have to sedate her and put her back on the vent if something went wrong, but he was pretty sure it would be a very easy process that would take an hour tops to complete. I did ask him why they couldn't just wait and do the reconnecting surgery anyways, because her bowels would then be together and her body could get the nutrients that way, and he said that if they would open her back up and her bowels still be swollen from the first surgery that they would not hold any sort of stitch and they would just perforate again, so we would be right back to where we started. I did learn that it's not the inside of the bowel they are concerned with...its the outside of the bowels. Apparently, the inside of the bowels don't swell or don't swell as bad as the outside of them do! Odd, but good to know! He told me that they don't even consider opening a premies' stomach back open to mess with bowels unless they are a month in half to two months old, but in Ira's case, the head surgeon during her surgery was so surprised with how bad it looked inside that he wasn't really open to doing the second surgery until closer to the 2 month mark...we are only a month in, so we have a bit longer of a wait. But this surgeon told me that we should be thankful because he has seen bad bowel issues and Ira wasn't the worst, but she was up there. He said that her bowels were like concrete, and that it could have been much worse than what it was, and that he was honestly surprised that it wasn't worse. All of this is such a God thing, and it's been amazing to hear what he's done on the surgical part of things and also see what he's doing on the recovery part as well.

Today, Tuesday (7/12) - 11:05 am...we are waiting for Ira to be wheeled away to the specialist for her mucus fistula change. She was suppose to be taken at 10:30 am, but there was another patient who had a complication during his change... (not what mom wants to hear right now!)
12:00 pm...Ira Jo is being wheeled away
1:20 pm... Ira is back. Bad news. Plan back fired. The mucus fistula tube was not only completely clogged, it is stuck. Good and stuck! So stuck the radiologist doctor was to nervous to continue, and chose to wait on the surgeon to get out of his surgery to discuss a plan B & C and so on if needed. The radiologist unclogged the mucus fistula so they can use it, but it's really small so it will probably get clogged again really fast. So the radiologist said in his opinion they will have to sedate her under General Anastasia, which means she goes back on the breathing machine vent. The same vent that took her a month to get off of! :(

Wednesday (7/13) - Still no set plan for the mucus fistula. They did decide that the tube was way to small to feed anymore stool back through, plus the top of the tube fell off where they would even access to the tube...so now there's just a random little string like thing hanging from Ira. The surgeons fellow did, however come to see me and explain what the doctors were sort of thinking. By what he said, they are not leaning towards sedating her with General Anastasia because if they did that,  he said they might as well just reattach the bowels and she would be able to get all her nutrition through her bowels by herself. The bad part about doing that right now, is that she's not even 6 weeks post surgery, so they honestly have no idea how low the swelling around her bowel is, and if it is still pretty swollen they could do the surgery and it would work, but it would set her back a bit because recovery would take a little longer. So they are between a rock and hard place right now. Their main goal at this point is to get Ira to gain and hold her weight. They did say that today she gained 36 grams, which is awesome, and if she continues to do that, then they can continue the plan of waiting another week or two to do surgery. Unfortunately, her weight hasn't been showing the best track record so again everything is so unsure right now.

Thursday (7/14) - Ira doesn't have a breathing machine next to her bed at all!! She's still on a nasal cannula, but she isn't getting any pressure from it to help her breath. In other words...my baby can breath by herself!!! :):) She's just getting an oxygen flow through her nasal cannula and the hook up is coming from the wall, but there isn't one of those great big stands next to her bed anymore! (In the one picture you can see she has two stands next to her crib. The stand on the right with a square shaped box on it, with the colored numbers on the front... that's the one that's gone!) Other good news is that the doctors are for sure setting a game plan today with what to do with her mucus fistula. Hopefully, this will be a plan that they can stick to until they are ready to perform her last surgery, but we will see. Pray that the doctors can make their decision with confidence and certainty, and not be unsure whether it will work or not.

Sorry for not getting you all an update sooner! Every time I thought I was going to get to post something, the plan changed. I was trying to wait for the game plan to be some what set, but they still are unsure of it. So when I know, I will let everyone else know, but for now welcome to my world of patiently and anxiously waiting! :) lol

Again I'd like to thank everyone for their continued prayers for Linden and I, and our girls.

Ira Jo is quit something, our family is beyond smitten with her (as the pictures will show) and I hope and pray that one day, all of you who have been praying for her, will somehow get to meet the little bundle you've been so faithfully praying for. We've known as Ira's parents that her life has been a complete miracle from the beginning, but just yesterday, even the surgeon himself told us that he has seen many babies with bowel problems similar to Ira Jos' not live, so to him Ira's miracle has been something amazing to watch and be apart of. I know I would not be sitting here writing all of this good news if it wasn't for Gods' miraculous power and love, but Linden and I also wouldn't have been able to do any of this without the love and constant prayers from all of you. So please hear me when I say, we will never be able to repay you for all your prayers, but they are so greatly appreciated.

Love you all!

Linden, Lani, Ada Lou & Ira Jo Sink

 

 

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted! Job 5:9

What an amazing weekend this has been for us! 

Starting this weekend out, Linden and I prayed so hard that our presence would be a great help for Ira during her recovery and her growing process. We also prayed that God would allow us to see Ira make some great strides during our stay...and of course God answered our prayers.

Linden and I got to the hospital late Friday (July 1st) night, stayed the night at our hotel, then spent all day Saturday (July 2nd) at the hospital holding and loving on Ira Jo. Saturday evening we just really felt that we needed to get away for a just a night and have the next morning to relax and have a bit of fun before returning to little miss, so we decided to secretly take a quick 2 hour drive down to Lake Cumberland, and surprise my parents and Ada Lou for the night. We left the lake Sunday (July 3rd) around lunch time and headed back to the hospital. During our travels back I saw that I had missed a call from the hospital and they didn't leave me a message. Usually, the hospital calls with an update on Ira and if I don't answer, they leave a message. Well, this time they didn't. We didn't really think a whole lot of it because we told them we would be back Sunday afternoon and that I was staying all night, so we just figured they would tell us what the updates were when we got there. Well we walked in, and there was a new nurse working on Ira, so we were introducing ourselves and I just so happened to turn around to set my bag down real fast and that's when I realized there was something written on her board. 

{Plan...wean vent,  extubate Mon?}

Me- What's extubate Monday on Ira's board for?

Nurse- Oh, they didn't call you and give you the update?

Linden- They called, but no one left a message like normal...

N- Oh, well then I guess I better tell you the news! Tomorrow they are going to try and extubate her!

(Cue Linden and Is' completely confused facial expressions!)

N- That means tomorrow they are going to take this breathing vent tube out of her mouth and put in a nasal cannula! Her past couple of blood gas counts have been perfect and at rounds this morning everyone thinks she could possibly come off of the breathing machine, so we are going to try and take it out tomorrow and see how she does! 

Tears...lots of tears streamed down our overly excited faces! 

God had heard our prayer and was about to answer it!

Monday (July 4th, Best Independence Day Ever!) Ira Jo got her breathing tube out at 3:30 in the afternoon, and of course, first thing this mom did was dress her baby and pick her straight up! Very first time ever being able to pick her right up from her bed and hold her up against me without having a handful of nurses around to help! 

So badly we wanted to tell you all yesterday when it happened, but doctors and nurses said that some babies don't do very well and need to have the tube put back in, so we decided to wait to see how she did throughout the night, and see what her stats were when we got here this morning, and what do you know....she's doing great! 

One big prayer answered, and boy does it feel good! This was exactly what Linden and I needed! Finally, we can feel like and can see that Ira is making great strides, and this is giving us the push we need to be extra patience for her last surgery! Doctors said this morning, all we are doing is waiting for her to grow and develop a little more before her second surgery!

{Prayers Requests...her body uses all the vitamins and extra support through her feeds correctly and she continues to grow and develop. Her lungs continue to develop and do great without the vent, and that she starts growing regularly everyday with her weight and length, so when the time comes for surgery, she will be ready and will be able to recover quickly!}

Thank you ALL SO MUCH for continuing to pray for us and for baby Ira...

God is hearing our prayers!!

We are all SMILES over here in Pod G, bed G2!!!! 

XOXO

Linden, Lani, Ada Lou, Ira Jo

For He knows the plans He has for you Ira Jo!

Hello All! :) 

Fast Update on Ira Jo! 

It's been a few days, but I left the last update with the surgeons discussing what they were going to go with her mucus fistula tube or with surgery...well we got some news and a plan!! :) They have bumped up her feeds! She is currently taking 13 mL an hour and every 12 hours they bump it up another mL! They said she developed just a small amount of bilirubin, but they also said the more they feed her it will eventually go away on its own. It will take time, but as time passes it will go away. So for now they are giving her a small amount of antibiotic for the bilirubin, but they aren't concerned about it a whole lot! Anyways, because they have been continuously going up on her feeds, Miss Ira Jo has gained some weight! She now weighs 5 lbs 15 ounces, and the news we got as far as surgery or the tube coming out was......once Ira is between 6-8 pounds, and she hits week 6-8 post surgery they are going to take the mucus fistula tube out all together and do the reattachment surgery!! :):) Yay! She's doing great growing, and to hear that once she puts on another ounces or maybe a pound, and in about 2.5 weeks, that they are going to seriously talk about her final surgery, is amazing! Their first plan before surgery is obviously adding the pounds and waiting a couple more weeks, but also getting her off the breathing vent! Believe it or not...Ira is almost a month old! We were told that if she isn't off the of vent before she turns a month old, (in 1 week) they are going to give her a medication that decreases the amount of fluid in her abdomen around her lungs, hoping that she would be able to get the carbon dioxide out completely be herself! Other than the carbon dioxide not coming completely out, she is doing really well breathing! All her vent numbers are where they are suppose to be, so we are just praying that her blood gas levels can go lower and stay low for good!! (Prayer Request!) They say that her blood gas levels should be in the 50's and hers are in the 60's right now, so not to terribly far to go, but for all of us waiting for the vent to come out, it seems like its taking forever! That has to be the biggest prayer request of them all....PATIENCE!!! Not only are we waiting for her blood gas count to come down so she can be taken off the vent. We are waiting for her to gain weight, and we are also waiting on time to pass! Two in a half weeks and she will be 6 weeks post surgery; they will talk more seriously about the surgery, either they do it, or they wait a couple more weeks, then we wait again...we wait for her to recover for a couple days before introducing feeds back to her again, we wait for her to have a bowel movement into her diaper so we can see the surgery worked. We wait, we wait, we wait! I have a feeling I know one of things God is trying to teach us (ME) through all this!! lol :) Other than that we don't have any medical news, but today, July 2nd marks Ira Jo's very first time being held by her daddy, and let me tell you...she is for sure a daddies girl and I bet you can guess who is LOVING that!! :):) 

Thank you all for your constant thoughts and prayers, we can't tell you how much we appreciate them! Love you all! ~Linden, Lani, Ada Lou, & Baby Ira Jo <3

{P.S. Look at this cutie at Lake Cumberland this weekend with Mamaw and Papaw while mommy and daddy spend the weekend with Ira Jo!! LOL! :) Oh how we love and miss our Ada Lou!!}

6/26-6/27

Sunday, June 26th
Today was Grandparents Day with Ira Jo! It was my dads birthday and all he wanted for his birthday was to hold Ira. How sweet is that!?! :) As you can see he was definitely enjoying his time with his grand baby! :)

 


My parents were the ones that got all the information for us today, and they were told that just before they arrived, Ira got an X-ray on her bowels, because the doctors weren't real impressed with the amount of poop Ira was releasing. They were worried she wasn't pooping a whole lot because maybe there was a blockage or something in her bowel, and thankfully the X-ray showed there wasn't anything wrong. So the surgeon came in and actually stuck like a catheter like tube down her ileostomy to see if the bowel was narrowing, and if that was the cause of the small amount of poop. The surgeon said that there was no narrowing, so Ira must have slow moving bowels, which could have been the reason why her bowel perforated. Her bowel could have not been moving fast enough and getting the meconium out quick enough, and it got hard and became a blockage resulting in her bowel perforating. Throughout this whole process though, the doctor did say that they could see that Ira was getting the nutrients out of the breastmilk that she was needing, and her body was using it correctly, so that is great news! They say they have many babies who's bodies have a hard time using the breastmilk nutrients correctly, so we are very blessed that Ira is able to use the nutrients correctly and can grow.

Monday, June 27th 

 I finally got to see Ira today since last Wednesday, but it was Aunt Josie's turn to hold her niece for the very first time!!! Adorable!!!

Today, we got a little bit of unsettling news. They decided not to feed the stool back into her mucus fistula like previously planned, because her mucus fistula is to small for her stool, and because Ira isn't producing enough stool to reinsert it. Like I mentioned before her bowels above the ileostomy are taking out enough nutrients from her feeds that the doctors aren't worried, but they can't use the mucus fistula because the tubing is to small. So they are deciding between taking out the smaller mucus fistula and replacing it with a larger one, or going back in surgically and reattach the bowels back together. Other than that there wasn't any other big news, but there is certainly prayers requests needed. #1 for the doctors to decide what they want to do with her mucus fistula/reattachment surgery. #2 just continue praying for her breathing vent numbers. They aren't horrible, and they are low, but her blood gas count isn't exactly what they need to be and momma is just ready for that breathing vent tube to get out of her mouth/face. Just be praying for her to finally be done with her breathing vent.

What a Week!

I apologize...someone else really should be doing this blog for me! I am horrible at keeping it updated every day! There isn't always news everyday, or very big news. Sometimes it's just things like Ira's breathing vent has been changed, they either higher or lowered it, or her blood gas count was either good or bad...so there really isn't a whole lot to say all the time. But, I know that there are many of you that want/like to know day by day updates like that, so I will try my best to do that and if it's not every day, it will be every other! Someone text or call me to keep me accountable for this!! :) PLEASE!!! :)

Anyways...here goes our week! Hold on to your seats! It was a crazy one!
{Prepare to see how amazing our God is, and how much he listens to our many prayers!!}

Monday and Tuesday were the only days that didn't make our heads spin! They were normal...or whatever normal is...not sure I know what that word means anymore! :P There doesn't seem to be anything normal about my life right now! Wednesday was when all the excitement started!!

Wednesday, June 22nd
{Ira's 2 WEEKS OLD!!}
Showing up and seeing Ira for the first time since Monday, meant I had to give her a full look over and make sure everything was looking okay! (Not that I have any clue what I'm looking at when I look at the wires and tubes and etc..) So, I began pulling off blankets and unfolding her arms and legs a little bit just to get a good look at baby, and I'm sure my grandma Flora thought I was going to hit the floor, but when I pulled back the blanket from off her lower belly a bit...my eyes probably got the size of baseballs and swelled up with tears of pure joy!!!  I saw a bag!!! A BAG ATTACHED TO HER....FULL OF POOP!!! The bag was catching her poop!! You know what this means!?!? It means she's pooping enough to start the next trial process to see if the surgery was successful!!! They said that this was a huge step! It's not the kind of stool that they can use yet to put back into her body through the mucus fistula, but it will be soon because of being on breastmilk. So they can't use the thick, dark, tar like, newborn baby stool, they need the more liquidy poo. Other than the poo bag being attached, they upped her feeds to 2mL rather than 1 per hour! Praising Him for answered prayers!!!!

Thursday, June 23rd
Everything with Ira was about the same, they decided to move her rates around a little on the breathing vent because her blood gases weren't the greatest after the morning test. For those of you who don't know what blood gas count is...it's a test they take by poking her heal and using the blood to see if her body is getting out all the carbon dioxide she takes is while breathing and this morning wasn't real great, so they moved her vent numbers around and by that I mean they moved them a little higher to help her get the carbon dioxide out! Other than that there wasn't anything wrong with Ira....its was me! :( Thursday evening I started getting really bad chills and we figured out I had about a 101 temp, and obviously after surgery that's not real good...that's the first sign of infection....soooo yeah, fabulous...right!?!

Friday, June 24th
I got into my OB as fast as I could that morning hoping and praying it wasn't an infection. I got something really similar to how I was feeling this time, last time after my c-section with Ada, and that time, all my breast milk went away with in the 3-4 days that I had the fever. So, needless to say I was praying so hard that my milk wasn't going to go away this time because I know just how important it is that Ira gets breastmilk. It's so important not only for development issues because of being so premie, but also because eventually they were wanting to put her stool back into her, to finish the natural route! So, I was praying hard! In the mean time, I called the NICU to try and see how Ira was doing, hopefully I'd hear some good news and it would take my mind off of the situation at hand. They had some good news for me!! They moved her feeds up to 3ml per hour, and she was doing great with her breathing!!!  Well the excitement only lasted so long, because of course, I get to my doctor and they send me to Kettering Hospital! (I promise I'm just going to keep a hospital bag in my car forever...not just child birth...apparently I have a thing for Kettering Hospital!) We arrive and go into the ER, and there we find out after X-rays, CTs, and an ultrasound, that I have an abscess or small build up of liquid on the inside of my uterus. Treatment for this is either surgery to get it out, or 3 rounds of IV medication and then a week of oral medications at home. Well, they gave me one round of IV medication and held off until my OB decided whether or not it was serious enough for surgery. I waited with 2 IVs, one in each arm, no food or drink and on complete bed rest for 8 in a half hours to see if I was going in for surgery. Thankfully, no surgery, that night but I was admitted for the night for observation and the other 2 rounds of IV medications. The next morning was technically the final yes or no on the surgery, and if I was getting discharged, even though doctor was pretty sure I wasn't going to need surgery.

Saturday, June 25th
6:30 a.m. my OB came in after reading my blood results from my 4:30 a.m. blood draw, and said, "Go Home!"
Hallelujah! I am so far past DONE with hospitals it's not even funny anymore! After Ira Jo gets out of the hospital...It's going to take a good long time before I even want to see another hospital! We get home and about noonish I get a call from the NICU.
"Hi, Mrs. Sink, I'm calling with an update on your daughter, Ira Jo!"
"Oh, great! How is she doing!?"
"She's doing good! Just wanted to let you know how things have been going so far today. We went down on her breathing rate to 30 this morning because her blood gas count looked great! We also might mess with her feeds just a bit, her belly is getting just a bit swollen from the feeds, so we might bring it down just a bit, but she's handling feeds great! So, that's not a for sure change yet, but she hasn't been spitting them up or anything so that's good. But, I also wanted to tell you that we are going to go ahead and take 1 ml of her stool out of her bag,  and put it back into her mucus fistula to try and get that part of her bowel working!"
"You mean your going to try and get her to have her very first poopy diaper!?!?"
"Yeah! That's exactly right!"
"OH MY WORD!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!?!? That's AMAZING!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!"
At this point, I am crying, my child, Lord willing, will have her very first poopy diaper soon! Might I add that everyone else who received the news from me after the phone call, received it at a much higher octave than what I received it! I was just a smidgen EXCITED!!! Needless to say, that was a great way to make up for the overnight stay at the hospital! What a HUGE answered prayer!!

Thank you all for helping us pray for these things!!! We are so thrilled with the progress that has been  happening, and we know all the praise be to God!! What a loving Father we have! Again, thank you for all the prayers, we appreciate it so much!