Grand Rapids – The Hannon Family

Day 22

Posted on July 17, 2014July 16, 2016 by Lauren

Esther is 3 weeks and 1 day old now.

Thank you everyone for your notes and prayers for us. I know some have asked for our mailing address in Grand Rapids to cards. Our address is: Hannon, PO box 2703, Grand Rapids, MI 49501

Today was a busy day trying to prep Esther for surgery. They tried to wean her off the ECMO circuit. On ECMO they can control everything about the circulation of her blood. From the flow to the temperature of the blood. How they wean her is by going down on the blood flow, which makes her heart start working. Once they have the flow low enough they clamp the circuit off and see how she does. They watch her numbers (blood pressure, O2 among other things) and see if she can handle being disconnected. She was able to get pretty low flow but not all the way. So she is still on ECMO.

Also yesterday they added a new chest tube. They did an ultrasound of her right lung and saw a substantial amount of fluid there. Even though they do X-rays often, you can’t see fluid on an X-ray. Once they placed the chest tube they pulled out 120ml of old blood. They did a chest X-ray and saw an improvement of her right lung. Which is great! Because she is on the blood thinners the chest tube kept draining blood. This might have contributed to her not being able to wean off of ECMO. Because of the blood loss they did not want to operate on her until it stopped. The doctors decided to stop her heparin and start a medication that helped with clotting. That has stopped the draining and she seems to be doing great.

She is scheduled for surgery at 9 am, Thursday morning. The surgery is to bring down her internal organs and patch the hole in her diaphragm. This doesn’t fix the problem with her lungs. We chose to do this surgery now so that she has the support of ECMO to recover. It is very risky to preform surgery while on ECMO. She is on blood thinners which could cause massive bleeding. After surgery, Esther will probably get worse before she gets better. Please continue to pray for Esther. We know God has been here with us and helped Esther in so many ways. Pray that He continues to heal her.

I will be updating throughout the day on Esther’s facebook page. www.facebook.com/esthermaehannon

i do try to explain what is going on, but if you have any questions you can email or message on facebook. [email protected]

Update about nothing

Posted on June 23, 2014July 16, 2016 by Lauren

I guess it’s time for an update.

And yes, I’m still pregnant. 40 weeks and 6 days pregnant incase you were counting. I have no idea when I’m going to go into labor. I’ve been having on and off contractions since about 36 weeks. I was sure I would deliver around 38 weeks. Now I feel like I’m 3 weeks overdue, not just a few days.

We are monitoring her by checking the amniotic fluid every few days. My doctor is fine with me going to 42 weeks before trying anything. I’m hoping to deliver on my own before that. The real issue comes if she decides to poop before I deliver her. We won’t know if that happens until she is here. If she does it would get in her lungs. Praying nothing like that happens.

Anyway, still impatiently waiting to get this craziness started. Thanks for the prayers and messages from everyone. I plan on updating things when things get more interesting.

And here is a very pregnant time at the park.

Hanging out

Posted on June 10, 2014July 16, 2016 by Lauren

Yup I’m still pregnant. I really thought we would have her sooner but I guess she is comfy and not ready yet.

We have been spending some time in Grand Rapids waiting for the baby to come. Even though Dave is still working it feels like a mini vacation. Though I much prefer to not be 9 months pregnant on vacation.

We have enjoyed our time here and are starting to settle in. Nothing too exciting to share. But here are some pictures of some of the fun.

Lots of time spent at the park

We found the boys like this one night.
I asked Atreyu why he wanted to sleep with Ezra and he said
“Well, because I love him sometimes”

sleepy boys

And of course I have gotten a little bit of sewing in.
Noelle in her new dress.

Today I am 39 weeks. I do feel like I could go into labor any moment. This end of pregnancy has by far been my most uncomfortable. The others were so easy compared to her. It’s nice having Dave “work from home” this last week since he has been a huge help to me.

Thank you to those we have talked with and the encouraging things and prayer you have for us. We are thankful that our church has a church plant here that we have been able to visit. It feels like home and are blessed by the people there.