Maisy's latest

**This picture was taken two days ago. Some amazing person brought these beautiful hats to all the baby girls in the NICU.
On Thanksgiving day we went to visit Maisy with the kids before we ate our dinner. While we were there, her oxygen levels kept dipping down. Maisy hasn't been on oxygen since she was born, so they looked into it a little more. She sounded congested and they did some x-rays. They tested her for RSV and gave her a diuretic in case it was heart related. The RSV stuff came back negative, and Maisy started improving with the diuretic. She took several full feedings through that day and the next, which she hadn't done in several days.

The next day they did an echo-cardiogram (ultrasound exam of the heart) and found that her Ventricular Septral Defect (VSD) was letting a lot of blood cross-over from the left ventricle to the right. This was the thing the cardiologists had wanted to just check up on in a month. Basically, Maisy is going into congestive heart failure because her lungs are having to pump almost twice the amount of blood through them that they should. We knew this was a possiblity, but they didn't think it would happen so early.

It was a little bit of a process figuring out what that would mean for Maisy, but they've determined that they will have to do open heart surgery and fix her VSD before she is really going to thrive. The term open heart surgery and the whole idea of it makes me cringe, but the cardiologist told us that this particular surgery has a 99% success rate. They told us on Thursday that they want Maisy to get up to 3 Kilograms (6lbs. 10oz.) before they operate. Right now she is on continuous feeds to gain weight and is up to 5lbs.6oz. They anticipate that it will take 2-4 weeks to get her up to the weight she needs to be.

The doctor said she isn't ruling out the possibility of letting her come home to grow if she is doing really well, but they still need to see more consistency with her weight gain and her heart rate (which has been extra high). Maisy is on a diuretic 3 times a day as well, to help keep water off of her lungs.

How are we doing? We're holding on. I didn't mention this, but Maisy was transferred almost 2 weeks ago up to Fort Collins. It has made all the difference in being able to visit her. Our family, friends and ward members have been incredible. I've never had a need to have so much service extended to me. My wonderful mother filled our freezer (and fridge, and pantry), friends have been watching our children each morning so that I can visit our baby in the hospital, and Justin has been so selfless and supportive in watching the kids on top of all of his school work and tests so that I can visit Maisy in the evenings. The kids definitely have their "struggling with transition" moments, but have also been so good considering all that has happened in the last month.

In spite of this being one of the most challenging things I have ever faced, I have never been so enveloped in warmth and love and have been the recipient of so much christ-like service that I feel overwhelmed to tears just thinking about it. That includes the fasting, prayers, phone calls, blog comments, and emails from those who are far away. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and concern. We will post more about surgery when we hear dates or get more information.**My milk supply in the freezer. I've been pumping for the last 3 weeks. My freezer is packed, my fridge is packed, the freezer and fridge at the hospital are packed with my milk. Next step... breast milk donor.