2 Months Old

Happy Halloween!

It has been one week since we last posted so we wanted to give everyone an update. The ups and downs have continued. Ella will eat good one time and not the next. She has had some good days this week and not as many good nights. However, overall she has made some progress – last week she was eating 30 ML (30 ML = 1 ounce) and this week she has had more feedings in the 45 ML range. This progress is good but she really needs to be eating 60-70 ML per feeding in order to go home without a feeding tube. Therefore, after a lot of discussions and prayer, we have scheduled her feeding tube (G-button) surgery for Tuesday afternoon. We will meet with her doctor on Monday to evaluate everything and we can cancel the surgery if we want to but we needed to get her on the calendar just in case. We don't want her to have to have this surgery and we are still praying that her feedings improve. We beg you to continue praying this as well. However, in case God has other plans than what we are asking, we have gone ahead and scheduled the surgery.

In addition to this surgery, we are going to have an MRI done on her left shoulder. This is probably the first many of you have heard about this additional complication. We didn't know until Ella was born that there was something wrong with her shoulder. You can tell by feeling it that things are not lining up the way they should be. We don't know the extent of it all but she will for sure need major reconstructive surgery to correct it. We have not focused on this or brought it up because it has kind of been on the back burner while we deal with the other stomach defect. However, because Ella will already be under anesthesia for the G-Button surgery, our surgeon is planning on getting the orthopedic team in there to do an MRI so hopefully we’ll know more of what is going on and what the next steps will be. Right now, we are thinking that nothing would be done for another 3-6 months. Hopefully we will have more information and more of a plan after we get the MRI results.

So basically, this is just not a fun time around the Carder household. We are tired and ready for Ella to be home. It has been 2 months today and with the G-Button surgery and shoulder surgery, we don’t really see the load getting much lighter any time soon. Your prayers, comments, phone calls, emails, and texts all mean so much to us. Even though we may not respond, they mean so much and we need them more than ever. We definitely see God’s blessings during this time through our friends, family, church and elders. We had a great week with several elders praying with us and over us and Ella. The peace that we have is truly unimaginable during such crazy times. It can only come from one source – the Holy Spirit of God.

I know a lot of you are praying with your kids. One thing I am learning during this time is that God is God. Sometimes, He answers the prayers the way we ask them and the way we want them as in Eva’s case. Other times, He has other plans to bring good out of not answering them the way we are praying. We worship God, not the outcomes. No matter what the outcome, we worship God. We trust Him. He is real. He knows everything. Read what God says in Job 38 and 39 and Job’s response in 40 (in the Message). Truly we serve a God who doesn’t “need” our advice. He does not owe us anything, in fact, He has given the Carders more good than we deserve. I’m not saying I enjoy what we are going through or that I’m even thankful for it. We’re trying to remain thankful in this circumstance.

Keep praying.