Surgery (is this the day?)

The staff have been teasing the possibility of surgery all week. We kept telling ourselves not to get too excited. 

We've had three attempts to no avail, and it's been over a month since she was first due for it. Each time the staff uncovered something else that was going on with Arabella that prevented her from going to the operating room. 

Hopefully this is the day that everything comes together. 

We were told late last night that Arabella's PDA ligation will happen Thursday morning at 8am. We signed the consent form and had a brief chat with a pediatric surgeon. There's always risks associated with such an invasive surgery requiring general anesthesia, but it has come to a point now where she's at a greater risk if she doesn't get this surgery. 

PDA ligation is not heart surgery. In fact it doesn't touch the heart muscle at all. In the diagram above you can see a ligated PDA on the right side. That's what we want. 

A PDA is a blood vessel near the heart and lungs that was a necessary part of Arabella's circulation when she was a fetus. It's meant to close shortly after birth, then disappear. But because Bella was so premature the PDA lingered. And lingered. Four rounds of medication didn't help to close it. 

Her PDA is causing all kinds of problems. Too many to mention. The two big ones are respiratory issues (since fluid continues to build-up in the lungs, making it harder for her to breathe), and her heart must work a lot harder to pump all of the blood that the body needs.

I'm calling on everyone to please say a prayer for baby Arabella. We can even pray together:

Dear Lord, 
Thank you for all of our many blessings. We pray that Arabella comes out strong. We pray that she continues the fight. We pray that the surgeon's hand remains steady, that they have the clearest of minds. Amen.

Kiera and I had no idea that Arabella meant yielding to prayer (to produce prayer) until after the fact. What are the odds of us choosing a name like that? 

We prayed and cried so many times leading up to her birth. Doctors told us that her chances were slim, while everyone around us simply prayed harder. We begged God and pleaded for her. 

After she was born we realized that her name meant more than just beautiful and loving. This couldn't have been a coincidence. It was a clear message that we've since taken to heart. 

So Arabella will do what Arabella does, and that is produce prayer. 

Thank you for everyone's thoughts and prayers! It means everything to us 💗💗💗