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Post “Norwood” Operation (originally posted 11/17/12)

24 hours after open heart surgery.

Originally posted 11/17/12 on Facebook.

Hi friends,

We had another good day! Baby Judah is progressing well. All of his numbers are where they should be and there is very little swelling after the surgery. They took him off the drug that keeps him from moving and he did great!

He’s able to move around little, his eyes are able to open and even his little hand can hold on to our finger. What a blessing to make eye contact! With the very thin Gore-Tex patch over his chest you can actually see the heart pumping. The nurse let me put my finger on the heart (which was still under the patch) and actually feel his heart beating. Pretty amazing! The goal right now is for him to be well enough for them to close his chest back up on Monday. Typically, the time period for this is 3-7 days after surgery so him being on the front end of that is great. In order for them to do this, a couple things need to happen. First, his body needs to continue to react well to the heart surgery (which really means we want nothing to happen). Second, because of the operation, there are a lot of extra fluids around his heart, so we’ll need those to drain out. If he is still stable and the fluids are very low then we should be in good shape.

Liz and I are doing well. We’re still recovering from the past week but we’re getting there. We’ve got a long, bumpy road ahead of us so please continue to pray for grace and strength for us.Thank you all so much for your prayers and comments. It truly helps strengthen us during this trying time. God has been so good to us and continues to carry us. Maybe in time we’ll be able to thank you all in person; until then, know that we are grateful.

Much love,
Nick & Liz

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Success! (originally posted 11/16/12)

Originally posted mid-afternoon on 11/16/12 on Facebook.

SUCCESS!! We just heard from the OR that Judah’s surgery went very well! His heart is responding the way he should! We will be able to see him shortly! I’ll update you with more details a little later.

Originally posted in the evening on 11/16/12 on Facebook.

Hey everyone,

Today was a good day! It was stressful and scary but God answered our prayers for a good surgery! Everything went as planned and he is recovering very well. They described him as “perfect”, “outstanding” and “a rock star” – all to say that everything in his body is doing what it should be doing and maybe even a little better than normal. It’s hard to believe that contractions starte

d only seven days ago. It feels like it’s been weeks since then! God has been so good to us. We are so incredibly grateful for how all of you have cared for us and our little one! I can’t put into words what it was like watching our newborn baby boy turn the corner on his way to surgery, not certain if we’d see him again. What a relief when the good news came. Today was the probably the biggest hurdle but we have many more to come. I will be updating you all in more detail in the days to come when I have more strength. For now, we need pray that his heart and body respond well to the surgery and that his stats continue to improve, particularly in oxygen levels. They left his rib cage open (it’s covered with a medical gortex type material) so that his heart and surrounding organs have extra room while the swelling dies down. The goal right now is for him to be healthy enough for them to wire his rib cage back together on Monday.I’m working on getting a blog up so that all the info can be in one place, so look for that soon.Thank you for carrying us these past few days, it means the world to us. We praise God for His goodness and grace over our lives and for bringing baby Judah through safely.

With all the love and gratitude we have,

Nick and Liz

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Mid-Surgery Update

Mid-Surgery Update:

Things are going well! Liz and I were able to meet with the head surgeon this morning before the operation. His name is Dr. Alfieris and he is one of the best if not THE best in the country for this type of surgery. We’re a little over half way through and the word from the OR is things are going very well. Please continue to pray for Judah. Even after the surgery it will be a long road.

We love you all.

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Surgery Tomorrow (originally posted 11/15/12)

This was originally post on 11/15/12 on Facebook.

Hi friends,
We want to express how deeply grateful we are for all the support everyone has shown us over the past few days. We don’t know how to put into words the way reading all the posts and comments makes us feel, it so strengthens our hearts. We feel like we’re in the eye of the storm, but because of your prayers we are insulated from the violence of it. God has been so good to us. In our da

rkest moments we feel His peace flood our hearts. Without Him, we’d be in pieces. We hope and pray that all of you would turn to him in your hardships. He is good.

Tomorrow morning our little man will have the first of 3 surgeries. We’ll get to spend some time with him early in the morning and then we’ll walk him down to the operating room around 7:30. We won’t know until around 2 if the procedure was successful. As I stated in my post a few days ago, there’s a 70% survival rate. If all goes well we will be able to see him again later in the afternoon.

Please pray with us.

We believe God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. When you pray for us, I encourage you to stretch your faith a little farther. Step out with us. When Jesus walked on the earth He said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”. Please join us in believing for healing. Not just for a successful surgery and a quick recovery but for true healing from the hand of God. Jesus did hundreds if not thousands of miracles and then said to those who followed Him, “Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these”. We believe it’s not only possible but that it’s God’s heart to intervene. I encourage you, believe with us and believe in God.

Please keep the posts and re-posts coming. We believe Judah’s story will be a testimony heard and felt around the world.

We love you all more than words can express. You’ve blessed us so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Nick

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Nothing New Today (originally posted on 11/14/12)

Judah opened his eyes to see his momma!

This was originally posted on 11/14/13 on Facebook.

Nothing new today. He has been stable all day, which is great. Tomorrow, our surgeon will consult with other surgeons from different hospitals in the region about his condition. They will decide if this surgery is the best course of action and when exactly to do it. We have been told that the most likely outcome is to have the surgery on Friday, but we will find out for sure by late tomorrow morning. Thank you all again for your thoughts and prayers! We feel the love!

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Original Post (from 11/13/12)

Photo Booth

This was originally posted on Facebook November 13th, 2 days after his birth.

Hey Everyone,

First let me say that Liz and I have been so overwhelmed with your love and care. We really can’t put into words how blessed we feel already. It’s been a whirlwind the last few days but we have felt God’s grace and strength. Thank you for praying for us! Thank you for posting and re-posting the news of our baby Judah. And thank you for believing for healing with us! We believe that

God is able to heal him and we stand in faith until we see it come to pass.

We’ve been in three hospitals in as many days but last night we were able to get our first decent night’s sleep since last Thursday. Liz is recovering well despite a long labor and an early discharge in order to be with Judah.

A little about what’s happened so far:
Judah is beautiful! He’s been through a lot but is still very cute! He’s stubborn and a fighter and we’re okay with that. He was born in Batavia on Sunday morning and his first 24 hours were great. He scored a 9/10 on his APGAR test and was unusually alert for a newborn. However, yesterday morning he was breathing a little fast and seemed more subdued. By the afternoon he was rushed to Children’s Hospital in Buffalo where we were informed he has a heart defect called “Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome”. If you would like all the details please send a **private message** to Kayren Lonneville and she will include you on the email list. Basically, the left side of his heart doesn’t function properly and without surgery would not survive more than a week. Once we were informed of the diagnosis, we were told that the only hospital in the area that does this procedure is Strong Memorial in Rochester. Today, we all arrived at Strong and are staying at the Ronald McDonald house. He is tentatively scheduled for surgery on Friday. This will be the first of 3 surgeries over the next few years and will be the longest (about 8-9 hours). There is a 70% success rate with this procedure.

Our belief is that God is able to heal Judah completely. We ask you to stand in faith with us. If Judah is not miraculously healed before his surgery we ask that you would pray for the surgeon and his team, for a successful outcome, and a quick recovery.

Thank you all for your prayers! Please forgive us if we don’t respond to your emails, messages and texts. We’re doing our best but things are a bit crazy right now.

Please keep posting!

We love you all,
Nick and Liz