friends-
thursday night update:
this is going to be a short email as not too much to report but good things! ellie had a great day. very peaceful and restful for her. all her numbers were better today and she had a much easier time breathing. as i sat and held her tonight for 40 minutes or so she needed no help with extra oxygen. this is the first time she has not needed support! praise the Lord for a great day on this rollercoaster we have been riding.
my only other comment is that through all of this i cannot believe how narrow our world has become. our world consists of driving to and from the hospital or preschool, me using the breast pump, hanging with ellie and the other kids and not much else. it is a bit weird at times how quickly the days go and how little we really get done. :)
anyway, thanks for praying and sending encouraging comments even though matt and i don't reply to you all the time! we love you and continue to appreciate your lifting ellie up to her loving Father.
love-
matt and abbie
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Ellie- Monday pm
Here is Abbie's email Monday night...
monday night update:
ellie had another decent day today. she enjoys time on her stomach so that is her position all the time and she likes to be in the misty tent! matt and i are getting handy at changing her diapers while she is lying on her tummy, though matt is better at it than me. :) the hard part right now is that she just needs to grow and that may take awhile. she is kind of in a holding pattern but that is o.k. as she is not getting worse.
we have gotten to hear some cries from her though they are short-lived and very quite. also, i was able to hold her today for about 45 minutes which was delightful. we laid tummy to tummy and i was about asleep a half dozen times but was afraid i would startle her somehow so had to stay awake. i cannot wait to get her home so we can sleep like that a lot. hopefully, matt will get his turn tomorrow.
we would love for you to pray that she continues to grow and mature and especially that she doesn't have any more big dips of her heart rate. she hasn't had any of those since yesterday morning and we will continue to pray that they stay away. we would also love for you to pray for matt and i and the other kids and that our faith and endurance would be strong. thanks so much and have a great day tomorrow.
love-
matt and abbie
monday night update:
ellie had another decent day today. she enjoys time on her stomach so that is her position all the time and she likes to be in the misty tent! matt and i are getting handy at changing her diapers while she is lying on her tummy, though matt is better at it than me. :) the hard part right now is that she just needs to grow and that may take awhile. she is kind of in a holding pattern but that is o.k. as she is not getting worse.
we have gotten to hear some cries from her though they are short-lived and very quite. also, i was able to hold her today for about 45 minutes which was delightful. we laid tummy to tummy and i was about asleep a half dozen times but was afraid i would startle her somehow so had to stay awake. i cannot wait to get her home so we can sleep like that a lot. hopefully, matt will get his turn tomorrow.
we would love for you to pray that she continues to grow and mature and especially that she doesn't have any more big dips of her heart rate. she hasn't had any of those since yesterday morning and we will continue to pray that they stay away. we would also love for you to pray for matt and i and the other kids and that our faith and endurance would be strong. thanks so much and have a great day tomorrow.
love-
matt and abbie
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Ellie
Sorry no post yesterday for those of you who are reading to hear the latest with Ellie! Saturday was Abbie's birthday and a pretty good day for Ellie. She is still off of the vent and breathing on her own so that is great! She's had a few "episodes" where her heart rate dips really low for a bit- bradycardia I think Ab called it. I guess she kind of just works through the spells and things return to normal. The doctors don't know why she is doing this but have a few things they are doing to try to help. She had another echo this afternoon and I think all things checked out fine there so we'll see. Here's hoping tonight is episode free! My parents headed back to IA today and Gretchen and Maggie (Ab's mom and sister) get there on Wednesday. PS- I think my turn is getting closer so yeah yeah yeah! : ) I can't wait to get there to help in whatever way they need me. Sam has an ortho appointment there May 18th so I think it looks like we will just fly out early.
Matt and Ab are taking everything in stride and seem to be doing much better than any of us think we would be doing in their situation. You just do what you have to do I guess. They said tonight it's pretty weird to be home and without your newborn. Their faith is oh so strong and their marriage is firmly rooted in that faith which is for sure why they are able to deal with everything. Ab said they still have anxious moments and freak out once in a while but they are good. They really appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that you wonderful people are sending their way!
More to come soon from them and us! Nighty night!
Matt and Ab are taking everything in stride and seem to be doing much better than any of us think we would be doing in their situation. You just do what you have to do I guess. They said tonight it's pretty weird to be home and without your newborn. Their faith is oh so strong and their marriage is firmly rooted in that faith which is for sure why they are able to deal with everything. Ab said they still have anxious moments and freak out once in a while but they are good. They really appreciate all of the thoughts and prayers that you wonderful people are sending their way!
More to come soon from them and us! Nighty night!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Fashback Friday
I can't decide so here are a few from 2008! It's so fun to look back and remember! Today I can't choose only two!
March 2008 visit to Denver...
Princess Kate and Luke in her sunglasses
My handsome husband and I
One tuckered out cheerleader!
And one super tough football player!
Out on the town with Jambo!
Thursday + Ellie = Good Day!!!!
Okay... last time I'm going to lazily paste Abbie's email in here for my Ellie update. She says things oh so much better than I and I think it's neat to hear the faith and strength in her words. She and Matt are amazing. Ellie had a great Thursday and is headed back to the OR this afternoon to figure out what's up with her breathing. Hopefully they can just really suction things out and take out her breathing tube and she will be good on her own! If not, they are in there and will be able to clear her airway again like they did on the weekend or do whatever is needed. She is full of antibiotics to clear the infection that could be part of the problem too. Hopefully today is another great day for the Sogards!!! Thanks thanks for your prayers!!! Here's Abbie-
thursday night update:
ellie had a very good day today, praise the Lord! we started out the day with an echo and we could tell that the tech doing the ultrasound was very pleased with what she saw, however, we had to wait until the cardiologist talked to us around 12:30. he said that it was the right decision to delay surgery yesterday. her pda is closing with the help of some medicine and so far it hasn't put any more strain on her aorta! this has been quite a surprise to the cardiologists. so, as of now, they will continue to check her heart with an echo every couple of days and we hope to see continued improvement. she may still need surgery at some point but if the aorta continues to grow as she does, we may not. god is good! :)
the doctors also made the decision that tomorrow she will go to the OR where they will check to see if the blockage in her nasal passage has reformed, and if not, will try to extabate her in the OR. if her nose is blocked, they will go back in and "pop" the holes open again. they hope to just find a bunch of gunk in her nose and be able to clean it out. her biggest goal right now is to get off the ventilator and be breathing on her own. please pray that just the suctioning works and she can be extabated with very few problems. they also started her on another antibiotic and already tonight the secretions coming from her respiratory tract looked much better.
matt and i got to hold her tonight so it made us feel much better and we also got naps in which makes the stress less as well. thanks for praying friends and we have seen that it works. our 4 pound daughter was headed into heart surgery yesterday and now it is on hold indefinitely. hopefully, we will have another encouraging email tomorrow night in regard to her extabation and breathing at least mostly on her own. have a good night, and again, ellie, matt and i thank you for your prayers!
Yeah Ellie! Yeah God!
thursday night update:
ellie had a very good day today, praise the Lord! we started out the day with an echo and we could tell that the tech doing the ultrasound was very pleased with what she saw, however, we had to wait until the cardiologist talked to us around 12:30. he said that it was the right decision to delay surgery yesterday. her pda is closing with the help of some medicine and so far it hasn't put any more strain on her aorta! this has been quite a surprise to the cardiologists. so, as of now, they will continue to check her heart with an echo every couple of days and we hope to see continued improvement. she may still need surgery at some point but if the aorta continues to grow as she does, we may not. god is good! :)
the doctors also made the decision that tomorrow she will go to the OR where they will check to see if the blockage in her nasal passage has reformed, and if not, will try to extabate her in the OR. if her nose is blocked, they will go back in and "pop" the holes open again. they hope to just find a bunch of gunk in her nose and be able to clean it out. her biggest goal right now is to get off the ventilator and be breathing on her own. please pray that just the suctioning works and she can be extabated with very few problems. they also started her on another antibiotic and already tonight the secretions coming from her respiratory tract looked much better.
matt and i got to hold her tonight so it made us feel much better and we also got naps in which makes the stress less as well. thanks for praying friends and we have seen that it works. our 4 pound daughter was headed into heart surgery yesterday and now it is on hold indefinitely. hopefully, we will have another encouraging email tomorrow night in regard to her extabation and breathing at least mostly on her own. have a good night, and again, ellie, matt and i thank you for your prayers!
Yeah Ellie! Yeah God!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Rollercoaster
I don't think Abbie would mind me posting her email from late last night. Her words are much better and smarter than mine. Hopefully more answers and some good news today! No word from them yet this morning as the echo is hopefully happening around 9:00 (yes Denver is an hour behind us). Here's the latest from Ab last night-
Our update for today:
Ellie was supposed to go to the OR this afternoon for surgery but first thing this morning, the cardiologists did a final pre-surgery echo and it created enough doubt about the surgery that after the physicians had a mini-conference, they decided pausing for a moment was the best approach. The hole (PDA) is in the process of closing, but hadn't yet so they have put her on some medicine to close the hole more quickly. They will do another echo tomorrow morning and determine whether to go ahead with surgery or wait once they see how the PDA closes. Ellie may not need any surgery if the hole closes and doesn't pinch the aorta so no surgery today is definitely a positive, but may just be delaying the inevitable. It was worth holding off on surgery today on the chance that she may not need it. Hope to know more tomorrow.
Later in the morning they tried to get her off the ventilator, but she failed immediately and had to go back on. Unless you have gone through seeing your child not be able to breathe, it is really hard to understand - it's really tough to watch. Tonight when we saw her, her breathing looked a little labored again but the doctor didn't seem worried at this point. Another complication is that she likely has an infection somewhere in respiratory tract so she is getting antibiotics right now. Hopefully, this will get knocked out and then breathing through her nose will be easier for her.
Anyway, please continue to pray that the as the hole closes the aorta is not pinched and also that the infection gets knocked out quickly so she feels better. Matt and I are o.k., though not great. Tonight was hard after a rollercoaster day and we got no time today to hold Ellie in our arms. :( As we get tired throughout the day, it gets less easy to handle the stress and much easier to cry at things that wouldn't have made me cry earlier in the day.
Tomorrow they will do another echo and we will see what that reveals. We are in a holding pattern until 1) they make a determination about surgery or no surgery and 2) they can get her off the ventilator and breathing on her own. Thanks friends for praying and we ask our God give peace to Ellie and that the Holy Spirit may just hover over her continually. Continue to pray in faith that Ellie will be healed, either by God's mighty hand or the doctor's skilled ones. We are coveting your prayers for her! Hopefully, we will have a good update tomorrow.
Love-
Matt and Abbie
In my opinion, Matt and Ab are handling all of this in amazing fashion. They are tending to three other children that just want them. If they leave at all, they are at Ellie's side every 3-4 hours to care for her needs (figure in a half hour drive to and from PSL). They are stuck waiting and waiting and waiting- all the while just longing to hold Ellie in their arms. They have certainly been on a rollercoaster this past week. Our prayer is that results happen/ decisions are made and they can be out of the 'holding pattern' they are in now so little Ellie can begin to heal. Good job Matt and Abbie and all four kids. We are oh so proud of your unwavering faith and grace as you handle all of this.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
Our update for today:
Ellie was supposed to go to the OR this afternoon for surgery but first thing this morning, the cardiologists did a final pre-surgery echo and it created enough doubt about the surgery that after the physicians had a mini-conference, they decided pausing for a moment was the best approach. The hole (PDA) is in the process of closing, but hadn't yet so they have put her on some medicine to close the hole more quickly. They will do another echo tomorrow morning and determine whether to go ahead with surgery or wait once they see how the PDA closes. Ellie may not need any surgery if the hole closes and doesn't pinch the aorta so no surgery today is definitely a positive, but may just be delaying the inevitable. It was worth holding off on surgery today on the chance that she may not need it. Hope to know more tomorrow.
Later in the morning they tried to get her off the ventilator, but she failed immediately and had to go back on. Unless you have gone through seeing your child not be able to breathe, it is really hard to understand - it's really tough to watch. Tonight when we saw her, her breathing looked a little labored again but the doctor didn't seem worried at this point. Another complication is that she likely has an infection somewhere in respiratory tract so she is getting antibiotics right now. Hopefully, this will get knocked out and then breathing through her nose will be easier for her.
Anyway, please continue to pray that the as the hole closes the aorta is not pinched and also that the infection gets knocked out quickly so she feels better. Matt and I are o.k., though not great. Tonight was hard after a rollercoaster day and we got no time today to hold Ellie in our arms. :( As we get tired throughout the day, it gets less easy to handle the stress and much easier to cry at things that wouldn't have made me cry earlier in the day.
Tomorrow they will do another echo and we will see what that reveals. We are in a holding pattern until 1) they make a determination about surgery or no surgery and 2) they can get her off the ventilator and breathing on her own. Thanks friends for praying and we ask our God give peace to Ellie and that the Holy Spirit may just hover over her continually. Continue to pray in faith that Ellie will be healed, either by God's mighty hand or the doctor's skilled ones. We are coveting your prayers for her! Hopefully, we will have a good update tomorrow.
Love-
Matt and Abbie
In my opinion, Matt and Ab are handling all of this in amazing fashion. They are tending to three other children that just want them. If they leave at all, they are at Ellie's side every 3-4 hours to care for her needs (figure in a half hour drive to and from PSL). They are stuck waiting and waiting and waiting- all the while just longing to hold Ellie in their arms. They have certainly been on a rollercoaster this past week. Our prayer is that results happen/ decisions are made and they can be out of the 'holding pattern' they are in now so little Ellie can begin to heal. Good job Matt and Abbie and all four kids. We are oh so proud of your unwavering faith and grace as you handle all of this.
Thanks for your continued prayers and support.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Change of Plans!
Good news! They decided this morning NOT to do surgery today. They put Ellie on meds to help close the hole in her heart and believe it will close without restricting the aorta! If not, they will be able to give her meds to reverse what the first meds did and then operate. I think my mom said this will be a 1-2 day watch/decision but avoiding heart surgery sounds great! I've only had one quick coversation with them and reception in the waiting room wasn't great so I think I have the story straight! Thanks for your continued support! I'll post again when I know more.
Surgery for Ellie today...
Matt and Abbie's little girl Ellie is having heart surgery today around 1:00 Denver time. This is hopefully the final issue to take care of so she is able to grow healthy and strong! Matt and Ab seem to be doing well with everything that has been thrown at them over the last week. Here's a bit from her email late last night...
ellie will be going to the OR for surgery to repair the coarctation of the aorta tomorrow around 1pm. as far as pediatric heart surgery goes, it is a relatively straight-forward, low-risk procedure. her heart itself looks perfect, a huge benefit for ellie that is fairly unusual in infants with coarctations (only about 20% have normal hearts). we expect she'll be in the OR for a couple of hours. recovery is probably a week and at the moment it looks like the other things that have been issues for her are basically gone.
she'll have a great team taking care of her tomorrow. they are pretty optimistic about both her surgery and that before we know it ellie will be a perfectly healthy 2-year old running around the backyard chasing after kate, luke, and dan. as an aside, just last fall, matt and team recruited the doctors that will operate on ellie and if they weren't here, she'd have to be transferred to another hospital for her surgery. we think it is awesome that God put just there right people in just the right place at just the right time to take care of his daughter ellie.
Please pray again today for Ellie, Matt, Ab and the kids and the doctors and nurses that will be working on her. With Him all things are possible!
PS- Happy one week birthday Miss Ellie!!!!!!!!!
ellie will be going to the OR for surgery to repair the coarctation of the aorta tomorrow around 1pm. as far as pediatric heart surgery goes, it is a relatively straight-forward, low-risk procedure. her heart itself looks perfect, a huge benefit for ellie that is fairly unusual in infants with coarctations (only about 20% have normal hearts). we expect she'll be in the OR for a couple of hours. recovery is probably a week and at the moment it looks like the other things that have been issues for her are basically gone.
she'll have a great team taking care of her tomorrow. they are pretty optimistic about both her surgery and that before we know it ellie will be a perfectly healthy 2-year old running around the backyard chasing after kate, luke, and dan. as an aside, just last fall, matt and team recruited the doctors that will operate on ellie and if they weren't here, she'd have to be transferred to another hospital for her surgery. we think it is awesome that God put just there right people in just the right place at just the right time to take care of his daughter ellie.
Please pray again today for Ellie, Matt, Ab and the kids and the doctors and nurses that will be working on her. With Him all things are possible!
PS- Happy one week birthday Miss Ellie!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Power of Prayer
Our family firmly believes in the power of prayer.
We are asking again tonight for you to pray for Ellie. Today was not a good one in Denver. Matt and his family need you. Ellie needs you. Saturday brought good news with a successful procedure to open her airway and even a holding session and a few pictures for Matt and Abbie! Today brought a scary and pretty major development. Tomorrow will be a resting day for Ellie and her body and then more testing/planning/possible action on Tuesday.
Thank you so much for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers.
We are asking again tonight for you to pray for Ellie. Today was not a good one in Denver. Matt and his family need you. Ellie needs you. Saturday brought good news with a successful procedure to open her airway and even a holding session and a few pictures for Matt and Abbie! Today brought a scary and pretty major development. Tomorrow will be a resting day for Ellie and her body and then more testing/planning/possible action on Tuesday.
Thank you so much for keeping our family in your thoughts and prayers.
Friday, April 16, 2010
Flashback Friday!
Today my Flashback Friday is in honor of our new niece Ellie!!! I was feeling nastalgic and quickly went back to find pictures of her siblings as newborns. Seems like just yesterday but to think about the fun, grown up, crazy kids they are now... sheesh it goes quickly! Can't wait to add pictures of Ellie with her parents and brothers and sister soon!
Katelyn Anna
Lucas James
Daniel Robert
I'm so mad that I can't put my finger on the other zillions of pictures I have of newborn Kate right now and the couple at the bottom of Daniel are scanned copies of pictures printed on computer paper so they aren't the best but isn't it fun to remember them so little!?!?
Check back SOON for pictures of Ellie!!!!!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Happy Birthday Miss Ellie Grace!!!!!!
Matt and Ab have had an exciting 24 hours!!! Wow! Their fourth babe, Ellie Grace Sogard, arrived early this morning! She was a good month early and weighs 4 pounds, 7 ounces and is almost 18 inches long. She has dark hair, the little Sogard nose and is tiny tiny. No pictures yet but I will be sure to post many when we have them!!! Her arrival was sudden and a bit scary but things seem to be okay so far and we are all so very thankful. GOD IS GOOD!!!!!
Abbie went in for her 36 week appointment yesterday afternoon as normal and learned Ellie wasn't growing as she should. The safe and only thing to do was enduce labor and get their baby girl out right away. Ab was able to do things on her own after they broke her water and Ellie arrived at 5:00 this morning! She is currently in the NICU, getting a little help breathing and growing stronger and stronger every minute! They are hopeful she will graduate to the regular nursery sometime tomorrow.
More updates to come! Thanks for keeping Matt and Ab, Kate, Luke, Daniel and Ellie (and her sweet little lungs) in your thoughts and prayers! God is great and we are so so excited to have another beautiful little niece!!!!!!
Abbie went in for her 36 week appointment yesterday afternoon as normal and learned Ellie wasn't growing as she should. The safe and only thing to do was enduce labor and get their baby girl out right away. Ab was able to do things on her own after they broke her water and Ellie arrived at 5:00 this morning! She is currently in the NICU, getting a little help breathing and growing stronger and stronger every minute! They are hopeful she will graduate to the regular nursery sometime tomorrow.
More updates to come! Thanks for keeping Matt and Ab, Kate, Luke, Daniel and Ellie (and her sweet little lungs) in your thoughts and prayers! God is great and we are so so excited to have another beautiful little niece!!!!!!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
BPR
I have the best husband in the world.
God gave me the man of my dreams for sure.
I am lucky to love him.
And I do... with all that I am.
God gave me the man of my dreams for sure.
I am lucky to love him.
And I do... with all that I am.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Flashback Friday
Two years ago- April 4, 2008- I was 16 weeks pregnant and proud to be showing!
Random- October 10, 2008- Sam's one month birthday... See? We all have birthday hat stickers on our foreheads! Pretty sure all four of these kiddos look a lot different today!
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