11/09/07

Good Morning to all! After another wonderful night sleep on a folding chair "bed" I wanted to update you all on our little girl. Last night the ICU called the room and asked if we wanted to hold Baby Cate before they bathed her. I thought my wife was going to hurl herself out of the bed. It was like they had called and told her there was a winning powerball ticket down the hall and she had five seconds to get to it before it vanished. This would be the first time we would we would be able to hold Baby Cate. A friend of ours Fr. Mike Delcambre was with us and tagged along for the event. We went in and Ali sat right down eagerly waiting the feel and smell of our new little girl to be placed in her arms. Baby Cate looked great, she was still breathing on her own and all her bloodgas levels were good. Your prayers are working, keep them coming. Ali was able to hold her for 10 minutes or so and the Daddy's little girl was placed in his arms for the first time, as her little weight sank into my arms, my restless heart came to a quiet peace, this was the feeling we had been longing for, the feeling of our loving arms wrapped around our little girl, her little breath on our face, it was a grace filled moment, that I don't think I will ever forget. The nurse then asked Ali if she wanted to help her bath Baby Cate, Once again Ali hurled herself out of the chair with an eager yes. Before her bath Fr. Mike laid hands on her and we all prayed, with her and for her and then she recieved her first bath. Now all clean we were able to hold her for a few more minutes and then my tired little bride needed to hit the sack. I went back to the ICU about 11pm and sat by her crib until finally the nurse asked if I wanted to hold her her. I left the ICU about 12:30am exhausted but with a still heart. We got up this morning and we to see her again. Ali got to try to nurse her and she caught on, I mean really, do our kids ever have a problem eating? We then had to head out for her echocardiogram, which we will get the results this afternoon from the Cardiologist.
It seems that so far her multiple heart defects are offsetting each other, how appropriate, Cantrell's we are all a little crazy, but somehow we balance out. She is being feed through a feeding tube right now and seems to be taking to food well, as soon as they can tell the normal feeding will not wear her little heart out, she will try to start doing that more regularly. The Dr.'s are saying that everything fall into place, meaning she gain weight and remain stable, she will have her first heart surgery around 6 months. Well for now thats the news of the day, the most exciting is that we got to hold her, that she is holding her own on breathing, and oh yeah the Dr. said if she continues progressing at a steady rate she may not need to stay in ICU for two weeks. Thank you all for your prayers, support, phone calls, and text messages. I told Baby Cate this morning that she had people all over country praying for her and that she was very loved by ALOT of people. Please know that we love you all, whether we have met you or not, because you love our little girl! You can check out more pictures of her and the two other wild children at www.flickr.com/photos/cantrellkids I will be updating these too. Love yall