wait on the Lord and He will fight for you

Tuesday, February 5, 2007 we celebrated Emory’s 3rd week of life on the Earth and 38th week of being created. We visited the Pediatric Lung Specialist this day. At 5 pm we entered the office of Dr. Roberto Ayers (yes, a lung specialist, not spelled, but sounding like Dr. Airs.) We were met with the hacking cough of another child and promptly asked if we could wait in the car until our turn to be seen. The receptionist very cordially heeded our request, which began a wonderful relationship with this office. Upon entering, we learned Emory had exceeded her birth weight by several ounces. After two very nice nurses asked questions and checked her over, we met Dr. Ayers. We are so blessed to have such incredible medical professionals to bounce our concerns off of. Dr. Ayers reviewed Emory’s chest x-ray from last week and determined she has tracheal malasia (I am sure this is spelled wrong) in addition to the bronchiopulmonary disorder (another bad spelling.) Though both of these conditions sound serious, we were actually pleased to find out that she will grow out of them, and they are quite benign. Her trachea is enlarged which often causes her to look like she is having labored breathing (hence the chest retractions but no lack of oxygen.) The other disorder just means that her little lungs were forced to breathe regular air when they were not ready. He said her lungs looked very hazy which was caused by all the lung issues she had when born and in the NICU. This, too, will correct itself over time.

We were given instructions to wash our hands constantly and keep her out of public places or places where many people will be. The main key is to keep her well until she is at least 6 months old. He informed us that any illness that a normal person gets could turn very serious for Emory and would warrant a hospital stay. We were instructed about breathing treatments with a nebulizer. Also mentioned was the fact that she should be quarantined until she is over 10 pounds and not taken in public (supermarkets, restaurants, children’s birthday parties, church, or anywhere where there are several people or children) until she is 6 months old. Wow! We are the people who stopped off at Sam’s on the way home from the hospital with Micah. For us, this means a life change, which we are glad to do in order to keep her well and avoid another hospital stay.

Emory will see Dr. Ayers again on February 20th to receive an RSV vaccination and again at the end of March for the same. Then, of course, as needed if any issues should arise. In the meantime, we will take our lives day by day and make decisions on what comes next as things come up.

Trinity is doing well in her first grade home school and reading everything she can. No longer can we spell things we don’t want her to hear. Micah is busy, as Matt’s parents say, taking care of her own little world and harassing the dog. Emory is sleeping, eating, and spitting up…all the things little babies do. And Matt and I are taking turns sleeping (me more than him) and loving each other and our precious girls. This is life for now…

We did have special visitors yesterday and this morning. My brother returned from a 15 month tour in Iraq (I don’t think he really toured anything) less than a month ago. Yesterday, he and his wife Ali graced us with their presence and some great Starbuck’s cupcakes. We ate my burned lasagna and had a wonderful time visiting and playing and thanking God for returning him to us safely. I realized how blessed we are to have the medical care for Emory and the others that we do. Talking to Stoney really opened my eyes about all the little children who have no advocates and no help. Pray for the little children in Iraq—the innocent sufferers of all that is evil.