Progress

Her Oxygen Saturation is in the 70's. From the 40's to the 70's is good but we really want to see 80's. She is getting the maximum oxygen we can give her and it i on 24/7 unless she gets sneaky and pulls it out of her nose..... so maybe 23.9/7

She slept until 1pm yesterday. Yes you read that right. And No she did not wake on her own, I just missed her too much and woke her up! She had gone to bed at 9 ish the night before.

We had our home oxygen device and portable oxygen delivered yesterday. The respiratory therapist that delivered it could not have been a more kind, gentle, sweet man! He moved Ivy's pulse ox probe from her foot to her finger and she didn't even cry!! This is a shocker because Ivy doesn't like ANYTHING on her hands or feet but clothes and shoes! At the hospital she carried on for 15 minutes because they put the hospital bracelet on her! And all the bracelets I have made her, HA HA, she will NOT wear them!! I wanted the probe on her finger because the one on her foot made it painful for her to walk. She is much happier with the new location!! And our respiratory therapist was fascinated with our little champion! He was in awe of the fact that he was witnessing an unprepared TGA, PS, Large VSD patient and able to give us the equipment we needed to get  our little sweetie stronger!! We have been so blessed by an excellent team of help for Ivy Joy! Have I mentioned how much I love our Cardiologist and the team at Phoenix Children's?? LOVE Dr. Pophal!!!!! He is more than an excellent Doctor, he is a Good Man!! He loves what he does and told us Thank You, for allowing him to help our daughter. But before that, he told us thank you, for giving Ivy hope! Yes baby girl, there is so much Hope for You!!!! You are a miracle, and we are just here to love on you as God does his work and shows off a bit! He loves you and will never forsake you!! We are so blessed to be here in the stands cheering you both on!!

Anyway, we have this unit now that makes it's own oxygen so outside of our little portable tanks, no big tanks to replace anymore. This unit is big and heavy and sounds like a MONSTER!!! When Ivy is up she has the unit upstairs and when she sleeps I have to take it down stairs! Did I mention its heavy, big, awkward? Up in the morning, down for nap, back up after nap, back down for bed, start over..
But... it has a really long tube so when she is awake she can play and move about and she is not so limited. Oh yes she tangles up very quickly, it's almost like she finds joy in watching me untangle her cords ha ha. I was worried about the girls not being able to sleep with the monster in the room. I was especially worried about them being afraid of the noise it makes. If you have never heard one, picture a big monster breathing in and spitting out. Now multiply the sound by say...100? Yep, that's the sound! IT is 7:45am and they are both sleeping soundly with the monster in the room! Thank you Jesus, I do not deserve the gifts and mercy you give me daily,... hourly.. but I give you thanks and praise for all of them!!

We bought her a walker yesterday just to give her more options for less stressful play and she is a maniac in that thing!!! She has definitely spent time in a walker before!!


Pictures.... I know, you all want pictures of the littles together. Well you see its really hard to get the 2 of them together and photographed at the same time... We have so much to juggle with all these cords and all this craziness. I am just finishing the unpacking this morning!!! I have not cooked dinner since we have been home (I know it's only been 2 days but still!) So today I am going to try really hard to get them to look at the camera at the same time and get a few cute pictures. I won't care if they are both smiling, only that they look at me at the same time and my camera settings are right. For now, here are the last few I took on our last night in China. The lighting was dark and dreary at the White Swan for our Red Couch photos!!

And here are the errors..... wrong settings.... Bad timing..... Yes they speak for themselves ha ha... 

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update~ Ivy woke up at 8am today!!!

Questions you asked,

Karen, they are all different brands. Happy to share specifics if you let me know the outfits your referring to.

Michelle, the black sweater is from the Gap.

Pam, I FORGOT TO MAIL THE NECKLACE BEFORE I LEFT!!! Im so sorry!! Its going out in the morning!!! 

We are Home!!!

The flight was hard on Ivy, and hard on mommy too. The first flight she slept, the second one (long) she ate the first 2 hours and was awake the next 5. She was purple and breathing hard. I stayed calm and by the 7 th hour she was asleep. She slept on and off till we landed in San Francisco. We were loved on by 3 sisters, mom and niece and Ivy did amazing with them considering all she'd been through. The Az reunion was amazing, my little Lexi jumping up and down when she saw me then running to me ( until the fun sucker security guard woman chased her down and put her back behind the yellow line!! Unreal!) My honey, my girls, awe so so lucky!!! Laurie my family loves yours!! Thank you!!!! Sue, you are a gift and your son is absolutely precious!!. Thank you!! Home was like a dream, seeing my family took my breath away! Lexi has no problem sharing me as of yet, she is adorable with Ivy and so happy she's home! Ivy had me pretty scared by bed time and very worried when it was nearly 11am and I had to wake her up. She was so weak, not eating so we headed to her appointment at the hospital at 1.

My concern for Ivy was valid, her oxygen saturation was......

40.

I'm telling you, she is Gods miracle in the works! 40? They admitted Brady when he was 5 and had a 90 oxygen saturation read for 5 days!!!

So Ivy is home with us but she is on oxygen 24/7

Please do not stop praying for her little body! We have put almost 2 pounds on her already but she is SO skinny and so blue! She was holding Lexi's hand tonight and it hit me hard how dark purple her whole hand is now.

When I put her to bed tonight her oxygen was still only 67%. We would love to see it get into the 90's so her little body can get strong for surgery.

Today- ultra sound

She has everything China said she has. Small pulmonary artery. Pulmonary Stenosis, transposition of the great Arteries ( her aorta and pulmonary artery are in each others spots) and a big VSD. No surprises. Nothing we weren't expecting. Her lungs appear to be fine but we need a cath to confirm that. Bad lungs means she would be inoperable.

Echo cardiogram- no surprises, good heart beat

The plan-

Chest x-ray Wednesday

Blood work Wednesday

Get her strong! Round the clock oxygen, lots of love, good nutrition, immunize her, and do the surgery for the cath so her team of doctors have a great road map of Ivy's very special anatomy. They will do emergency surgery if they have to, but it's in Ivy's best interest to be have doctors plan out every detail of her surgery based on the current state of her heart. And for her to have been getting healthy amounts of oxygen for as long as possible.

We are so proud of her! She did not like any part of today but on our way home as her oxygen began to rise to the 60's and her face became white again, she was smiling and giggling and shouting mama, baba! She was so happy to still be with us, I know every time we go to a new place she tenses up as if she is not sure we will be staying together or leaving together. I think today a little light went off that no matter what is next, we will be together!

Last Post From China!!!!

Goodbye China! We will always love you,

and the little lives that were created here!

We are forever grateful for the opportunity to be parents to children who where born here, loved here, loved enough to be given a second chance!

We are so happy to be moving on to our second journey with Little Ivy Joy.

Hunan Spice in my Hangzhou Girl!

Lexi, our little Hunan girl was supposed to be what the Chinese call Spicy!

It lovingly means that the little girls from Hunan province like spicy food and have a bit of a spicy attitude. They are supposedly feisty quick tempered. Well that is not the case with our little Hunan girl. She does not care much for spicy foods and she is not spicy in personality. She is a total teddy bear! She is very proper and likes to follow all the rules. She is very soft spoken and soft hearted.

Ivy however has got some SPICE!! Yes she may be small but when she doesn't like the direction something is going in..... the back arches, the body becomes limp, and the head goes back! She is feisty. Now so far the only times I have seen this are when it is nap time and we are nowhere near a crib and when she was afraid of something and I didn't get her away from what she was afraid of quick enough.

More so than anything though, she is a cuddly little love! She is quick to come in for kisses and cuddles, she loves to rub my face and is always smiling and laughing. She is always saying mama and she talks simple chinese words. People tell me they can see she is in love with her mama, I know that is all God, all from prayer requests and all Him just loving me up while I'm here in China! Like her big sister , it is impossible to not fall in love with her at first sight. She is just ~delicious~!! She loves to mimic peoples laughs so if you tickle her she laughs the Ivy laugh and if someone is trying to do something funny to make her laugh she will laugh just like the person she hears laughing along. It is way too cute! She scrunches her face up like a little bulldog when she fake laughs and she rarely shows her teeth when laughing or smiling.

Due to the craziness of our morning with a very early consulate appointment and a great deal of traffic coming home her clock got all messed up and she fought her nap for the first time. However her weak body finally gave in and she is sleeping soundly now. All these appointments and hotel living has her schedule all messed up. Im looking forward to getting on with whatever the next step is for us, in hopes that the new normal can begin!!!

Bryan sent a picture of Lexi to me this morning (their evening) and I just sobbed! She looks so precious and so happy!!! Daddy had her hair in a flower and everything!!! He has done the most amazing job being *Just Daddy* these past 10 days!!! My big girls have been keeping me posted and all I can say is I am the luckiest wife and mom alive!!!!!!!!!

Off to do a little packing before Ivy wakes up!

Ivy In Pictures!

Just three more sleeps and we are off to Hong Kong to begin our journey home! Our consulate appointment is tomorrow!! Any travel tips for toddlers, much apprecated!!

The Sweetest Thing I've Ever Known, Is Loving You!!

Ivy continues to just blow me away! She is getting so much more confident. She is always happy, always content! She laughs all the time and even snorts! She loves to be kissed and tickled and she loves to go out and about.

We spent from 9-3 at the safari park today and she loved it! She is however terrified of animals!!! So she took a few naps in the fresh air and enjoyed the ride in her ergo. When she saw me grab a branch of leaves that Emily had been feeding the giraffe she started screaming! Screaming for Ivy is odd and Jill told me she thought it was because she was afraid of the giraffe. I thought, no way, Im not even by the giraffe yet. Sure enough as soon as I got near the giraffe she started to cry and kick her legs. I dropped the leaves and she stopped. I walked near an animal and she cried again! She is smart. She put the 2 together before I even thought anything of it. Because she is such a bitty thing, I forget that she is 21 months old and she does not miss a beat.

She so badly wants to be a normal kid. She wants to get down and walk. She wants to do what the other toddlers do. She watches them and you can tell that watching kids play has been her way of playing. She guards herself well, she knows when she is exhausting herself. She knows that crawling takes her less energy than walking so after a few steps she will almost always change over to crawling. Tonight she crawled around the room and then just fell over in exhaustion. She gets very blue very quick and she happily cuddles in my arms and rests when Mama says no more! It breaks my heart. But soon, very soon, she will be climbing on the furniture and jumping off the ottoman with her sister!!

We had a nice dinner at Lucy's tonight. "Tiny Miss" ate 1 bowl of Chicken Congee, 3/4 of a piece of cod, 3 fries, a bowl of cheerios and lots of Lucy's Iced Tea! She then came home and asked for her can of pringles! Mama said no so she dug up some Hershey bar from her brothers back pack and made herself a big mess!!

Before bed we went out to do a little shoe shopping. The girl LOVES shoes!!!

And we bought her a new ride so she can roll like the big girls!!!

Thank you to everyone who has privately emailed me and posted here letting me know they are praying for Ivy! It is what has gotten us this far and it will continue to bless us as we move on to journey number 2 (Ivy's Surgery). Thank you Jill C for being such a positive blessing to us here in China! Thank you Emily for being the best 9 year old traveler on the planet!

Thank you Sis for your constant love and support. Thank you mom for giving your heart and soul to your grand babies! Thank you Diana for blogging for me and for your constant love, support and reassurance! Thank you Jill M and beautiful Lilah, Jennifer and Jennifer, Melody, Emily, Laurie M, Amy T, Ben and Amy, Tracy, Stephanie C, Tara, Sharon, Sarah and Lee, Natalie, Chrystal, And all the sweet bloggy world who have sent many many emails and comments with your commitments to pray for Ivy.

She is one loved up little girl and she is worthy of all those prayers and love!!!!!!

I can't wait to show you all what love and some medical intervention can do!!!!!!

Goodbye Hangzhou and HELLO Guangzhou!!!!!

We said Goodbye to Hangzhou and the staff at the Children's Welfare Center on Friday. It was such a long day, beginning in the morning with passport and notary paperwork, moving on to the orphanage visit and finally arriving in Guangzhou after a 2 hour flight at 10pm. Ivy was exhausted and overwhelmed. Last night she woke up at 1am FREEZING (mommy didn't realize that removing the room card from the slot would turn off the heat!) I could not warm her up so we ended up taking a hot bath in our hot tub in the Victory Bathroom at 2am. She loved it, pooped in it but loved it! Ya, enough said....

She ate a big bowl of hot cereal and finally settled in to my bed with Brady at 3am. Mommy was done sleeping for the night, the poop in the bath tub did me in!!! Hey, I cold handle it if she pooped in HER bath..... But this was a hot tub, I had my suit on and I WAS IN IT WITH HER!!! Oh the precious bonding going on!!

Anyway, The orphanage visit was great. The building was absolutely freezing anywhere that there were no children so I was so glad I put her big coat on her. She was happy all the way over and seemed to know where she was when we pulled up. 

She didn't seem anxious about it at all. Finally after long visits learning all about our baby girls first year and a half there, we asked for them to send in her nanny so Ivy could say a proper goodbye and we could tell her a proper thank you. Each time someone would walk by the would say LI QIN LI QIN!!!! They were very happy to see her with a family. She would give a quick smirk or smile and hold me tight. Finally Ivy's nanny appeared. She was so happy to see her. I could always see love in her eyes in the photos we have of her and Li Qin, today was no exception. 

She is such a pretty girl and she had such a sweet way greeting Ivy. 

Ivy did give her a sly smile and and she listened to everything the nanny was telling her. She tried to give her a hug and Ivy backed off and when she tried to hold her (We told her we would love for her to give her a goodbye hug or last cuddle) Ivy pushed her away and dove on to my chest. 

She was not crying, she had a sly smile on her face and she was content. They clapped and said Li Qin loves her mama, Li Qin has a mama!!! They were very very sweet and understanding and did not try and push themselves on her. She waved goodbye and smiled big as they said goodbye in Chinese. We will forever love this group of women who clearly love the kids ant Hangzhou CWI. 

If your child is there, Please know they are so loved and so well cared for. It is still an orphanage and very much not a family, but it is a place where your child is being loved until you get there!!!

Today we spent our first day on Shamian Island. It is so good to be here. Our room is fabulous and huge, We were upgraded to and executive suite for no charge due to the fact that our room had accidentally been checked in to by someone else. We have a huge sitting room and a huge huge balcony and Ivy really is loving the space. She crawled all over today, walked a little (totally out of breath in just a minute or two) and made lots of baby messes for me to clean up! So happy to be on the last leg of our journey to bring Ivy home!!!

Our Medical exam was today. 

She did great! They said she was blue, they said she has a bad heart, they said she was beautiful baby with no surgery and made a sad face. That's it!! We were done! It was so crowded!! 
Lots and lots of adoptive families here this week. 7 with BAAS alone. Maybe 30 families there just this morning.

Tomorrow we head to the Safari park so Brady and our friend Emily can have a little fun! They have been so good and so patient all week!!

(Pictures coming later today...! Mary will probably post to Facebook if she can. Her scribe has to be gone all day...)