what a long day

As I sit here listening to the thunder outside and the motor of the baby swing containing sleeping Mr. Samuel I am filled with joy that though Monday was such a long day God brought us through smoothly! You see yesterday Morning I woke up at 5:30 a.m. wanting to make sure Mr. Samuel got in as much food as possible before his 7 a.m. food cut off time.  After getting in a 5oz bottle around 6:15 a.m.  I couldn't go back to sleep thinking of all the what if's of the day.  I laid in bed silently praying, crying, and asking my Heavenly Father to get us through without complications and with a definite conclusion for Mr. Samuel.  Scott told me he didn't have to go to work if I felt he needed to go with me, I assured him it would be better for him to go to work and to the home inspection we had absent mindedly scheduled on this important Monday, and that i would call him after I knew what was going on.  Scott got ready for work and then we prayed for our very busy day before he left a little before 7 that morning.  I took the opportunity to get myself  ready and gather everything I thought we might need for the day and possibly having to stay over night.  Samuel, being an amazing and already wise you man slept in till about 9:30! He handled not being able to eat very well and only put up a small fuss when he discovered his bottle only contained water.  I got him ready gave him some water put all our stuff in the car and we were out the door a little  after 10 a.m. so that we could run by Sam's club for more formula before heading to Kosair Children's Hospital.  We arrived around 11:15 a.m. and got checked in before heading to the 8th floor where they gathered information on Mr. Samuel before our long wait began. And and long wait it was indeed! We were on the 8th floor from 11:30 till a little before 3. This is where I have to brag about our little trooper! The whole time we were waiting he never once had a fit. If he started to get fussy we would go for a walk or find another distraction, thankfully we managed to get a nap in from a little before 12 till around 1:30, otherwise things might not have gone so well.  Scott decided to work a half day and showed up at the hospital shortly after Samuel had fallen asleep.  Around 3 is when our wait was getting closer to being over. We were down in the waiting area of the cath lab waiting on the doc and for them to come get Mr. Samuel, who is still being awesome! They finally took him back around 3:15 and the doc showed up around 3:20 with everything getting started around 3:45.  The cath took about 2 hours and went really well, the doc got everything he needed to have a clear picture of what was going on.
Around 4p.m. Scott left the hospital to go to the home inspection and shortly after my wonderful mother in law came and spent about 2 hours with me.  When the doc came and got me to take me back and show me everything I was glad to have her with me and couldn't think of a better more knowledgeable person to have by my side.  the doc explained all the pictures had taken and showed us where the hole was and how much was being pushed back through.  The hole he has is pretty big and between the right and left ventricle. I asked him how soon they will want to do surgery, if it was something they would wait a little while to do or would he want to get it done soon.  He said that he will be putting him on the schedule and he would think it will be happening in the next month.  So, I don't have a surgery date yet but I'll be posting again as soon as I know. After finishing up talking to the doc we waited for them to bring Mr. Samuel by on his way to recovery.  We headed up to his room where i waited for Mr. Samuel to arrive.  He was brought to the room close to 7p.m. and I was so happy to see my still out of it little guy.  The nurses got his vitals and told me I could go ahead and let him have something to eat. I used their little 2oz premixed formula bottles and he drank that in under 5 min, a record for our little guy! When I tried to switch out the empty bottle he had in his hands with a full one he wouldn't let go of the empty one.  It was so funny yet sad at the same time! I can only imagine how hard it was to go 12 hours without eating, especially for our little guy! He downed about 6oz before going back to sleep.  So, we waited a little more and around 9p.m. he had his blood drawn for labs and went down to get a chest x-ray. we waited for the results on that and for the doc to be called before being discharged.  We left the hospital around 11:20p.m., got home around 12 put Samuel to bed and then we crashed.  It wasn't a very restful night as Samuel seemed to wake up often and then was up for good at 7:15 Tuesday morning.  But, we made it through Monday and everything went SO well!
I want to thank you all for your prayers on Monday for Mr. Samuels cath and for us as we went through this process.
Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for Samuels surgery as well as a move.  We also would covet your prayers and ask that you be praying that the Lord would provide the perfect renters for our current home. I would love to know it's in great hands.  Pray that in all things we would lean on the Lord, find strength and rest in Him.  Also, that we would seek Him daily and spend time finding refreshment in his word and in fellowship with our Father. 

Here is a picture of Samuel waiting...got so hungry even the book looked yummy!