1 month old

Tomorrow, Selah will officially be 1 month old.  It is amazing to think back over the last 5 months and see how far we have come and how God has truly blessed us.  These past two weeks, we have made many visits to different doctors.  First we saw the neurosurgeon who did both of Selah's surgeries.  She said that everything was healing nicely and that the shunt was working well...PRAISE THE LORD!  She did put Selah on Keflex for 10 days as a precaution against the shunt becoming infected.  Selah will go back in 2 months for a rapid MRI and to see the neurosurgeon again, where they will check the growth and development of her brain.  The next day we visited the urologist.  When we left the hospital, Selah was having trouble voiding on her own, so we had been cathing her every 6 hours to make sure her bladder was being emptied.  We had been keeping track of how much urine we got each time, and we saw a huge improvement, where sometimes we wouldn't get any urine.  The urologist said that nerve function to the bladder can improve after healing from the surgeries.  He decided that she only needed to be cathed once a day before bedtime just to make sure her bladder was empty...PRAISE THE LORD!  We also have had Selah's weight checked twice.  She already weighs 10 lbs and is in the 75% for her weight and height...PRAISE THE LORD!  She is nursing wonderfully and is already sleeping for 5 hours at night...PRAISE THE LORD!  This week we saw a pediatric developmentalist and had an evaluation by an occupational therapist.  Selah will be starting OT soon to help her meet all of her developmental milestones like holding her head up, rolling over, sitting, crawling, etc.  Finally, yesterday, we saw the orthopedic doctor.  He thought that possibly her left femur was bowed, but after a quick x-ray, he said that it is, "straight as an arrow"...PRAISE THE LORD!  He also determined that her left hip is displaced and put her in a Wheaton-Pavlik harness that holds her legs in a "frog-like" position to reposition that left hip in the socket.  She has to be in the harness 24/7, except for bathing and changing her clothes, until they determine the hip is in the socket and stable or that the harness is not going to work.  Then, he casted her entire left leg.  He is doing serial castings on her left leg, where we return every week for 4-6 weeks to get a new cast put on in order to correct her club foot.  After the treatment, he did say he may have to surgically cut her Achilles tendon in order to get her foot in the best position for walking.  He did say, however, that Selah has great movement in her hips and knees, and she should be able to walk on her own with leg braces to stabilize her feet...PRAISE THE LORD!

Many of you are asking for specific prayer requests for Selah.  I have already listed the praise reports, so here are the specific prayer requests:
1. We are praying that her shunt would continue to function well and that there would be no infection in the shunt.
2.  We are praying that her brain would develop and grow and that when her MRI is done in 2 months, the doctors would be amazed at how much her brain has developed since removing the fluid.
3.  We are praying that she would pass her hearing test on September 19th and that when we get her vision examined, there would be no problems found with her eyes.
4.  We are praying for continued healing of her bladder and that her renal ultrasound on September 15th would have positive results.  We also pray for no infections as well.
5.  We are praying that Selah would be able to meet all of her developmental milestones and that she would continue eating and growing well.
6.  We are praying that the Pavlick harness would be able to correct her dislocated left hip and that the casting of her left foot would also correct her clubfoot, and we pray that Selah would be able to walk without assistance, as she gets older. 
 7.  Our final and most important prayer request is that Selah would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord at a young age and that she would fulfill His purpose for her life.

We thank you again for your continued prayer and support!  Selah is an absolute miracle and blessing in our life. 

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation.  My God will hear me.  (Micah 7:7)

Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, Amen.  (Ephesians 3:20-21)