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!!}