Update

As you all know we had an appointment in Dallas this past Tuesday (sorry to be a slacker & just now post) Lyric had a swallow study done & they found that she is having a little trouble swallowing due to her vocal chord being paralyzed. It can't completely close therefore a little bit of her food was "going down the wrong pipe" & she has a little bit of silent aspiration (Silent aspiration is when food, liquids, or stomach contents are swallowed poorly, and go into the lungs by mistake) They have added a thickener to her formula to give her airway time to close off completely. This has seemed to help tremendously... she hasn't coughed very much at all through her feeds!!! They want us to follow up with an Ear, Nose & Thoat Doctor in 6 weeks & have a speech therapist come to the house weekly to keep an eye on her & hopefully get the report that it is getting better :) Thank you for your prayers & please continue to pray for our dear friends

Jon, Amy & Ella
Scott, Sarah & Emma
Cody & Brittany, baby Taylor went home to be with the Lord on December 12th.

Please pray as they come to mind & have a Merry Christmas!
Love,
The Nichols

December update

We followed up with Children's Medical Center today & we will be taking a trip back down to Dallas this coming week, they will be doing another swallow study & scope test to check Lyric's throat & vocal chords. She still has no voice, coughs through her feeds & is also having trouble gaining weight. At first we thought a minor cold but the cough is different from a cold cough & only happens when she eats. We don't know why she is having trouble putting on weight because she is at 27 calories per ounce & most babies are on a 20 calorie diet. Overall she is doing good and for that we are so thankful! Thank you all for love & prayers! Merry Christmas!!

A heavy heart

Thank you all for the continued prayers on Lyric's behalf, I know that there are so many prayer warriors that come & read Lyric's blog & I am asking for prayer for two very special Heart Family's that we had the honor of meeting while in Texas. Words can not express...

The Stewart's -
Baby Emma was born on Oct the 4th with HLHS & a restrictive atrial septum. She has been through many surgeries & yesterday her parents (Scott & Sarah) were told that it would be in Emma's best interest to place on the heart transplant list. Please pray for them as they come to mind! Emma is such a tough little princess & her parents are two amazing people, loving & giving through it all!
You can follow Emma's blog @

http://emmajanae.blogspot.com/

Emma on her 2 month birthday!

Taylor Dale -
I'm Taylor Dale Paul-Cowan I was born March 24th 2010 with HLHS to my mommy Brittany Cowan and daddy Cody Paul I went home for two weeks without my mommy knowing I had HLHS on April 7th I was rushed to Children's Hospital in Oklahoma City where I stayed for a week before they put me on a jet to come to Dallas Children's Medical Center where I have been since April 14th. ( A little information on Taylor)
Brittany & Cody were told today that Taylor has no chance of survival, this is beyond heart breaking & I can't imagine what they must feel as parents. Praying for you always!
Praying for a miracle!

Taylor's blog

http://taylordale032410.blogspot.com/

Taylor at six months :)

We're HOME!!

Last night in the hospital!!
Checking out!

Before & After

Her heart was so enlarged & after only 13 days you can see the difference!

Mellissa are favorite person in all the world... take out that NG tube :)

All taped up

Tape free & Happy!

I can't say enough about how wonderful CMC of Dallas is & everyone that we came in contact with truly went above & beyond!

Mellissa was our favorite :)

At the Ronald McDonald House just chillin!!

We were a little happy to have full release... homeward bound!!

Goodbye room 204! Thank you to the Ronald McDonald House! You all were wonderful & gave us a home away from home!

She was so happy to see her Daddy & he one was happy Daddy too!!!

He had to come back for work & it killed him to be away but we are so thankful that we are all together again at home!!

Thank you for your love, support, & PRAYERS!!
God is so good!!!!!!!!

To the Ronald McDonald house we go!

Today as I type Lyric is on her way to being discharged from the hospital!!!!!!! We will continue to stay at the Ronald McDonald House until her follow up appointment on Wednesday & if we get the all clear.... WE'RE GOING HOME :)
We are so thankful that everything has gone so smoothly & that she has done so well!!! God has been so gracious to us & I will say that life has a whole new meaning! Everything is different, every moment is special, every smile is a eye opener to the fact that life is a gift! God has blessed us with such an amazing group of friends & family to walk this journey with us & I am forever grateful! Thank you for your love, support, & most important your prayers!

God is so good, God is good, God is so good, He's so good to me!

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Psalm 118:1

Lyric is doing so wonderful!! We had her first Thanksgiving here & we have so much to be thankful for!! She is healing very well & is back to her smiley old self! We see such a difference already in her ability to stay awake, eat, & have more energy. The ear, nose & throat doctor came in yesterday and he did a scope test & found that her left vocal cord is paralyzed. This was one of the risk involved in the arch repair, the doctor said that it could repair itself or the right side would over compensate & her voice would be weak. They want to see us back here in three months to see how it looks & decide what they will do next. She has been such a trooper & I'm so proud her! The chemical reaction on her neck is looking good as well... at this point they don't think it will scar. Today we spoke with her Nurse Practitioner, Mellissa (we love her & no that is not a typo on her name) she said that it will take months to see the full effect of the surgery due to her lungs & the rest of her body getting the correct amount of blood flow now. She said that her kidneys, liver, stomach & pretty much everything beside her lungs was not getting enough blood flow & now that they are getting enough they feel a little in shock but that will work itself out over time. She had her IV's removed yesterday & today her the stitches from her draining tubes were pulled!! They have changed her medications around today & we pray that the new plan keeps her blood pressure down! They did an echo yesterday and found that she still has a few small holes but now that it is patched her tissue should grow over them & repair on its own, her arch repair looks amazing & we are so thankful they caught it & were able to repair it! God has been so good to us & has given us so much to be thankful for!

Smiles :)

Trying to talk... still no voice and it is so sad but still soooooo cute :)

Proud Grandparents

Great Grandma Sparks (TooGi)

Playing with her doggie :)

Her first Thanksgiving!!

Big time thumb sucker

Thanksgiving morning

Please continue to pray for the Stewart's, Emma had a very rough day yesterday & it was very scary for Scott & Sarah. They are amazing parents & Emma is such a blessing to them. Pray for them to have strength & for Emma to do well until her next surgery. They will be here until March at which time Emma will have her next to last heart surgery.
http://www.emmajanae.blogspot.com

Thank you for all the love & prayers!

Bye, Bye, CU ICU!

The last three days we have started new meds, lost all her tubes & wires, started full feeds, she is off oxygen, & out of ICU! She is doing so great & we thank God for he has done! She has a chemical rash on her neck & that is making her very uncomfortable :( It looked awful but is slowly improving! She has been taking my milk & as of today we are having to add back in the extra calories for a little while in order to catch up on the charts! God is good all the time & all the time God is good! Thank you so much for the prayers, we feel so blessed to have so many people saying prayers on behalf of our family!

Losing another tube :)

Holding Lyric for the first time since surgery! So thankful we can hold her again!!