eliana is 3 months old! :)

i don’t know what i did, but she decided to smile really big 🙂

nathaniel likes to kiss his sister. 🙂

I wanted to thank everyone for praying for our little one eliana.  By God’s grace, she is three months old and has been growing beautifully.  Although the G-tube has been painful to deal with to say the least, eliana has been gaining about 1 ounce a day because of it.  She still takes very minimal amount by mouth (about 10ml per feeding).  I usually bottle feed her once a day in the morning, and by the time I’m done with her she is exhausted from crying/sucking/swallowing and I am emotionally drained.  Picking up nathaniel afterwards and seeing his smiling face helps to start the day though.  🙂

update since the last post:

1) ultrasound of her spine: to see if her nerves are normally placed and growing.  So far, it seems ok

2) hearing test: babies with cleft lip and palate have tendencies to accumulate fluid in middle ear and it impairs their ability to hear.  The lady who administered the test on eliana said it is rare for cleft lip/palate babies to have such good hearing function!  🙂  We will continue to monitor her hearing function and place tubes in ear drums to drain fluid if needed.  🙂

3) her echocardiogram is scheduled in October.  We have been praying for her holes in her heart would close up on their own.  Her cardiologist said that if they all close up, she may not need a big heart surgery!!  🙂

4) eliana is no longer taking any medications to aid her heart!  🙂  praise the Lord!

5) eliana seems to show normal signs of brain development but it’s still very difficult to tell at this point.  🙂

6) the G-tube still bothers her a lot.  But both of us are learning how to best cope with it.  I think things are getting better, albeit very slowly.

Please continue to pray for our family as there are still many challenges to be overcome in the near future.  Thank you, again, for keeping us in your prayers!  🙂