Sweet Baby Mia

Here are some new pictures of Mia. She continues to wait patiently for her new heart. Lil' Mia remains in the ICU in stable condition. In Mimi's words, "The doctors don't really change much from day to day. They just want to keep her stable and keep food going through her intestines." She is on medication to keep her heart pumping and she still receives some breathing assistance but she is hanging in there. Thank you for everyone's continued support and prayers.

Mia, Big Sister and Mommy

Mia all wrapped up
Big Brother sharing the love

BIG Thanks!

Just wanted to tell all of you that have made a contribution to this fund for Baby Mia THANK YOU! It is truly appreciated. This is the first time that we have done anything like this and it has been a great blessing to be a part of something that can help someone and their family so much. To date this site has been viewed 1584 times and 67 people have made donations. We know that there are a number of people that will be donating through different avenues as well. As you look at this site, please remember that even your $1 WILL make a difference in Mia and her family's lives. PLEASE donate and pass this along.

If you have any trouble donating with the PayPal link on this site, please email me at justinwalk@msn.com and I will either help you to do so or facilitate another way to get your donation to the McDonald Family.

Thank you again!

Update on Lil' Mia

Excerpts from Mia's family blog:

We figured it was time for an update on our Precious Mia. "On Paper" Mia doesn't look too good. Her heart function hasn't improved since she returned to the hospital. From the time that we took her home, Mia's right side of her heart (the working side) is even more dilated than the deformed non-working left side. From what I gather, they are keeping Mia stable via an orchestra of medications, constantly consulting many professionals and tweaking meds depending on her latest problems and reactions. We have been impressed time and again at the skill and wisdom of the nurses and doctors caring for her. Mia has been on C-Pap (breathing assistance) but gets breaks.

Also, since her heart cannot function well enough to pump the necessary blood to her heart to digest food, they started feeding her today though an ND tube which bypasses the stomach. It is a small amount of food, but nonetheless it will get her digesting food. Apparently it is bad news if the stomach goes for a long period of time without digesting. This seems to be the same story with most of Mia's functions as a brand new body learning to live. I know they keep weening her from the breathing machine so her lungs can learn to breath and grow strong. One thing is certain. Mia is fighting with all that she has. The doctors tell us her ex rays and all info is pointing to bad news, but somehow Mia is getting decent amounts of oxygen to her extremities.

We love her more than we can express. We are grateful for all prayers and words of support. Without God's hand on our shoulders, and without all those around us acting as His angels we would surely have cracked by now.
A BIG thankyou to all that have donated and lended your support. The McDonald's are so grateful and amazed at everyone's generosity!

New Pictures

As many of you know Mia is back in the hospital but here are some cute pictures of her time at home!

Mia's photo shoot!

Big sister Ellie, Mia and Mommy Mimi
Jensen, Mia and Ellie
These kids love this sweet baby so much. It is precious.

Mia's current condition

Mia has had a couple of surgeries to help her while she waits for a heart. She has been so strong and was doing so well that she was released from the hospital and was able to go home to wait for a heart but unfortunately it was only for 5 short days. This is what happened:
"Mia has decided that she prefers Helicopters to Ambulances. Yes that is right, we had to Life Flight Mia on Sunday night. Her heart just isn't strong enough to sustain her body all by itself. She is now stable back in the CICU at Children's Hospital. We did have a wonderful week previous to this though.

Mia went into heart failure. She had a line placed in her chest that will be there until she receives the transplant. They intubated her to lighten the load of the heart by taking the work of the lungs. They are also medicating her to loosen certain parts of the heart and tightening others so that it will flex with less effort, and also the blood can exit the heart with less resistance. Our hope is that she will become stable enough to be able to remove the Breathing tube so she can be fully conscious while waiting for a heart. Our hearts are broken once again by this new chapter in Mia's journey, but we are eternally grateful for the time we got to have at home all together when she is so small and life is so new."

Baby Mia

This is how it started:
We received some very alarming news. At a visit to the cardiologist we were informed that our unborn baby girl (Mia) has a severe congenital heart defect. We were devastated. We spent the weekend away with phones shut off and time to cry till there was just no more liquid in our bodies. We are so in love with this little baby and we are prepared to do all that is necessary to help heal her heart. Her heart disease is called Critical Aortic Stenosis. The abnormally tiny opening in her aortic valve has severely affected her mitral valve resulting in a very dilated and dysfunctional left ventricle. We are still in need of much information at this point, but it looks like there is no alternative but for Mia to have a heart transplant upon birth. She will not be able to sustain her own life and will need to be in an ICU until a donor heart becomes available. It still feels like I just stepped off the stage from an Oprah episode, but I think that we have come to grips and are preparing for a miracle. We know that the Lord has prepared a way for this to work out. We are preparing for the best, and look forward to witnessing miracles in the near future. This little one is very active and wants us to know she is here and ready to fight.