Progress!!!

So it's been a few days since our last update and so many things have happened!

Tuesday the 13th at 0750, Malachi went in for surgery on his heart. Doctor Wearden and Doctor Merrel closed off the PDA and placed the band on his pulmonary artery and the surgery was over by 0940. It went beautifully and Malachi was doing very well. He had a chest tube in for draining of blood and fluid from the area around the heart and he had a new IV that was in his chest called a Broviac line. He looked so good when we got to see him around 1100. So praise the Lord the surgery went great and he was on the road to recovery.
Wednesday the 14th... Malachi was doing well, his oxygen saturation's were in the low 80's where they wanted them and so he was moved toward extubation (getting off of the ventilator). Early afternoon on Wednesday they took him off of the ventilator and just had him on a nasal cannula high flow 30 percent oxygen. As the day progressed Malachi struggled more and more with breathing and keeping his saturation's up. By evening his saturation's were dropping into the 60's so they kept turning up the oxygen he was getting through the nasal cannula until he was up to 70 percent and bearly keep saturations in the low 70's. At this time they got a chest x-ray and discovered that his left lung was partially collapsed which is common in little ones coming off of a ventilator. April and I came back to the house a little discouraged and frustrated that he was having such a hard time. Around 3am the doctor called us to tell us that his entire left lunch was collapsed and so they had to place him back on the ventilator. We immediately took it as a major set back and struggled to keep focus and remember that God was in control. Which of course he was, we just were blinded by our own hopes and longing for a fast recovery.
Thursday morning came around and by 1000 Malachi's lung was back to normal and he was doing much better. Thursday evening they started to wean him off again, but he wasn't doing well at it so they decided to wait another day to give him a rest.
Friday afternoon Malachi was able to come off of the ventilator and he has done very well since. His saturations have been high, in the low 90's but he is on a medication that helps his heart balance blood flow to his lungs and body, so it will just take some time to find the right amount to give him to bring his saturations down. This was good news again since we kept thinking that they would have to go back in to adjust the band around his Pulmonary Artery. They said that readjusting the band would be the last step they take to bring his saturations down.
So... this morning... the 17th. we made our usual phone call after waking up to find out how our precious little man is doing. One of our favorite nurses, Melissa, is caring for him and she told us that Malachi is doing wonderfully! He is breathing great and his saturations are now in the high 80's, which they are continuing to make adjustments to the medications to bring them a little lower. Melissa said she was getting ready to FEED Malachi with a BOTTLE and she said that when we get there we can feed him too!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! He will now be getting real food and maybe put on some weight!!!! This is the best news we've had in the last two weeks!!! We are so thankful that the Lord is healing Malachi and allowing him to be doing so well and now able to eat. WE can't wait to get there today to see him... and... HOLD HIM!!!!! this will be the first time we've held our baby since the moment he was born! God is so good!

Please continue to pray for a good and full recovery. Sometimes I want a fast recovery, but I know that it is better for him to have a good recovery than a fast one. Please pray that his saturations come down some more and they don't have to take him in for surgery to adjust the band. Please pray that he takes the bottle well and is able to catch on to eating, because this is a huge step toward bring him home!!!

Thank you for your prayers. The Lord continues to reveal Himself in new ways everyday and we continue to learn more and more how to trust Him more! Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

Joyfully His,
Philip, April and Malachi

Malachi Update

Hello...
It's a cold Sunday morning in November, and life here in Pittsburgh is going well considering. Malachi is is hanging out at Children's Hospital flirting with all the women and look sweet as ever with his awesome hair!

Seriously... He is doing fairly well. This past week has been a roller-coaster of emotions for April and I and it's not over yet. Last Tuesday was suppose to be his heart surgery day, but because they found a small bleed in a ventricle of his brain and a small clot in one of the vessels coming off of the ventricle, the surgery was postponed due to the possibility of complications during surgery resulting from movement of the clot or increased bleeding. We were told that the bleed and clot were so small that they would clear up on their own, and it's a fairly common thing for babies to be born with, none the less it was still a little disheartening to hear about. We had to wait until Thursday for a follow up CT Scan to find out if those spots were cleared up, and then we had to wait until Friday afternoon to hear the results of the Scan, but thankfully the Lord chose to reveal Himself to us again, by allowing the clot and bleed to go away! Praise the Lord.

A couple times during the week, Malachi had difficulty breathing and even stopped breathing on three occasions. Thankfully the doctors were right there to get him breathing again, but those times were also very scary for us. Because of his difficulty breathing throughout the week and those times he stopped breathing, the Ear Nose and Throat doctors came in to take a look at this Trachea to see if there were any obstructions that could be causing the problems. Friday evening they discovered a piece of scar tissue that had grown next to Malachi's vocal cords, obstructing half of the windpipe! So, Friday night around 10:15 they took Malachi in for an operation to remove the tissue. The surgery lasted about 35 minutes and went beautifully! Praise the Lord! Malachi is now back on the ventilator while his throat is healing.

As of right now, the surgeons are talking about heart surgery on either Monday or Tuesday of this week. They are making their plans this weekend for exactly what needs to be done, and hopefully we will know today, Sunday, what those plans are. We would like the surgery to be tomorrow just so that it can be done and Malachi can start healing and then get some good food in him sooner. The surgery that needs to be done could include three parts, but may not include all three. The PDA needs to be closed off... it should close on it's own but because it's taking so long to close they may need to just tie it off themselves. The next possible part is the Band being placed on the Pulmonary Artery to restrict blood flow to the lungs even more. The third part is creating a larger opening between the upper two chambers of the heart, the atrium. This last part they haven't really talked about too much, but it is still a possibility. Once the surgery is completed Malachi will be able to breath room air and that is what he needs to do before he can come home!

Thank you for your prayers... Please continue to pray for our little Malachi. He is so adorable and precious, but looks very week and frail right now because of all he has been through this week already. Please pray that the surgeons will be able to make a decision today about the heart surgery and that it will be done tomorrow! Please pray for strength for Malachi, and for us. The Lord has been faithful and we continue to see His plan unfold... but we still have moments of frustration and doubt. Thankfully we realize again that God is in control and His plan for Malachi is beyond anything we can imagine. I am so thankful that I have a relationship with the Lord that allows me to come before Him at any moment and poor out my heart to Him and feel the relief of his peace that surpasses all understanding guard my heart. What amazing Hope we have in Christ! Thank you for your prayers and love!

We will try to update again soon... but the next couple of days may be a little crazy! Enjoy the latest pictures of our Malachi.

Thankfully in His Hands,
Philip, April and Malachi

5 Days Old...

So Malachi turned 5 days old today! He is doing alright. We are awaiting a CT scan for tomorrow to see if the small bleed and small clot have worked themselves out. Also we are awaiting to see what the surgeons are deciding about if and when Malachi needs surgery. He had a little bump in the road yesterday when they took the breathing tube out and Malachi stopped breathing, which we heard later can be common after having a tube in just because their trachea is so small. Either way it terrified me, and I began the spiral downward of asking God why this all is happening. Why Malachi? Why does this beautiful, wonderful, perfect little man have to hurt? Why does he have to go through all of this? I was reminded of the passage when Christ and the disciples meet the blind man in John 9:1-3. (I actually watched a Pastor teach on it the morning Malachi was born.) The question the disciples asked Christ was why this man was born blind. Was it because his parents had sinned? Or because he has sinned? Christ answered with: "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him." I realized that God wanted to use Malachi's life to display God's work in him. And if Philip and I let Him, He would display His work in us too. So I picked myself up off the floor, sang the song, "If you want me to" by Ginny Owens. (Crying the whole time.) And was reminded that the Lord never left and He NEVER will. He will do what is best for our family. As hard as it is to say, WHATEVER that is. Trust me, I let the Lord know my ultimate desire, and I must say that this is the most hardest, worst thing to EVER have to go through in my entire life, but for some reason, the Lord saw that Philip and I could handle it. Either I can fight what the Lord is doing, or I can accept that this is where He has us, and be teachable to what He wants to show us. (Already a lot! Trust for one!) So all this to say, we are under serious attack. Pray that we maintain focus on the Lord, and trust what He is doing. We love you all, and appreciate EVERYTHING you have done for us.

May our lives bring Him glory,
April,(wrote the post), Philip, and Malachi

Malachi's Hair-do

Here are the latest pictures of Malachi. His hair is sweet! Cousin Matthew would be proud!

Malachi Philip Preston has Arrived!!!

Malachi Philip was born Friday November 2nd at 3:04pm and he weighed 5 lbs 2 oz. and was 19 3/4 inches long. April did an incredible job delivering him and we got to hold him for about 10 minutes before the NICU team had to take him.

He is at the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital right now and he is doing well. Monday he has a MRI to look at a questionable spot on the back of his brain that could possibly be blood, and if it is nothing then surgery is planned for Tuesday to place a restricting band around the Pulmonary Artery to help balance blood flow to the lungs and body.

Please pray that the spot on his brain is nothing! and that the surgery is performed to perfection. If all goes well... April will be able to start Thursday or Friday, working at getting him to feed well enough for him to come home with us until his next surgery in 4 to 6 months.

Please please continue to lift Malachi up before our Lord ( and us as well). We KNOW that HE is our strength and the only way that Malachi is going to get through all of this (and us too!). Thank you for your prayers so far and for your continued love and support through all of this.

To God be all Glory forever and ever!

Thankfully in His Hands,
Philip, April and Malachi