Reason to Celebrate!

Today Josh and I have something big we are celebrating. No, this has nothing to do with our sweet baby but I'm going to take a minute to brag on my husband. This morning I text him good morning, as I do every morning whenever I wake up and he texted me back a number. I thought hummm ok what does that have to do with the morning. He told me it was the grade he had gotten on his engineering licenser exam that he took back in April. He passed!!! I could not be more proud of him. It is a huge accomplishment in his career as an engineer. So today we are celebrating this milestone in his life. I'm not gonna lie this year has not been the easiest year for us. We've had lots of challenges come our way and this is what I call a "God Wink". Just a little wink from God saying "I care". I'm sure I'm not making sense of what I mean by this but when everything seems to be going wrong it's a little good that can carry you through all the hard times. Ok so enough about that! Thank you for letting me take a moment to brag about my husband. As far as our current situation all is still quite. My monitoring (of Holt's heart) twice a day is still beautiful like always. I've had two sonograms and an echo since I've last posted and the reports are good. Holt is stable. Friday, Josh and I were given a tour of the NICU. After the tour I have a peace of mind knowing that our little boy will have the best of care while he is in there. He will have a private room with a nurse that sits outside his door. The monitors he will be hooked up to are monitored by the nurse outside his door, a different station that is monitored by a nurse 24/7 and there are 2 neonatologist and 1 nurse practicioner that are alway on the floor. After the tour I feel like I can exhaule a little more knowing that he will always be watched. It is a lot less intimidating after seeing it. Don't get me wrong it's still very scary for me to think of all my little baby will have to go through once he is born, but knowing what to expect helps me rest easy. Once it gets closer to his discharge we will be moved to a different NICU where we will teach him how to function on his own. We have been told that he will have a feeding tube in his nose. When he is first born his heart functing will take all his enengy and he will be helped with all the other functions of living. Basically this means once his heart is stable enough to let him go home we will have to teach him how to do basic functions on living, like eating. From the NICU we will be moved across the hall to a different NICU where he will begin to learn basic functioning skills before we will be discharged to go home. The night before we go home we will be moved to a room where Josh and I will be left alone with Holt to make sure we feel comfortable with everything before we can go home. Once we pass that test we will be able to go home. I know that is a LONG ways away but it's nice to know what to expect. Especially since we won't know exactly what road we are taking until after he is born and his heart can be further assessed. As for this week, I am being taken on a tour of the cardiac-surgical NICU/recovery room this afternoon. Though it is not 100% certain if surgery is needed or not they still want me to see the area so I will know what to expect. I have been warned because it is very very overwhelming with all the monitors, tubes and other things that the babies are hooked up to. We have also been told that if surgery is the path we have to take it is an open heart surgery, and his chest will have to be cracked open. Most of the time the chest is left open for a while to ensure they don't have to do anything else before closing him back up. This is something that I don't know anyone could every be prepared for. We meet with the cardiothoracic surgeon next week and I know after that meeting we will have a better understanding of what to expect if surgery is the road we have to take. Tomorrow I have another echo and then Friday is another monotoring sonogram. Please continue to pray that his heart continues to stay the same and that no fluid will build up around the heart. Dr. Thomas (cardiologist) said that the moment they see fluid around his heart they have to deliever him. As of today there is zero fluid around his heart. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement!