Good news

We just spoke with the Nurse Practitioner, and she gave us a good report that the surgery is almost complete, it's gone well, and they'll be taking him off the bypass machine around 11am. Such good news! We'll put up more info when it comes...

The end of a long week...

Mitchell is in good shape for surgery tomorrow. He has a more consistent respiratory rate, due to a new oxygen system in place, and two blood transfusions. While we could concievably be pushed back, the surgery is scheduled for 8am wednesday. It's a four hour surgery, although the risk will continue to be high for the 8-12 hours afterwards, when the body is most prone to swelling, specifically the heart. Our parents are coming down today yet, and then tonight late we'll get to hold him for a little while.
We've been grateful for a week with Mitchell. It has been hard, but joyful. And as we watch our son labor for breath and life, we have been reminded how God watched his son labor for breath and life, and ordained his suffering on our behalf... by his stripes, we have been healed.

Support for a blue eyed baby

Yesterday was a really hard day. Today we were encouraged at every turn. Mitchell stabilized overnight, and even opened his eyes for a few minutes and enjoyed a binky. We weren't there, as God granted us some needed sleep, but the nurse told us he has blue eyes. We had a great lunch out with the Vanderweys, and even got to see all the kids. A few of our church elders came down and prayed for us and Mitchell, which was very encouraging. Mitchells neighbor, Mary, got moved to a lower risk NICU, and will go home tomorrow. Mary's parents and grandparents are all Christians, and will continue to pray for us. Bethany saw an old friend from highschool, who is now studying to be a neuro surgeon at Mott's, that too was encouraging. Two of our best friends, Cooper and Tommy, called and expressed their love and prayer. We recieved flowers on behalf of our friends in Africa. A donation was made to the UofM NICU on Mitchells behalf by someone we've never met. Our friends parents gave us a generous gift, although we've only met them a handful of times. And words can't describe our gratefullness for a letter we recieved today from thirty of our friends from college, who chose to remain unamed, who are praying for us and sent us an unbelievable gift of over $1700. And we can't even guess how many things are being done on our behalf that we will never know. Our only conclusion is that Christ is king, and that "no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him." We love you all very much. Thank you.

Progress...

It's been a good couple of days. Yesterday was a calmer day, Mitchell showed continued signs of improvement, and they even took him off the respirator. That is very encouraging, as it shows some strength in him. It's meant some more labored breathing, which is hard to watch at times, but it's also great to see his oxygen levels maintaining 80+, even without the respirator. With the respirator gone, it's also allowed Mitch to wake up some, be a little more active, and even muster the occasional cry. We never knew how good a crying baby would sound.
Today, we had a good visit with our parents, even got out for lunch... it was good to get out in the sunshine. Were looking forward to going to church tomorrow and a visit from our church elders tomorrow afternoon.
Please continue to pray for us, the days are up and down emotionally. Although Mitch is doing well, today he had an urgent EKG done to moniter a change in his heart beat. These kind of things are exhausting.

CUTER THAN YESTERDAY?!? Fact or Fiction? More Inside!

Another great day with our little guy. We had a hard time getting Bethany discharged, it seemed to take all morning. But the timing was perfect, as we walked in to the NICU just in time to talk to the pediatric cardiologists as they made rounds. They are very pleased with Mitchells progress over the last day. They summarized their comments by saying "If you look in a textbook, it'd be this case right here." It was really great to know that mitchell is gainging strength and in good hands. We also learned today that the tenative date for surgery is this upcoming wednesday, May 9th.
We enjoyed getting to see some of our friends from home today, and the day filled up pretty quickly. We are learning that time flies here, so in order to save some sanity, we're inviting people who would like to come visit to first contact Jenny Vanderwey to find a time that is best.
Finally, heres another picture of Mitchell from today. He moved his feet around tonight, and that was really fun to see.

growing pains...

It has been a good day. Mitchell is showing signs of improvement, his Oxygen is steadily above 90, and he looks pinker every time we see him. However, his blood pressure is low enough to be a concern, and the carbon dioxide in his blood seems to be climbing as the oxygen does. These elements are all addressed by a variety of medications, etc... so it seems to be a time of finding the right mixture of treatments to get him stabilized just right.
Bethany is doing well, she's on schedule to be released tomorrow morning. She's been walking around quite a bit, and is back on regular foods. We got to spend about an hour last night with Mitchell, and that was a great treat.
We are still waiting to see when surgery will come, at this point, no factors to throw us off course for sometime in the next 12 days.

It's a Boy!

After 30 or so hours of labor, we had to have a c-section at 3 am this morning. It was welcome news at that hour, as the labor had really exhausted Bethany. The baby was head down, but facing the wrong way. Mitchell McAvoy Ehrlich was born at 3:13 am. He weighs 6 pounds, 15 ounces, and is 20" long. We were able to see him this morning on our way to our new room for the next two days. Our parents were also able to see him today, and his stats are improving. A catheder was inserted into his heart, to open the way for more oxygenation of blood.. When he was born, his blood was at 28 percent saturation.. with todays treatments, he is hanging around 82.
Surgery is the next big thing, and at this point, there isn't any developments to throw the normal schedule out... so 3-14 days, but probably on the shorter end of that. We'll get a picture of Mitchell up tomorrow...