Happy birthday, Adry!!

Happy 4th birthday to our sweet, spunky Adry girl!! We love you SO much and are sad to miss your birthday.  We will  celebrate with a party for you next weekend.

We are 2 for 2 with missing birthdays when we come to Boston. Last time we were here we missed out on Kade's 4th birthday. It would be excellent if we don't have to return to Boston until Koal or Aily's 4th birthday!! Ha!

Adry,  you are a sweetheart who loves to snuggle and loves to play with your siblings! Kade is your best friend, even though you but heads often. You area fantastic big sister to Koal and Aily's, playing with, loving them and being a little mommy to them.

You are very smart and so beautiful. You love to share stories about school, your friends, and the things you're learning about Jesus. You are kind and silly, willing to help when needed, and always up for a living room dance party. We love you SO much and are so proud of the young lady you have become. God bless you, sweet girl.

We're out!

We're out! Koal was released from the hospital this morning and is doing great. He's taking a much needed nap as I type. :)  We will spend today resting and head home tomorrow morning. Yay! 

Thanks again for all your continued prayers. We are disappointed that the ballooning didn't improve things much, but we are thankful for an amazing hospital and doctors who did what they could and gained information for the next step and any future intervention needed. We pray that results from the echo Koal is to have when we return to Kansas City will look good and show no cause for concern. 

The Lord gives strength to his people; 

the Lord blesses his people with peace.  

Psalm 29:11 

Bummer...

A couple of hours after Koal finished with his cath, we received visits from Dr Powell (Koal's cardiologist) and Dr Murphy (the cardiologist who performed his catheterization today). They had some disappointing news. Actually, Dr Murphy said this, "What we found is just very odd. We are not concerned, but we will monitor him closely."  The echo that was preformed after Koal's cath today, showed narrowing similar to what was seen in Kansas City back in August. Booooooooooo. We were hoping the ballooning would work wonderfully and create less obstruction in the vessels of Koal's heart.  Dr Murphy said she wonders if this is a NEW obstructed area, because there was some difference in her findings during the cath, verses the obstruction Dr Powell had seen on the last echo.  Soooooo, we don't really know. Both docs did say that all went well and we will just continue to monitor closely, hoping for the best, and being prepared to do open heart surgery to repair the obstructions. They said the narrowing is mild to moderate and there is no need for intervention at this point. The plan is just to wait and watch. If the narrowing gets worse, we will hope that Koal has grown some, because it's possible another cath would do the trick if he was a bit bigger.  ALWAYS a better option than surgery!  Thank you for all of your continued prayers. We serve a mighty, amazing God who answered so many prayers today! Please continue to pray for Koal's recovery, as tonight may be rough. Also, please pray that the next echo performed on Wednesday in Kansas City would show excellent improvement. 

He's done!

Doctor Powell just came in to tell us Koal is finished in the cath lab.  Things went well and he is now having an echocardiogram done to check things out. We should get to see him in about an hour. He said that they were able to place a balloon in (the largest possible for the little man's size!) and stretch the narrowed vessel quite a bit! The pressures they were taking improved by 50% after the balloon, and Dr Powell and the medical team were pleased with today's results. It went from a moderate obstruction to a mild degree. Yay! After the stretching, there is always a possibility the vessels will narrow again, but for now, things look GREAT and there's no need to look toward surgery anytime soon if nothing changes! 

We are sooooooooooooo very thankful for a successful procedure and that they were able to repair as needed in his narrowing vessels. We continue to pray that the vessel remains streched and no new narrowing occurs. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for all your continued prayers. Please keep them coming as Koalton recovers here in the hospital tonight, and is released tomorrow. 

Keep praying!

We arrived at the hospital at 9am and while sitting in the waiting room, a nurse came to let us know they were running a little long on the first case, so it would be a little bit before they got us back. We waited for another hour and were then moved to an actual treatment room where we waited for another hour and a half.     Around noon the anesthesiologists and some nurses came in and Koal received his 'happy' drugs to calm him down and help him not remember leaving us to go back to the lab. He was taken back around 1230pm and we are now waiting to hear from them each hour about his progress. Koal was pretty sad by the time he got his meds, as its hard to go until noon without food or water for a two year old. He did take a little nap with Daddy while waiting, but he kept asking for a 'nack! 'nack! and I couldn't give him the crackers and fruit snacks he wanted.  :( 

Koal after his "happy" meds

Thank you for your continued prayers. We will continue to update as we know more.

Pre-op tests

After a terrible night last night (please pray we can rest!), we had a pretty good day of pre-op tests and meetings. This morning Koal had a chest x-ray done, an ekg and some blood drawn. We also met with doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists and others to discuss findings and tomorrow's plan. We have to be at the hospital at 9AM for Koal's cath (which is such a blessing compared to the 7:30am of today!) . We were told it will take 2-4 hours depending on what they find and what they are able to do to help with the narrowing. We will spend tomorrow night in the hospital and be released Saturday. Here are some specific ways to pray... 

* For the doctors, nurses and entire medical team working with Koal and all of us tomorrow and Saturday. 

* For a smooth and uneventful catheterization procedure with a positive outcome including ballooning or a stent placement to open his narrowing vessel. 

* For a quick and easy recovery after the cath is done and a restful hospital stay. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and love.  We feel so very blessed. We will update more tomorrow during the cath. 

'Praise  be to the Lord, 

for he has heard my cry for mercy.

 The Lord is my strength and my shield... 

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. 

My heart leaps for joy, 

and with my song I praise him.'

Psalm 28:6-7

Made it!

We made it! We arrived in Boston safe and sound this afternoon following fairly uneventful flights. Aily was AMAZING, not cranky AT ALL, and Koal was only sad a little bit near the end of our second leg. Unfortunately he did NOT nap as hoped, so we are praying a good night's sleep does him well!! Tomorrow we will have pre-op appointments including x-rays, blood draws and all those goodies. We will also meet with doctors to review plans and procedures. 

Thank you all, again, for your continued prayers!! We feel them and are so very grateful!! Please pray that Koal does well during his pre-op tests tomorrow. Pray for rest after a long day of traveling  followed by an early morning and long day of appointments. We will update more tomorrow after our time at the hospital. 

Two days to take off!

Our flight for Boston leaves in two short days!  (Man I have a lot to do!!) Wednesday morning we will fly out with Koal and Aily and get to Boston around 4pm ET. We are praying the kiddos enjoy (and sleep through!) the flight. Koal seems excited to ride the plane and train (subway) on our trip. Grammy and Grampa Baldwin arrived at our house last night, so the kids have been spoiled already, and Kade and Adry are very excited to spend the rest of the week with them here in KC.

All of our travel arrangements are set and the details of our trip have come together so perfectly. We are thankful God has set things in place so well for us and this trip

Sunday at church the kiddos in Kade and Adry's kid's community classes prayed for Koal and our family, and so many of our dear friends and family members have been and have said they will continue to pray. We are SO thankful for the continued support and love we've been shown through this time.

We will continue to update throughout the trip, through Koal’s procedures and as we know more. Right now the schedule is to have pre-op testing on Thursday, and the catheterization procedure when they will attempt to place the balloon on Friday.  Koal will spend the night in the hospital Friday after his cath, and after another day of rest, we should be able to return home Sunday. Please pray with us for our sweet Koal and his team of doctors, nurses and staff. Pray for safe travel and for happy kids on the plane and trains.  And please, pray that the procedure goes well…that the doctors are able to access the parts of Koal’s heart they need, and that a balloon will be easily placed to open his tiny narrowing vessels and cause pressures to return to a healthy, normal range. If this procedure doesn’t “work” or if at any time in the next few years the balloon slips out of place, we will have to return to Boston for another open heart surgery for Koal. The risks and recovery time are so much higher and longer for that, so our prayer is, of course, that this cath procedure would work! Thank you all for joining us in prayer, and for your continued encouragement on this journey.

"The earth is filled with your love, LORD..."

Psalm 119:64