Home Sweet Home!

We finally got to bring Gabby home today!! Abbie and I are very excited as we expected her to be at the hospital longer based on everything we had read prior to Gabby's arrival. Unfortunately she still has to be on oxygen while she is home, but it is very nice to have everyone under one roof finally.

We wanted to remind everyone that visitors are welcome, but please call before you stop by. Gabby has many upcoming appointments and is still resting a lot in recovery from her busy first two weeks. Also, please wait to visit if you have any signs or symptoms of any cold or illness. We need to keep Gabby as healthy as possible to aid in her recovery and to keep her on schedule for her next surgery.

"The Battle Wound"

"Mama and her kiddos"

Another step closer to home . . .

Gabby continues to make great progress. She was moved "to the floor" yesterday which means one step closer to home. Right now her goals are to continue increasing her calorie intake and to get off oxygen. She is just "on a wiff" of oxygen right now. We can't wait to bring her home and have people stop poking and prodding at her.

Gabby the rockstar!

Gabby had a big day yesterday! She was extubated around noon and is now breathing completely on her own. She also got her catheter out so she can use the bathroom on her own now too. She no longer needs lasix (to make her pee) because she is peeing so well on her own. Her chest tubes came out as well. She got one of her IV's out and only has two more to go. We are able to hold her again which we all LOVE!! She was even able to try a bottle yesterday. We are so proud of our little girl and continue to cheer her on as she recovers.

One surgery down...

It was a long afternoon, but Gabby is finally out of surgery. The doctors said everything went about as good as it possibly could have. She came back from surgery with many more lines than she left with, but with no extra medications which is a big positive. There were 3 major things that they did while they were in there:

1) They removed part of the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart. This was done so that the oxygenated and the deoxygenated blood can mix in the heart since Gabby will not have use of her lower chamber that would send blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The doctors were impressed because often when the do this, the patient requires a little jump start to get the heart going again, but Gabby's heart picked right up as soon as they wanted it to.

2) They tied off the vessel known as the PDA. The PDA helps allow the babies to mix the blood to make sure they are getting enough oxygen. When normal babies start to breathe on their own, the PDA naturally closes off but Gabby has been getting a medicine to keep it open since she was born.

3) They added a Goretex tube to simulate the PDA but in a slightly different location what will allow her to get the oxygen needed for her blood. This will be removed during the next surgery.

All in all it sounds like the surgery went very well and the doctors were very pleased with how Gabby "performed" during everything. We are very happy to be done with this leg of the journey and to get on with recovery and finally get to bring our baby girl home with us. Once again, Abbie and I can't thank everyone enough for the positive thoughts, prayers, and words you have all given for and to us. It really means the world to us to know we have such wonderful family and friends!

Movin' on up...

Gabby is doing great and eating like a champ. She is eating so well they took her feeding tube out today and are having her eat every 3 hours and are giving her more to eat than she had been getting the last couple of days. It's a good thing she got her mom and dad's love for food! We are so proud of our fiesty little fighter. She has been moved to the PICU where the staff is getting to know her before she has surgery Wednesday afternoon.

And the best news of the day is . . . we both got to hold our little girl! What an amazing feeling - we gave her LOTS of love and every minute was enjoyed to the fullest! She is starting to open her eyes more and look around at the surrounding world. Below are some pics of Gabby all snuggled up with the blanket Abbie made for her.

More Pics!

Happy Friday!!

Well, as we suspected last night, it wouldn't be long before Gabby was extubated. The nurses said they were able to pull the tube around midnight this morning and by the time Abbie and I got there today she was back on just room air at a pretty low rate.

We saw a couple of the cardiologists today and it sounds like the plan right now is for Gabby to have surgery sometime Wednesday. They are planning on moving us to the Pediatric ICU (PICU) sometime before surgery so the nurses can get acquainted with Gabby before she comes back from surgery.

Not much else to report today and we don't expect much more new news between now and surgery so this will likely be the last update for a couple of days at least. Here's to a good weekend!!

Day 2

Day 2 is here and almost gone and was a pretty good day for Miss Gabby. She did well on the oxygen nasal cannula over night and was able to just be on room air by about noon today.

The cardiologists took her to the Cath Lab this afternoon to check out her heart and make sure they had a good picture of what is actually going on. Everything was pretty much what they expected and they thought surgery would be sometime next week, but the official date was to be determined. They had to intubate Gabby and sedate her, so by the time we left this evening she was starting to come out of the sedation and move around. She was also starting to breathe on her own power more and more and the nurses were optimistic that she might have the breathing tube out before morning.

Mac got to see her again tonight and was very good with her once again, although Abbie and I aren't sure whether he likes going to see his baby sister or the nurses. He is quite the little flirt with all the younger nurses and he likes to show off that he is the big brother.

Hopefully we will find out more tomorrow about the plan for surgery, and we will let everyone know once we find out.

Update and Pictures!!

The doctors did an echo this afternoon and have decided that the single-ventricle route is the way to go, which was one of the options we knew of before we came in. They are going to do a cath tomorrow just to check everything out before they actually go in for the surgery. Gabby seems to be doing well and looks better than both Abbie and I had expected. She has pretty good color and only has a single tiny tube in her nose at this point. She had a second larger tube in earlier, but the doctors felt she was breathing well enough to switch over to the oxygen tube with the prongs in the nose. You can see the difference between the first few pictures and the last one, which is the most current set-up.

Mac was able to come and meet his baby sister earlier this evening as well and seemed to be in amazement. He just kept staring at her and he waved at her and whispered "hi" when we got in the room. He really liked when he got to "tickle" her feet and he blew her kisses when we got ready to leave.

Once again, a big "thank you" to everyone for all the kind and positive words and prayers. We will try and keep everyone posted fairly regularly of the day-to-day stuff going on with Gabby.

Here are the first few pics of her...

She's Heeeeere . . .

Gabrielle Ann Yoder arrived at 1:39 pm today. She weighed 5 lbs 15 oz and appears to be doing well. She is currently being examined by her doctors and we will hopefully know more about her condition by this evening. We will try to update you all as we get more information and add pics when we get some.

Abbie is also doing well and I couldn't be more proud of and amazed by her. The labor came on fairly quick and it was a busy day here on the delivery unit, so by the time they were ready to give her an epidural it was too late, so she delivered Gabby au natural. Like one of the delivery doctors said, "This is why women have the babies," and I couldn't agree more.

We will try to welcome as many visitors as possible to meet our little girl starting tomorrow (Thursday) but please do not come visit if you have any cold symptoms, illness or have received a vaccine in the last 4 weeks. It is very important that Gabby stay as healthy as possible so she is ready for surgery. Please call Abbie or me before coming to make sure Gabby is available.

We are taking things not only one day at a time but hour by hour. Gabby has to have many tests to get ready for surgery and may have good times and bad times throughout the day. For her sake, please do not bring/send latex balloons, stuffed animals or live plants/flowers. We are doing everything to give our baby girl the very best and love her dearly already. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers.