The Storm Has Calmed

Joni is improving by leaps and bounds. Her heart rate was the major concern and is now down to the low 100s. She also had a fever yesterday, which is now gone. Her white cell count before the surgery was 27, and is now down to 15. (Normal is below 10) Every indication is pointing to the fact that they have the infection on the run and it is no longer affecting her body.

Now, we are back to where we were before all of this infection started...recovering from surgery...except this time she is recovering from 2 surgeries. The doctor said he would move her from ICU back to the medical/surgery floor sometime this morning if she was continuing to do well. We still have a long road ahead of us due to recovery time. We expect to be in the hospital for about another week or so.

I'm off to be with her. Thanks for all of your prayers and your thoughts. While I can't reply to every comment or email, please know that I'm reading them all and relaying them to Joni. We love knowing that we are loved!

Didn't We Just Leave?

Well, we got Hannah & Joni home on Sun night, and all was going well. Then on Mon. afternoon, Joni began to have sharp shooting pains in her right abdomen. The surgeon has removed her gall bladder (it was infected) and appendix ("just for good measure" according to the surgeon), and they also cleaned out a belly full of bacteria from a perforated bowel. She is in ICU recovering very well. She called this morning asking for a book and some other things. She said they have her up out bed and in a chair this morning and she feels great. We will be spending at least a week in the hospital for the doctors to make sure that the bacteria is gone from her system. I will try to keep the blog updated more often. Thanks for all of the offers to help...at the moment, we are well taken care of. I will let you know if we need anything!

Hannah Jane McDoniel

Hannah is here! She was born on Thursday, March 6 @ 11:35AM - weighing in at 8lbs and 5 oz and measuring 20 and a half inches. We are all home now and recovering. I've attached some pictures so you can see the cutest baby ever! (I'm not a proud dad at all ;) )

Mom and baby are doing well, and we are all home. I leave you with one more picture that has revealed to me that we have a potential drama queen on our hands!

Finally!

We have received word from our doctor that Joni will be induced on Thursday morning bright and early! Hannah is getting very big, and so they've decided to go ahead and induce so that she won't be too big to deliver on her actual due date. We are VERY excited about that decision as we get to see our baby girl on Thursday!!! We appreciate your prayers, and will let you know as soon as Hannah is here (and I can get a moment at the computer!)

We Have Prepared a Place For You

What was once a room with bare walls, old furniture, and a veritable dumping grounds of stuff that wouldn't fit anywhere else in the house has now become a lovely nursery for Hannah. Joni has such wonderful design tastes, and the nursery is a shining example of her skills. Since words are worthless compared to pictures, I'll leave you with pictures of Hannah's room.

This is a BIG Baby!

The title of this post came straight from the mouth of Joni's doctor. Our final sonogram shows Hannah is already 8 lbs, and Joni is only 36 weeks and a few days. Big babies run in her family, and we weren't really surprised. We do have a picture posted here, but Hannah was not in a photogenic mood, so this is the only shot we got. If you click the picture, you'll see why we saved it. The sonogram also revealed that while Hannah is big, she also has a head full of hair. Isn't technology amazing?

We go back to the doctor next Thursday, and I'll let you know if anything develops.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

You asked for a belly shot, you get a belly shot. This was the only picture for which I could get "consent" from the mom-to-be. This was at her baby shower and she is glowing as you can tell. Christa (on the right) just had her baby, and Joni is only a few weeks behind. We have another sonogram next week, and then we start the weekly trips to the doctor. Someone asked me recently if I was ready...my response was that I didn't really have any options as this point. :) I'm so ready to see my baby girl!!!

I leave this weekend for Winterfest in Gatlinburg, and am excited to be speaking again with Jeff Walling. Joni will not be alone, and she has been instructed by various family members to take it easy while I'm gone. We're still far enough out from the due date that we're not really worried.

Our travel business, Off to Neverland Travel, is moving along and finally getting some bookings. Be sure to check out the new site and let us know what you think. Also, if anyone is looking to make some side money, we would love for you to Join Our Team.

Alright...enough infomercial! I'll post next week after our sonogram...