Snowed in and doing fine...

This week's round of appointments went REALLY well. At her cardiology appointment Elizabeth got an echo that showed her left ventricle has gotten smaller over the last month. That's an answer to prayer and means we can increase her blood pressure medication to a full dose. Otherwise, her heart is doing great and not showing any signs of additional problems.

At her Gastroenterology appointment, Elizabeth's GI was THRILLED with her progress. She's weighing in at 27+ lbs these days and that puts her in the 50th percentile for weight...pretty impressive since she went more than 4 months without really gaining ANY weight. We're happy with her tolerance of her new formula and while we're not making any progress on her oral eating, we're grateful that she's thriving in every other way. Unfortunately, her GI gave us the final word on Christmas travel and asked us not to leave the area right now. The blood pressure medication has not had enough time to make significant impact on the pressure in her verices, so it's unlikely that her risk of a bleed has decreased at all. The plan is to increase her medication, keep her on a good growth curve and then do another endoscopy in the late winter or early spring and perhaps do some repairs on any "leaky verices" at that time. We're so sad that we'll miss out on the Peterson Family Christmas this year, but in the hopes of lessening our disappointment, our dear friends, Matt & Abby will be flying out to keep us company over New Year's...we sure love them!

All in all, we're thanking God for a really stable season for Elizabeth. She's been thriving at home after that long stretch of hospitalizations. We don't plan to leave the house, especially now that we're snowed in here, (6 inches of snow today!!) so that decreases our chances of her catching something. While my mom was here to help after Ruby's birth, she kept Elizabeth moving and learning and thriving. Elizabeth is now taking 6-10 steps at a time and is growing in confidence daily. She's throwing up a lot less these days (still don't know why she's throwing up at all) and she's talking, singing & signing up a storm. We're so pleased. Now my mom has gone home and Matt's Mom has arrived (actually, she and Matt are navigating the snowy streets on their way home from the airport as we speak) and we're so thankful for the additional help.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our family. We are sustained by them and so grateful for your friendship. Here are a few pics!