Hannah Mae Harms is Here!

Born: 5/14/10 at 10:56pm
7lbs 14oz
21inches
beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day

While we're still awaiting Baby Girl's arrival, I had a lovely Mother's Day and felt full to the brim with all the love and affection from my family. Matt's yummy crepes for breakfast, an enjoyable afternoon walk with my sweet friend Abby, and dinner out (read: no clean-up) made for a perfect day. I'm so thankful to be a mom and truly grateful for how I've changed as a result of the two little people God has entrusted to me. While the journey hasn't always been easy or painless, in the process of becoming the mom I want to be (still not there yet!), I know I lean on and love God more, and experience more of His grace and faithfulness on a daily basis. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

"Wohoo!!"

I don't know if those words will be in the official report, but that's basically how we feel after a really good news from the surgeons this morning. On a side note, in addition to her Endoscopy, we were able to schedule Elizabeth to have her ENT clean out and assess her left ear (where her hearing loss was classified as "moderately severe") while she was under general anesthesia. St. Louis Children's is really good about doubling and tripling up on procedures to save kids multiple intubations and traumatic hospital experiences...and it's much more convenient for us too.

Since the ENT was able to get a good look while Elizabeth was in Lala land, she discovered the extent of a fungal infection in Elizabeth's outer ear (which we've been treating for the past few weeks) and was able to thoroughly clean it out, and also discovered her tube had come out, and the eardrum had sealed over trapping a lot of sterile mucous...so it's no wonder our little bunny couldn't hear!! So, she's got a brand spanking new tube in her left ear and both ears are spic and span, and in two weeks we will re-test her hearing and are expecting better results! So please continue to pray for complete healing for E's ears...that prayer request hasn't been officially answered yet! :)

In the other good news of the morning, the GI surgeon thought her varices looked good (grade 2 out of 4, 4 being badly at risk of rupturing) and this time didn't feel like he needed to do any sclarotherapy (the process of sealing off veins that will likely rupture soon). And he thought we might be able to wait for 3 months before looking again!

So it's all good news from us today! Elizabeth did great all morning, she was brave and strong and cheerful and as soon as her anesthesia started to wear off she promptly began negotiating for her favorite treats....animal crackers, a Belle sticker and a little Einstein's video...which I promptly supplied.

Thanks for your prayers and emails!

Endoscopy - Round 3

In the hub-bub of getting ready for Baby Girl #3 and preparing for a visit from my sweet friend, (My Abby from California is here for 4 days!!) I forgot to ask for prayers for Elizabeth's endoscopy today. It's easy for me to forget that there's a risk each time she goes under general anesthesia and each time they poke around near those varices, but I was up early this morning with sweet Ruby and thought I'd send out a quick request. We've got to check in at 6:15, so I have to go get her things ready, but please pray for a successful surgery (she's scheduled at 7:30am) AND that I wouldn't go into labor today. :) That would just be too complicated. Ruby will play at Sophie's house and Matt's got a full day at work, so we're all scattered, but firmly in His grip.
We'll let you know how it goes. There's a chance if things look good, that this could be the last one until the fall, we'll see...
Love,
Sara, Matt and the girls