We're Back!

Its crazy that I didn't post one time in 2018. Sorry? Maybe not. Taking a year to feel "normal" was awesome. Stella has remained incredibly healthy for the most part and with the exception of some hospital admissions and a broken foot, to most onlookers we are just the usual hot mess of a family of 5 with 3 small kids.

If you are reading this then you probably know that we have been approaching Stella's 3rd open heart surgery for quite some time. We've known since the day of my fetal diagnosis that she would require at least 3 open heart surgeries, so as pink and healthy as she seems, it was always inevitable that she will need the third phase reconstructing her heart anatomy. She is booked with Dr. E for Tuesday, April 9th.

So it sucks. (Sorry mom, I know you hate that word). But every time I have thought about this day for the last 3 plus years, that is what it boils down to. It's also a lot harder now, compared to how it felt  handing over our 2 day old or 4 month old - because lets face it - we are pretty dang attached to little Stella Stacy. So the level of dread, the fear, and the unfairness of it all is piling up as April 9th approaches.

I'm back on the blog well in advance of surgery for a number of reasons. First and foremost, we are hoarding your prayers and want to cling to the community of people that took care of us after Stella was born. Stella's fan club has multiplied since then and we are immensely grateful for everyone that is already preparing to love on us and on our kids, and we know you will storm the Heavens with prayer for the Stacy clan.

I'm also here to say THANK YOU for supporting our little tee shirt campaign this past month. If you missed it, with the help of my dear friend Erin, we created tee shirts featuring Stella's EKG in an effort to bring a little JOY before our sucky Spring. Every time someone sends me a picture of themselves or their kids in a Stella shirt my heart leaps - it might have seemed like a small thing when you purchased them, but I'm here to tell you, we felt the love.

If you missed the chance to order a shirt, the link is currently live again and will be until March 6th.

https://www.bonfire.com/god-bless-stellas-heart-1/

Finally, we wanted to bring back a place that provides us an emotional outlet while updating all of you on the ins and outs of hospital life. Social media is great, but simply put, is the last thing we care about logging into and scrolling through to update when our child is in the ICU. For whatever reason, this blog allows me to feel like I have a little purpose - especially while I'm sitting next to Stella knowing there is next to nothing I can do take away her pain.

Prayer Requests:

On March 19th Stella has a pre-surgical Cardiac Catherization. This is a routine procedure before any open heart surgery, but we anticipate some intervention to coil any collateral vessels she may have developed as well has potential intervention to expand the stent that was placed in her left pulmonary artery during her 2nd surgery. A couple of weeks ago Stella came down with a nasty stomach virus that landed us in the hospital for 3 nights and during her stay she needed IV fluids a number of times. She has difficult veins and getting an IV into her arm was not easy (hello 6 blown veins over the course of 3 days) so needless to say, she (and I) have a great deal of PTSD about needles and nurses touching her. Please pray that anxiety has lessened some before this next procedure.

Please pray for our big kids. They have no memory of Stella's first and second surgeries (perhaps the one bonus to having these kids so close together). But now they have very real concerns about her health and they ask us a lot "when is Stella going to have her belly cut open again". They pray for her constantly and we want them to know she is safe and everything happening to her is because we want her to be healthy for a long time.

Please pray for the families with much sicker kids than Stella! I'm blessed to have met so many amazing moms and families at Children's Hospital and as much as our situation sucks - it could be so much worse. I have to mentally and emotionally prepare for the moms I'm going to see in the halls that are living in the hospital waiting on a transplant or a miracle.

Closing out this post I'll leave you with a link to a sermon that has brought me peace in the past few weeks. Our church had been focusing on the old testament Joseph story and our Pastor closed out the series with a message I think everyone should hear. I was actually out of town and missed church on this particular Sunday so I ended up watching it on my phone from an airport. As the sermon was coming to a close I got an email notifying me that we had raised over $2000 from our tee shirt campaign - which was just so perfect. We created the tee shirts to spread JOY and as an opportunity to bless other families thru our sweet blessing that is Stella. If you need to hear how God can bless your life, take 25 minutes and listen in - you won't regret it.

https://soundcloud.com/the-gathering-umc/living-the-dream-pt-5-rev-matt-miofsky