Trusting God with Hope.

The long awaited Glenn is taking place tomorrow.  I continue to have trouble believing that statement.  Tomorrow is a day that we have been waiting for since the beginning.  It took forever to arrive.  At the same time, I feel like it came out of no where and here we are.  I wouldn't say that I'm completely relaxed, as I do have anxiety about some things tomorrow.  As a whole, I have a lot of peace though.  I'm actually surprised by how peaceful I feel this evening.

Hope is scheduled as the second case for the OR tomorrow.  They are saying she will be taken around noon.  There is obviously a chance that she would be taken earlier, or later.  We will do our best to keep everyone updated as the day progresses tomorrow.  We've spent most of the day snuggling with Hope and enjoying the opportunity to hold her.  We won't be able to hold her after her surgery until she is stable and will be comfortable when picked up.  That is always very difficult for me.

The surgeon, Dr. Ross, came to see us this evening to sign consent for the surgery.  In the average HLHS baby having the Glenn, he has a 95% success rate.  He informed us that he is not able to give us an estimate for success with Hope, as he has no idea how she'll do.  We are praying that all the issues they are worried about, will not be issues.  We are praying that she will not come out of the surgery on life support and will wake up from the anesthetic.  We are praying for her pressures be under 20, that is the goal for her to be more stable.  High pressures is one of the most dangerous aspects of this surgery.  Dr. Ross informed us that anything under 20 would be acceptable.  They believe she is currently at a 7-8 and are aiming for a 13-14 after surgery.

In preparation for surgery, Hope needs to have baths in a special soap.  This removes all germs from her external skin and will lower her risk of infection.  I've just completed the first bath and will begin the second one at bedtime in a few hours.  The third and final bath will take place in the morning.  Hope will stop receiving food and blood thinners at 4am and will be completely ready for surgery by 8am.  This is done as a precaution, as if anything happens with the child that is meant to be first case, Hope would be bumped up and needs to be ready.

They are expecting the surgery to take an average of 4 hours.  I know from Hope's previous surgeries and procedures that my anxiety skyrockets when we reach the projected time of completion, if we have not yet seen the surgeon.  Please pray specifically for us as 4pm approaches, as it is a very difficult time of waiting after that point.

Thank you to everyone that is praying for Hope and our family.  We are continually blessed to hear of people praying for us all.  We know that God is in control and we are trusting Him with Hope.  We believe that He will be with Hope in her surgery and will guide the hands of the surgeons.  May God be glorified through Hope's life tomorrow.