hit yo' knees for baby Harper!

ok friends...i am a lame, awful poster. however...that is a topic for a different post. i have something much more important to discuss.

this sweet girl right here...
is having her surgery TODAY! as i type, her mommy and daddy are driving toward Lubbock. they have to arrive by 6:00 AM, and surgery will begin sometime between 7:00 and 7:30.

here's what's going to happen: most of us have two ventricles in the lower half of our heart; one to pump deoxygenated blood to the lungs, and one to pump oxygenated blood that has returned from the lungs out to the body. these two are divided by a piece of muscle called a septum...same concept as that thing that divides your two nostrils. in Harper's case, she has a large VSD...ventricular septal defect. basically means that where that septum should be...there's a big ol' hole. so Miss Harper's deoxygenated blood is mixing with oxygenated blood. this is a problem, because the blood being pumped to her body is only semi-oxygenated. that makes it hard to breathe, hard to have energy, hard to eat...basically, everything is harder for little miss. so what the doctors are going to do is take a piece of gore-tex patch and sew in in where that septum should be. as long as all goes well...and we have faith that it will!...this will be the only surgery Harper will ever have to have and she will live a normal life from now on.

what does this mean for her? if you will look again at the picture above, you will notice an orange and white tube dangling from Miss Harper's left nostril. that is a feeding tube. remember how it's hard for her to have the energy to eat? since Harper came home from the hospital at 3-4 weeks of age (and even in the hospital), that tube has been her worst best friend. Harper gets to practice bottle-feeding a couple times a day just so she remembers how, but the vast majority of her nutrition is delivered via a feeding pump through that tube and directly into her stomach. that way, she gets all of her calories and can concentrate just on gaining weight, not having to work for it. this way, she's been able to get bigger more quickly in order to optimize her chances for surgery. since she came home from the hospital, this has been Harper's world:


the bag on the pole holds her milk, which then runs through her tubing. she gets fed every three hours, around the clock. you will also notice a white cord hanging off the front of her swing...that hooks to a monitor that measures the level of oxygen in Harper's blood. if it gets below a certain level, the monitor alarms loud enough to wake the dead for 20 miles...her mama will attest to this! as time has worn on, her monitors have gone off more often, and her color has not been quite as pink. she's also been working noticeably harder to breathe. between these things and her weekly appointments with the cardiologist, we have arrived at today.

Amy and Dustin have incredible faith...i watched it play out two and a half years ago with their twin boys. please pray for them...pray God will encourage and strengthen them today, and that they will have the Peace that passes all understanding. pray that the Perfect Love they cling to will cast out all of their fears.

and the team...pray for Dr. Harrell...he's the surgeon who will be operating on Miss Harper. pray for steady hands and wisdom. pray for the anesthesiologist who will be closely monitoring Harper's pain, sedation, and oxygenation levels during surgery. pray for the perfusionist who will be running the heart/lung machine that will do all of Harper's blood pumping and oxygenation during the most critical part of surgery...in order for the heart to be still enough to make the microscopic stitches needed, her heart will actually be stopped for a while. pray for the circulating nurses and scrub techs, that they will be able to anticipate every need.

after surgery, Miss Harper will be wheeled back to the pediatric intensive care unit. i know those nurses, and i know they are some of the best. they will be Harper's advocates throughout their stay. pray that their eyes are open and anticipating anything that may be cropping up with Miss Harper after surgery. and most of all...pray for Miss Harper. pray that her little 13 week old self knows the love and comfort of the Father through all of this. pray that her pain is well controlled and that healing comes quickly. pray that she doesn't develop an oral aversion from all of the tubes in her mouth (this will make it more difficult to relearn bottle feeding). pray that no post-op infections crop up and increase her hospital time.

it's gonna be a big day...pray that the Father is known above all.

more updates later.