Riverlyn's road to home...🏡 - Update 5 -

Good morning everyone, 

Tomorrow Riverlyn will be three months old! It's hard to believe that so much time has passed. On the other hand, she's come through three surgeries and that certainly takes some time. She has made tremendous progress post valve replacement. She's two pounds above birth weight and is working on eating by mouth again! 

As expected, the main thing keeping us in the hospital is getting her blood thinners to a "therapeutic" level. I've been studying blood coagulation and its fascinatingly complex - it involves multiple pathways with respective cascading factors - what a design God! That's the big prayer point right now so we can finally have our girl in the light of day. 

I hit some deep exhaustion the day of Riverlyn's surgery and am working with one of my Drs to maintain a baseline and support my iron storage. Grandma Kathy came a couple days before surgery and has been the backbone of our operation lately - helping with Nathan, supporting Matthew getting back to work, and acting as my task hands at home while I'm with Riverlyn at the hospital. Lee, Oscar, Will, Aidan, and many friends have been so key in making all of this possible. Matthew is getting back into his flow which benefits everyone at the end of the day. We will learn this new normal one day at a time 🤍

We are also so thankful for the foundations who've been supporting us! The HEARTest Yard will be providing in-home nursing hours for Rivy's transition home. They have a 5K benefit racecoming up this weekend if any locals are interested. This month Nathan and I got to attend our first Baby Luck event at Build-a-Bear - we are meeting other heart families and soaking up the love. They have a benefit bike race in 2 weeks if any locals prefer to wheel rather than walk/run - I hoping we are home so I can contribute to the bake sale portion! And... Madelyn's Fund has helped us with bills, medical equipment, and travel costs since our first week in the NICU! They have a benefit tennis tournament coming up next month 🥰