Evening Update from 4E

Today has been a fabulous day! I have to first thank all of our nurses, doctors and staff for being so patient with us and answering any and all questions we may have had today.

Samantha Grace has been in great spirits today. After a small time period of high blood sugar (in the 600s), we were able to get a beautiful reading of 130 at dinner time. (Our new range we trying to achieve is 150 - 250.) She ate every bit of her dinner. I think she would have eaten the plate if we would have let her. Thank you Becca and Kristi for sitting with her while she slept and ate tonight!

Tonight we are praying for a very restful night, for tomorrow mommy and daddy go back to school. We will be able to stay with Samantha Grace during our schooling. Mommy's biggest prayer request is for bravery in giving shots and pricks.

We thank everyone again for all your prayers, support, calls and visits. We are blessed beyond measure!

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Jesus Christ." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16 - 18

A View from the Top

We have moved...to the 4th floor Southeast wing of Children's Hospital. Samantha Grace is thoroughly enjoying her new room. She is able to get on the floor and play, endless wagon rides and flirting with the nurses. (However, we do miss our nurses in the PICU.) We are also trying to adapt to a new more rigid schedule for testing, eating and resting. Please pray that they will get her blood sugar more stabalized, it is rising and falling.

We thought everyone would enjoy a few pictures from her new room and adventures in the hospital:
The first picture is for all the PICU nurses! We miss you guys!






Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, for His love endures forever!

A New Meaning

Happy Mother's Day to all Mommies! I have to say that I have gained new meanings of what it means to be a mommy not only over the last year but especially over the last few days. I truly know that being a mommy is the best gift from God. In Proverbs 31 verse 28 it states,

"Her children arise and call her blessed."

I have never felt more blessed than I do in these past few days.

Our little princess got a huge treat last night. Her nurse let her venture into the "outside world" of the PICU for almost 20 minutes last night. The best part was that nurse Andrea brought in one of the several wagons around the hospital. It took a lot to contain her excitement while Andrea wiped out the wagon with a disinfectant cloth. My dad described it as this: "She is like trying to control a wet fish right now." She truly came back to life being a little social butterfly as we pulled her around the hospital. She loves the giant animals in the lobby of the hospital and she didn't miss the silver fish hanging at the top of the ceiling.

On a prayer request note, her sugar did go up to 376 last night before I left for the night to get some much needed rest. However, we do praise that the insulin seemed to help out to bring it down to 220. We are also praying that she will rest a little better today and into the coming night. I spoke with Josh (he stayed at the hospital last night with her) this morning he reported that it took them quite some work to get her to sleep last night.

Again, the plan is to transfer from PICU into a regular room sometime early on today. We continue to praise the Lord for all the baby steps of praise in this journey. Thank you for all your continued support, prayers, visits and calls.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."
-James 1:2 - 3

Nightly Update

We will remain in PICU tonight to continue to monitor her sugar levels and to try to keep it stablized until a meeting with the doctor in the morning. Her spirits are great! She continues to wave, smile and scrunch her nose at all the nurses and visitors.

Again, thank you for continuing to pray. We continue to trust in the Lord.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Hangin' Out @ PICU

Greetings friends! I am feeling all of your prayers. Here's the view from my crib:

My Favorite Nurse Jeremy

Thank you Ella for my new monkey!



Hugs, Kisses and a scrunchy nose to all!

Samantha-Grace

Beep, Beep, Beep

Saturday AM Update:
We first want to thank everyone for all your phone calls, e-mails, prayers and thoughts. God has truly blessed our family!

This morning we woke up with lots of questions. Thankfully the first person we met with this morning was Dr. V our endochronologist. We were put at such ease. We both felt like we were in the midst of a bad dream, but we know that we are in the palm of God's hands in all of this.

Samantha Grace had a restful night between blood sugar tests each hour. She was resting peacefully when Josh went in at 8:30 this morning. She woke up in a good mood in comparison to the past few days. She even, in the time period we were back with her this morning, played peek-a-boo with the nurse. (Honestly, I think she was flirting with her now male nurse!)

She was grateful to eat some applesauce and a full glass milk. Prior to eating, her blood sugar measured 78, which everyone was pleased with so they took her off of her insulin IV line and her saline drip (due to being able to drink a whole glass of milk). After about an hour of consumption, they retested to find her blood sugar back up to 257. They administered a fast acting insulin to bring it back down on top of the slow acting 24-hour insulin they gave her earlier in the morning.

Today is a trial and error day to figure out her insulin levels. We are praying that we will be in a regular room by this evening. Again we thank you for all your prayers and support. We know that God is in control and we can trust in Him.

GOD IS SO GOOD

Joshua and I cannot express enough how thankful we are for all the road that God has laid for us previously and even now as I type this blog.

We are currently sitting in the PICU of Birmingham Children's Hospital. Samantha Grace, after some reoccuring symptoms that were perculiar for her age, went into her Pediatrician's office today for a blood sugar check. Her blood sugar finally measured out at 913. (Normal is 60 - 100 for her age.) We quickly were taken care of at Baptist South by wonderful Dr. M to stabilize her for transport to Birmingham.

Once stabilized, she got her first helicopter flight to Birmingham. (She is one up on mom and dad!) While here, we will be in PICU until they get things more stabilized. We will then see a diabetes specialist to get more stablization and Joshua and I will get diabetes 101 education.

This is a very rare case that a child this young would have diabetes. But we are praising God for all the circumstances that have come into play, our wonderful pediatrician (who is sitting right here in the waiting room with us right now), and all our friends and family praying for us. Josh and I would love to sit down and share with you the complete story some day, but for now we would love for your prayer support. We will be at Children's for the next 3 - 4 days at least.

We leave you with this wonderful and very purposeful verse that our pastor, Jay, handed Josh today:

"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes." Matthew 6:34 (MSG)