Surgery Day!

Haley had her surgery today around 12:30 pm to fix the obstruction. Dr. Bloss the pediatric surgeon performed the operation. Thomas said to Dr. Bloss as he was leaving the NICU to go to the operating room, "please take care of her", he replied back "just pray for me and I will do the rest". Then he said his famous line "I will treat her like my own, I know her on the inside and out". We truly admire and appreciate Dr. Bloss and his great ability to not only be able to perform surgeries with great outcomes, but also his kind gentleness towards our children and towards us as parents. He is one of the best pediatric surgeons around if not the best. Dr. Bloss told us after the surgery was done that it went better than he expected. Haley had a perforation that became an obstruction in the distal small bowel (lower small bowel). He removed a very small amount (4 1/2 cm) of her small bowel. Dr. Bloss told us that she has plenty of small bowel to absorb nutrients and won't have short gut. He also said that her ileocecal valve (connection between the small bowel and the large intestines) was sick but should recover. So Haley is doing good, but is still recovering after all the anesthesia. She is a fighter and will recover fully. Ashlyn is slowly getting worse and continues to decline. Her oxygen saturation is decreasing and her blood pressure has decreased some, but she still has a good heart rate. She is not urinating and it appears she is in renal failure. We are so heart broken and wish for the best for her. Rachel is doing well. She so far doesn't have an infection. I'm hoping it stays that way and my intuition was wrong. Her feeds have increased and she is tolerating them well. Her IV nutrition (TPN) has been decreased and the lipids (IV fat) were discontinued. Yeah!!! I'm so happy she is no longer getting the lipids. Lipids can be damaging to the liver so it's better to not be getting TPN and lipids for a long amount of time. She seems to love laying on her belly, or at least it shows in her O2 saturation's. What ever may happen to Ashlyn one thing is very clear to Thomas and I, she has touched our lives for eternity. She is a beautiful little girl. We are so gratefully to our Heavenly Father for allowing her to be with us how ever long that may be. I feel the Spirit so strongly every time I am with her or any of the other girls. These are His precious little girls, He created them as He has all of us. I have no doubt that a loving Father in Heaven can perform miracles, and does often. I know that if He wants Ashlyn on this earth she will remain with us, but if she is called home to that God who gave her life than that is a miracle as well to me. Why because of the miracle of the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. He gave His life in a selfless sacrifice so that we would be reunited as families when we pass on. I know that as Thomas and I live righteously in this life we will be able to be reunited as a family with all our children in the world to come. God be thanked for His Son Jesus Christ for all that he did and continues to do for us. Even though this experience has been extremely difficult and challenging, it has brought an increased knowledge of the Saviors atonement in our lives in a very real way. We are so thankful for the blessing we do have, despite the trials of life. "Life is beautiful when we learn to find the beauty in it".

Haley after the surgery. Dr. Bloss drew a picture on the tape/dressing covering her incision.