Visit to the A&E

Dear friends,

So far we've been weaning Lizzie on to solid foods for about a month now, and she seems to take to pretty much anything (pureed carrots, pumpkins, banana, pear, peach etc). Though she’s eating well – still no sign of teeth! But we think it may be quite soon, because shes biting everything she can get her hands on, and her chin is constantly wet with dribble.

We had a bit of a scare about two weeks ago, when the docs suspected her shunt got blocked. We had to bring Lizzie in for scanning, and the doctor that scanned her heart said the shunt appeared narrower at one end, although the blood flow through the shunt was very good.
We prayed that the shunt would not be blocked or even narrowed, and we were to told to continue monitoring her oxygen. Should the saturations lower to the 60s, Lizzie would have to be admitted to hospital for heparin (a much stronger blood thinning medicine) to be administered. Although in the hospital the dosage would be controlled, thinning the blood would prevent clotting, in babies, the way they wriggle and flail their arms and legs around would put them in possible risk of internal and external bleeding. So we’ve been praying for good oxygen saturations, and that Lizzie would not have to spend any time in hospital.

Lizzie and her piyo-piyo teether

Lizzie's first hairclip

That is, until the thing we worried about least, became a problem.
Last week she had very bad constipation.
Now I know this is supposed to be normal for babies, but she was straining so hard and bleed into her nappy, we got pretty anxious and worried.
We tried exercises, like bicycling her legs. We tried feeding her papaya, banana and prune juice. We gave her loads of water, and added extra water to her formula, still it did not budge.
Over two days she strained with blood, and towards the end, it must have been quite painful - she cried. Our girl is usually pretty strong, so it was a sign from her, that it was getting bad. So on Friday night I bought the liquid glycerine, and tried to administer it myself, but she was crying so hard, I was scared that I would make it worse, and there was more and more bleeding.

Finally we decided to take her to the NUH Children's A&E that night, and she was given a suppository, and oral lactulose. The bleeding was because of a tear, but the doc said she would be ok. She managed to ‘clear the blockage’ in the middle of the night – there we were, at 4am, Simon was holding her hands and legs, I was applying anaesthetic gel to her bum (as the doctor instructed) to ease the pain, and Lizzie strained till she was red in the face, with tears streaming down.

Lizzie still made it to church on Saturday -

here's Daddy making sure she drinks her water!

Ironically, next day she suffered a few rounds of diarrhoea with bleeding, but we were told this was to be expected. I guess it was the effects of the laxative.
The main concern right now, is that she is not dehydrated by the whole episode, as this could cause clogging of her shunt.
We are closely monitoring her – and current oxygen saturations are back up again at 78-82% Praise the Lord!

So in the meantime, we did some research as to what caused the ‘problem’ and found out that it could have something to do with her formula, Dumex, which contains palm oil. So we switched to Similac, which is supposedly makes it easier for babies to relieve themselves...... and we’re still waiting for the results.

Thanks everyone! especially our beloved ELIM CG for praying!
God Bless,
Elaine

Lizzie is 8 months old!

Dear friends,

We just brought Lizzie to see her doctor and physiotherapist yesterday, in terms of development, she is about equivalent to a 6 month old, which they say is okay, because of the 2 months spent in hospital, is her corrected age. The physiotherapist made her do "push-ups" and other belly exercises that Lizzie did not like! She cried so hard, tears were rolling down, but we knew it was for her own good - to help strengthen her muscles, heart and lungs. She did not like that "naughty-uncle". She was so 'man-ja' and kept raising up her arms to ask us to cuddle her after that. She's also mastered her 'pitiful-look' - pouting her lips and blinking her eyes, accompanied by soft whimpering, which we fall for everytime :)

Check up with her genetic/paediatrician confirmed that she is doing well.
Weight-wise she is within the 10th percentile, and height-wise, she is between the 10th to 25th percentile range. Lizzie-girl is taking after her mummy and daddy in terms of height.

Lizzie likes to play the piano with Kong-kong

We put her on the oxygen monitor last night, and the reading was really quite low, much to our dismay. It was around the low 70s, which was a sudden drop.
We've been praying that this does not reflect any changes to her heart condition, but that the low reading is just a temporary fluctuation in her O2 levels. We ask that you please include Lizzie in your prayers.

Despite what we see in test results and monitor readings, we continue to commit Lizzie to the Lord, and trust that His will is perfect and will be for the good of all those who love Him.
We take comfort that Lizzie still appears pink and healthy, as you can see from the pictures above (Thanks for the colourful caterpillar and my 'blingage' Uncle Tim & Aunty Jen!), she is active and growing well.

Sleepy Lizzie drinking milk

We're once again attending at Lighthouse Evangelism, at the Miracle Service every Saturday. Thanks to the loving and caring gospelighters who regularly interceed for us - we are grateful for all of you (especially Aunty Jane, Joanna and Tracy).
Last week, we received prayer from senior Pastor Rony, and we were touched by his care and compassion.
We want to give God the Glory and thank all of you for your prayers and support.

God Bless,
Elaine

Lizzie's Testimony

Dear friends,

We are in the process of sharing Lizzie's written testimony, and also preparing to share to our church congregation our story. PLMC is releasing a book of testimonies of its church members, so Simon and I submitted Lizzie's story to be included.

We made a promise to God, that we would testify for Him, both in Lighthouse and in PLMC, and we decided it was time. We believe it is an act of faith to do so, even before we see the healing take place, but our little Lizzie has been growing and developing so well, that the life we see in her is a miracle in itself, and a testament to God's faithfulness.

We will be transferring the whole contents of the yahoo group website to this new location, so all future postings will be at this blog. We realised having a blog would be easier for our friends and family to access, see pictures and post comments, and we will also try to post more often! Do subscribe to receive updates through email. Pictures can be accessed through the link- Lizzie's photo archive.

Again, we thank you for all your prayers and well wishes.

God bless you!

Elaine, Simon & Lizzie