News......

So we took Sam to the doc today for her weight check and to get the results from her genetic testing!

Good news...Sam has surpassed her birth weight and is now 7lbs 15ozs!!  The doctor is excited that Sam has gained her weight back and is looking great!

Blah news...the results are not in for her genetic testing...may be another week before we know anything!

You win some you loose some :)

Sam's 2 Week Check Up...

So last Friday we had Sam's rescheduled 2 week check up at her Pediatrician's office.  Why was it rescheduled you ask??  Click here for those details...

All caught up? GREAT!! Now onto the details of the appointment :)

So Friday I went to the doc with Sam and we got weighed, measured, poked and prodded.  Her height was 19.5 inches {you may remember her being a whopping 21 inches in the hospital??  Our nurse Rosa said they measure with a tape and it's often wrong...there is no way this child was 21 inches and lost and inch and a half...it just doesn't happen that way :)}.  So she is in the 17th percentile for height meaning 17% of babies her age are her height.  Her weight was 7lbs 11ozs which is my sister's birth weight :)  Sam was down 3oz from her birth weight of 7lbs 14ozs which was my birth weight!  She is in the 28th percentile for her weight which is good, but since she didn't make it back to her birth weight, I have to take her in to get weighed again this Friday just to make sure she's gaining the right amount of weight!  We had to do the same with Joey when she was 2 weeks old.  They also measure her head circumference and Sam's is in the 22nd percentile measuring in at 13 3/4 inches!  

The doc listened to her heart, and lungs and said everything sounds as it should and our baby girl is definitely healthy after all that fuss she caused us in the beginning!  

Thanks again for everyone's prayers!  We know the Lord worked through them and we can't thank you enough!  Please continue to pray as we await the results from her genetic testing {which should be in on Friday}, and for her and Joey's heart appointments in July!

I'll leave you with a precious picture of our little punkin......enjoy!

When It's Her Idea :)

Despite popular belief, I like when Joey's hair has bows in it!  I love the 10 seconds when she lets me put her hair in pony tails :)  Somehow I cannot get her to comply cute hair styles like Grandma and Miss Amanda can, and at our house if it isn't her idea, it's not happening!  

The other day Joey decided she wanted bows in her hair..here's what we ended up with compliments of daddy!

Not only did she want A BOW, she wanted every single one in the basket :)  She would have worn these in her hair for a while if we hadn't made her take them out!  I'm all about freedom of expression, but I don't want our 2 year old to end up on www.peopleofwalmart.com, and this hair do might have landed her a prime spot on the site since that's where we were planning on going :)

Is there anything you can't get your kids to do that other people can??

Mommy of 2 :)

First of all, let me start this post by saying I am so appreciative of my mom and sister who have been coming to our house to help me while Johnny is working this week!  I love y'all :)

That being said, today was really the first day I felt the pressure of being a mommy of 2.  Here's what went down...

I was feeding Sam {and by that I mean the girl was hooked on to me :)} when Joey wanted to come and sit by me.  She was being unusually fussy, and then BAM...she started to throw up her breakfast all over the love seat, and herself!  What do you do when you are hooked to a kid and your other kid starts to spew??  All she wanted was me, and I was occupied with her sister :(  Thank goodness my sister was there and she sprung into action!  She took Joey, and cleaned her up, cleaned up the love seat, finished feeding Sam with a bottle, changed the cover on the Boppy pillow, and more!  Poor Joey was sick for a while and ended up falling asleep on me for a two hour stretch :(  She had no fever, and I guess felt better once she woke up since she was ready to eat again!  Not sure what I would have done without Vicky's help today!!

Here's a sweet picture of my sister Vicky with her 2 favorite nieces!!

Since Joey had a bad day, I thought I would share some good day stories.....

So we are potty training Joey and the other day she was in her room with my mom and Johnny.  She looked at them and said "oh no, I spilled".  Johnny and my mom were wondering what she spilled because we don't allow drinks or food in her room usually.  They cracked up when they realized she had had an accident and had peed on the floor.  Usually not something we would laugh about, but when the kid said she "spilled", it was too funny!!

Joey loves to color and my grandmother got her some Color Wonder stuff for Christmas.  We have gotten her several books since then, and she just goes to town with the markers on the pages!  We got her a blank pad that you can use the Color Wonder markers on, and she has been drawing her own pictures.  She will draw something or take something that I have drawn, hug it tightly to her chest, and say "Oh mommy, I lub it, do you lub it?".  Are you kidding me, this kid is so cute!!! And yes Joey, I do lub it!

Joey is loving the pool these days and insists on calling it the "water park".  This is her motivation for not "spilling" throughout the day!  Daddy tells her when he leaves for work that if she "spills" he won't take her to the "water park".  They have been going pretty regularly, and she is getting pretty brave!  I've been staying in with Sam, but Johnny says that she is jumping to him now, and her cousin Mily gave her a floatie ring that she is using too :)  I hope we have a fish on our hands people!!

Well, that's it for now!  Here's hoping that everyone feels well tomorrow!!

Homecoming!!!

So Friday was the big day!  We called the NICU before heading up to visit Sam, and they told us that we were going to get to bring her home!  We were so excited :)  The doc said that we should treat Sam like a healthy baby because that's what she is!  With a few instructions from one of our favorite nurses Cheryl, and we were on our way!  Here are a few pics of our departure :)

Pretty sure Johnny was listening or trying pretending to listen to the instructions?!?

Here's Sam in her going home outfit!  So cute :)

Here's the cake my mom got for all the NICU staff!  Everyone was so great, and we really appreciated all that they did for our little girl!!

Getting buckled in!!

Look at that sweet face :)

And those sweet feet!!

When we got home, we let Joey hold her and she is a proud big sister!!!

She loves to give her sweet kisses!!!

Here's a video of Joey holding her for the first time :)

It was an awesome day and here's hoping we have an awesome summer!!!  Thanks so much for all your prayers for our baby!!  We are so glad she's home!!

My Own Jammies :)

Hi, my name is Samantha Lynn Stout but my mommy and daddy call me Sam, and you can too!  If you have been following my story, you know it's been a rough week for me :(  I was born on June 2, 2010.  I weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 21 inches long!  I don't know if you know my mommy, but I was a huge baby for her 4'10" self :)  Once I was born, I got to see my mommy and she gave me a yummy meal for all my hard work, then they shipped me off to the nursery.  I have lived there for the past week.  They have stuck me with needles, put tubes down my throat and nose, stuck an oxygen tube in my nose, given me x-rays, and more.  It's been tough :(  In the past few days, I have been getting so much better!  First they took out my feeding and oxygen tubes and let my mommy feed me!!!  Then they took out my IV, and moved me into a big girl bed.  My mommy and daddy even got to put me in my own jammies today!!  Don't I look snug as a bug???

Now here's the fun news...my doctor said I get to come home as early as FRIDAY!!! If not Friday, then Saturday! I am so excited!  My mommy and daddy said that they have lots of fun stuff for me at our house!  I can't wait to get a bath in my own bath, sleep in my own bassinet, meet my sister and my family, meet my parent's friends, and more!  

Please pray that I can come home Friday!  Please pray that when I get home that I will continue to improve and eat well.  Please pray for my parents, that they continue to feel the peace and love of God and family and friends surrounding them.  Thanks for all the prayers so far, they have been appreciated!!!  Hope to see you tomorrow from my own home!!!!

Great News From the NICU!!!

So if you read yesterday's post, you know Sam had a great day and her breathing tube and her oxygen tube were taken out!!  They let us know that the doc would be in today and we were going to try to make it up to see her so we could get an official update!

I called this morning to confirm what time Dr. Foster would be in and she was actually there already.  I was able to talk to her and she said Sam had a great night!  Sam ate only from bottles and they were upping her volume of fluids and she was doing great with that!  The doctor said that they were going to up Sam's volume even more today and if that went well, they are going to take her IV line out of her belly button!  Once that comes out she is tube free and can come home soon!  I asked "How soon??".  She said that if everything goes as planned, Sam could be home as early as FRIDAY!!!!!!!  Are you kidding me??  That would be awesome!!!!

We got Joey up this morning and took her to Aunt Becky's so that we could go see Sam.  We got there and the doctor was still around and confirmed everything she told us this morning.  We got to hold Sam and give her her first 50 mL feeding to boot!!  She did great until she fell asleep after 40 mL :)  Johnny and I are just too soothing I guess, so the nurse stepped in and tried to wake her up to finish the rest of the feeding.  We had no such luck and had to stop at 40 mL.  The nurse said they are going to work on it through the day and hopefully she will stretch her tummy out enough to get up to 50 mL.  

It seems like this is the only thing holding her back right now, so please pray that she would eat, eat, eat!!!  We need this little lady to get that tummy stretched so that she can get up to 50 mL so that they can take the IV out.  Once that is done they will move her to a regular basinet {the bed she's in has a heater and all sorts of bells and whistles on it}.  She will be in that for a couple days tube free and IV free and then we will get to take her home!!!! 

I can't wait to have those chubby cheeks home and all to ourselves!!!  So please PRAY!!!! 

Today is the Day You Have Made.....

.......I will rejoice and be glad in it!

We have been praising God during this crazy time of our lives and we have been praying hard for His provision and comfort.  We have been feeling his love surround us and we have been feeling his comfort more than anyone could ever know! Thanks so much for everyone's prayers, we feel them...we really do!

Well today, and each day we receive any positive news on Sam, we rejoice as the Lord rejoices over His creation who is healing!  Yesterday we had a great visit, but today was even better!!!!!

When we went in this afternoon, we weren't expecting much.  This is usually when Sam is sound asleep and Johnny and I fiddle on Facebook or take some sleeping pictures of her or something like that. Last night Nurse John let us know that we may not get to hold her again because of her belly button IV.  He wanted us to hold her but knew some other nurses may not feel as comfortable letting us hold Sam.  So today when we went, it was time to feed Sam.  Cheryl {the Nurse on Duty} let us know that we were going to get to feed Sam today!  She pulled up a chair and let us hold and feed her :)  Obviously she's not too worried about her IV, and that's just fine with us!!!

Cheryl also gave us some other good news!  Sam had bottle fed all night and was not fed through her feeding tube at all!  She kept all her food down and they were upping her fluids from 25 ml to 30 ml and later today they were going to up her to 35 ml as long as she handled the 30 ml fine.  Also her oxygen was changed too.  She is breathing at 21% right now which is what you and I breathe everyday, so that is good news!!  She was taking in 7 Liters of oxygen each day, but they were going to lower her count each day by 1 Liter.  Today she was down to 2 Liters {that's right, 2} and doing really well!  We left her this afternoon with a sense of accomplishment!  They are pushing Sam to do great things, and she is rising to the challenges!  Team Stout!!!!

When we went back tonight, Nurse John was there and he admitted that he was worried about getting in trouble for what he let us do last night with Sam.  He didn't get in trouble :)  I have a feeling he only would have gotten in trouble if she had regressed because of something he did.  On the contrary, Sam was improving because of what he did!  Anywho, we walked in, and he asked "Notice anything missing??"

Our sweet Sam has no oxygen tubes and her feeding tube is gone!!!!!!!!!  John said that she hadn't had a feeding through the tube all day and she was keeping everything down, so he just took the tube out!  Then he said she was doing really well on the oxygen and he just tried her without it and she was doing equally as well, so he just took that tube out too!  Since both tubes have been gone, she has still been feeding with a bottle only {we got to feed her again tonight :)} and she has been upped to 35 ml.  She sucked that milk down so fast it wasn't even funny!  On top of that awesomeness, the entire time we were holding her, her breathing was staying between the 40 and 60 breaths per minute mark!!  This kid is a serious champ!  

{Look Ma, no tubes!}

{Just look at those pinchable cheeks!!!  She's precious right??}

Now the question that comes out of everyone's mouth next is "Great, when does she get to come home".  Believe me, we want to know that info too!  We are going to try and go in tomorrow when the doctor is visiting to see if we can get an answer to that question!  The only thing John said needs to happen for her to be "take home ready" is that we need to replace what she is getting in her IV each hour with milk.  Once the milk takes place of the IV fluid, and she is off everything for a few days, she should be able to come home with us!!!

All in all, a great day in the NICU for Samantha Lynn!  She's a week old already and I'm so glad she is getting better!  Please continue to pray for Sam's healing, and that Johnny and I would continue to feel God's peace surround us during this time!  We love y'all and thanks for keeping up with us!!

NICU Videos...

Yesterday was such a fun day and we got to do a lot with Sam thanks to our night time nurse John.  He's not really a rule follower, and we loved it!  We got to take her temperature, change her diaper, hold her, feed her, and hang out for a really long time!  Here are some videos of our time with Sam yesterday!!!

This is the longest video at 4ish minutes.  Never mind the talking in the background....it's not really pertinent info.  Feel free to listen in though if diaper changing and such isn't all that interesting to you :)

It was a process, but John let me hold Sam.  He had to unhook and re hook a lot of wires to make this happen!  He said it's super important for these NICU babies to be held and loved on!  I completely agree {anything for me to get a hold of that baby girl!!!}!  We had to keep her laying as flat as possible so her belly button line wouldn't come out, but I could handle that!!!!

Here's another of me holding her :)  She totally pulled her feeding tube out a little bit and I had to stick it back in...yuck!!!


And I got to feed her :)  She was hungry and chowed down on her food super quick!!


Here's Sam with daddy.  I left the room for a little bit to pump {sorry for the TMI} and daddy got to watch her get all snuggled up and ready for bed!  They wrapped her up like a baby burrito, but some heated blankets on her and gave her 2 hats to wear!  This girl was snug as a bug when it was all said and done :)  Here she is talking before it all went down!


That's all the ooey gooey goodness we have for you right now!!  Hope everyone is doing well, and again, keep up the praying!!  It's what's keeping us going, I just know it!

Sam Update :)

Yesterday I was released from the hospital.  It was really weird to leave the hospital without Sam, and I even got teary eyed as we pulled out of the parking lot.  She's our baby and the thought of not being in the same building as her is a little crazy.  We came home, picked up Joey, gave her a nap then once she woke up, we dropped her off at Grandma's to head back to the hospital to see Samantha.  She was doing well and we got to see her awake which was fun!  Here's a video of her wigglin' around :)

Again, it was hard to leave her yesterday when we had to, but we know she is in great hands in the NICU.  The nurses are all so willing to answer our questions, and they even offer up information when we don't know what to ask.  The days are blending together, so I'll just let you know what they told us today about Sam as far as an update goes...

So today was a great day for Sam!  We got to visit her twice and she was doing well both times.  The first visit was during Joey's nap {thanks for watching her Liz}.  We are trying to go while Joey is asleep so she doesn't feel like we are dropping her off with someone each time we get the chance.  Anywho, Sam was doing well.  We got to change her diaper, check her temperature and talk to her!  They said her food digestion wasn't where they wanted it to be, so they slowed her feedings down to 2 hours instead of 1 hour.  Hopefully this will give her body time to digest all her food before her next feeding.  Here's the device they are using to regulate her food intake...

We left after about an hour of hanging out and headed home.  Tonight Aunt Amy came to hang out with Joey after we put her to sleep for the night so that we could go back and see Sam.  Thanks Aunt Amy!!

This visit was AWESOME!!!  There was a nurse there tonight named John who doesn't really play by the rules!  He let us know how she was doing which is great by the way!  Her breathing has stayed pretty consistant in the 40 to 60 breaths per minute range.  Her body temp is good and she is keeping her food down like she has been for the past few days!

All of a sudden, John went and got a rocking chair and told me to sit in it.  I thought it was because I just had a baby and what not, but then he started unhooking all her wires and I asked him "Am I gonna get to hold her??".  He said "Yep!".  

I had to be super careful because of her belly button, and we couldn't move her around a lot, but I GOT TO HOLD SAM!!!!  We were talking with her and holding her hands and keeping her from trying to pull things out of her.  

She did get a hold of the feeding tube and pull that out while I was holding her.  It was fine though because John let me feed her too!!!  She's been on the regulator, and she's supposed to be on it, but he said that she had a bottle feeding last night and it went well, so we should try it again tonight!!!

I got to hold/feed her for about 40 minutes or so and it was amazing!!  I loved our time tonight and John is our new favorite nurse!!! Once we were done, Sam was bundled up and put back under the warmer.

We gave her sweet kisses and came home with lots of fun memories!!  What a great night at the NICU!!!  Can't wait to see Sam tomorrow.  Hope the good news keeps rolling in!

Thanks for all your prayers everyone!  Please continue to pray for her complete healing.  Also pray that God continues to surround us with his love and understanding!  We have truely felt the blessing of your prayers over the last 5 days!  

How's Sam Doing??

Thanks so much for everyone's prayers and supportive emails/comments on Sam's Birth Story.  We appreciate each and every one of you and know that God is listening and hearing our prayers for Samantha Lynn!

Sorry for no pics, this is my last night in the hospital and I'm still not able to upload them quickly.

Now to the question everyone has been asking...How is Sam doing??

Since Sam has been born, she's been through a lot of stuff including 2 chest x-rays, multiple sticks at trying to get an IV in her, throwing up food, projectile pooping for daddy, and more :)  I can't remember what I wrote about in my last post, but they also have taken blood from her to get her genetically tested for something called Noonan's Syndrome.

Yesterday Sam was doing great!  We were able to go to the nursery and feed her with bottles, hold her and kiss her as much as we wanted to!  I was in the shower when they called us down to do the above for the first time and got out of the shower faster than I ever have before.  I couldn't believe they were going to let me hold our little girl!  Once they got me set up and handed Sam over to me, I just broke down.  It was so good to hold her after 2 days of not being able to and I was overjoyed!!!  She's so stinkin' cute and I just couldn't help but cry.  I was able to feed her from a bottle, and I sang songs to her, rubbed her little feet, held hands with her and just stared at her.  She's so amazing and such a blessing from our Father!

As the day went on, Sam was looking better and better.  They were upping her food intake from 25 mL to 35 mL to see how she would take it.  They also moved her from underneath the warmer to a regular bassinet when she was bundled up and regulating her own temperature! And they let us know we could bring her own clothes to put on her so she could be more comfy :) {Not that she has worn her own clothes yet, and has no idea what comfy is....wait till you learn about flannel PJ pants Sammy!!}  Anywho, we are proud parents :)

Fast forward to this morning...Sam didn't take the food upping too well.  This is where the throwing up started :(   One of the times I was holding her, and I'm pretty sure it all came up...Yummy!!  They didn't know if it was the amount or how fast the amount was being given to her so they slowed down her intake by setting a distributor to give it to her rather than a person.  They also backed her down to 25 mL {a baby her size should be taking 50 mL per feeding} and decided to put an IV in since she is behind on her fluid intake as it is. They want to make sure she doesn't get dehydrated.  After trying to get her IV in her hand, foot and head with no success, they ended up having to perform a little procedure on Sam.  They took her umbilical stump off and put the IV in through there.  Needless to say, we were not able to dress her in her own clothes because the line needs to be kept in plain sight in case it comes out or starts to bleed.  Since she can only wear a diaper, they moved her back under the warmers.  Also, since she has so many tubes coming out of her, we are not allowed to hold or feed her anymore :(  I'm so thankful for yesterday and I look forward to holding her again!  For now we are able to hold her hands, and rub on her, and talk to her whenever we want to!  We will take what we can get people!!  They have also moved her into the official "Special Nursery" so people will not be able to see her if they come up...even through a window.

Tomorrow they will do another chest x-ray to see how her lungs are developing.  They are also going to review her EKG to make sure her heart defects have nothing to do with her breathing.  They ruled that out earlier, but want to double check just in case.  They are also going to send off her blood work again to check her platelet count and to be honest, I'm not sure what else.

Needless to say, her pediatrician has said that Sam will not be going home with us tomorrow :(  She will potentially be here for another 4 to 5 days.  Boo!!!

And the next most asked question...How am I healing/feeling??

How am I feeling about leaving Sam at the hospital???  Sad, but thankful that God has placed the doctors and nurses in our lives who have the wisdom and patience to find out what is wrong with Sam and are not letting up till the get to the bottom of everything.  Everyone is so caring and I feel confidant that Sam is in good hands.  I also know that we can come up whenever we want to see her, and we don't live far, so we will be doing that for sure!

I guess that's it for now, I'll let y'all know if we have anymore updates before leaving tomorrow.  Please continue to pray everyone!!!!

Sam is Here {And The Ride Has Been Wild Already!}

Warning...long post about Sam's birth, heart defects, lung issues, and more.....stick with it if you want the scoop :)  I'll add pics later, the hospital WiFi is not all that fast :)

Sam is here and we just love her already :)

Yesterday was probably one of the weirdest days of my life....it started out by getting up super early to get the family ready for Sam's arrival, and by getting up, I mean Johnny yelled down to me from the top of the stairs..."are you up and moving"...I yelled back "define moving".  I was so tired, but we knew it was Sam's big day, so we got up and got moving!  Joey had a great morning meaning she woke up happy, went pee pee on the potty, got dressed without a fight, and stayed in a good mood all the way to Holli's house :)  We dropped her off with Miss Holli and headed to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital, we checked in, I got on the ever so beautiful hospital gown, left my sample in the bathroom, and started prep for Sam's arrival just 2 short hours away!  When we were talking through some check lists, the nurse asked me if I had eaten or drank anything after midnight...this is where we almost lost it!  Let's rewind about 2 hours.....while we were getting Joey ready to go, I got hungry!  The nurse the day before hadn't told me not to eat or drink anything, so I decided it might be OK if I have a little teeny weeny granola bar before we left the house!  Fast forward a few hours....so the nurse asked me if I have eaten or drank anything after midnight, and I had to tell her about the granola bar.  She said that they might have to postpone the surgery for a few hours, or even a whole other day :(  After my mild panic attack, we got word that I was not going to be pushed back, and that my anesthesiologist said "Next time you get breakfast, make sure you bring some for everyone!".  So the surgery was going to go on as planned thank goodness!!  I was going to be so mad at myself if that stupid granola bar messed us up!  

We got in for surgery, and I got my spinal block, we cranked up the 80's tunes, and batta bing batta boom, we had a baby!!!  Sam was born at 10:06a and weighed in at 7lbs 14ozs, and is 21 inches long. It took FOREVER for them to sew me back up and I started getting antsy, so I just started singing along with Jon Bon Jovi "Livin on a Prayer".  My doc was like "only you would sing during your surgery!"  Once we were done, I was taken to recovery and they brought Sam to me!!  She's so beautiful!  She as dark brown wavy hair, a little pug nose, a tiny chin, and chubby cheeks!!

I was able to feed her and hold her for about 30 minutes and then the lactation nurse said she was breathing kinda fast.  She called the nursery and they came and got Sam to check her out.  Johnny and I were taken back to our room and a while later they came in to tell us that Sam was breathing fast because she had swallowed some of the amniotic fluid on the way out of me.  Her lungs aren't fully developed as of yet, so they wanted to watch her all day and night to make sure she was getting better.  Also they were hearing a heart murmur that was pretty significant.  Turns out Sammy has the same thing as her big sister...Atrial Septal Defect and Pulmonary Valve Steno-sis.  Joey's pediatric cardiologist happened to be in McKinney, so he came to check Sam out.  He said that he's not worried about her heart, and he thinks it should heal on it's own as Joey's heart defects have.  He also said it had nothing to do with her breathing fast.  So they kept her all day and night and her breathing was not getting worse, but wasn't exactly getting better either :(

This morning I was able to get all the wires taken out of me and I felt well enough to walk down to the nursery and see our beautiful baby girl for the second time.  She has a breathing tube in her nose and a feeding tube down her throat and is under a heat lamp {Johnny says he wants one for the house}.  She's super warm and soft :)  We were able to talk to her doctor and he said that most babies come out of the womb ready to go, but some come out wanting some extra lovin......Same needs her some lovin!!  She will be in the nursery until they get her breathing under control.  She is supposed to be breathing between 40 and 60 breaths per minute before they will let her eat from me, and it keeps fluctuating between 40 and 90.  Nothing is consistent yet.  Once it is consistently between 40 and 60, they will take her tubes out and keep her for another 24 hours, then if she does well with that, she will either get to come in our room, or go home depending on what day this all happens!

My doctor also came in yesterday to let us know why it took so long to sew me back up...she said when she got "in there" that my bladder was on top of my uterus and when they moved it there was a window in my uterus.  Basically it had healed from Joey's surgery 2 years ago so thin that they could see Sam floating around in there...CRAZY right?? This was the reason it took so long to sew me back up {a full hour}...they were being extra careful making sure that everything was reinforced and sealed tight.  Dr. Roberts told me that had I gone into labor, my uterus could have ruptured and that would have been bad for Sam and I both...YIKES...Thanks God for watching over me on that one :)  Anywho, what does this mean??  It means that Johnny and I are done having babies on our own.  We have always wanted to adopt a child, and want a family of 4.  Now instead of us being blessed with 1 adopted child, we get to care and support for 2 children in need {not sure how this whole process works, but we have helpful friends who we will be seeking wise council from in the upcoming years}!!! We know this is a God thing and we know that he already has our future children picked for us and we can't wait to meet them one day!!

Back to Samantha Lynn...

Her doctor also told us today that they are going to do some chromosome testing on our little bundle.  She has a couple of features that have made them want to do this.  They are going to take her blood and we will get the results back in about 2 weeks.  They are specifically testing for Noonan's Syndrome.  I guess she has a dent in the bridge of her nose, and something about the creases on her hands which are causing them to want to test.  It's crazy because Joey has had chromosome testing too, and everything that is "wrong" with Sam has been "wrong" with Joey.  The Lord has prepared us well for this situation, and I have a feeling this is why we are not worried.  God's provision is insane, and we feel blessed!!

It makes me sad to think that we may have to go home without Sam, but I am taking JOY in the fact that our Savior Jesus is with our precious baby girl and knows the outcome of this situation.  I don't have to worry because he is in control and he knew that she would come out with hair on her ears, nails that are long, a little wave in her hair and every other detail about her!  He also knows the woman she will grow to be and every detail about her life, we just get to be along for the ride!  

There are more stories, but I will write those later...thanks for sticking with this post if you have, Johnny and I have appreciated all the visits from friends and family and your prayers have been felt and coveted.  Please continue to pray for Sam's healing and for the doctor's to have wisdom when it comes to our little girl!  It's hard to believe just how much we love her already even though we have only gotten to see her a handful of times, and haven't been able to snuggle our little one.  She is a gift from God and we are so thankful!  I hope all this makes sense, and I'm sorry for no pics....I'll get some up ASAP!!