Nolte News

One week ago as I write this, we were granted a wonderful baby girl.  Tonight we were granted another wish - our little Natalie is home with us!  Her infection from her surgery has improved enough for her to be discharged.  Today, mom and dad learned a lot about the cares that Natalie needs.  It’s a bit intimidating at first, but we’re getting the hang of it all.  Natalie is really good about letting us know if we do something wrong.  Grandma and Grandpa Habeck came down to share this special day with us.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support.  God has been great to us!

Natalie  is yet again impressing everyone with her recovery.  She continues to increase her eating amounts and does a decent job nursing.  I love the chance to feed her with a bottle!

She did have a little set-back which we found out this morning.  There was an infection at the incision of the colostomy caused by stool around it.  They cleaned it up and started her on another antibiotic.  This will push back her date of departure, so now our goal is the end of the week to take her home.

We continue to praise and thank God for his amazing protection and guidance.  We are just so amazed by the wonderful people we have met, the things we’ve learned, and the care that has been given.  There is no doubt in our minds that Natalie will live a full life, and have the ability to praise and thank God for his grace!

Natalie is doing quite well!  She impressed all the nurses and doctors with how fast she is recovering and how she is already nursing.  The biggest goal of the recovery was to prove that she could pass stool through the colostomy, and we’re proud to say she pooped!  Now the next big goal is to remove her catheter and see if she can urinate properly.  She remains on ampicillin to prevent urinary tract infections, and will hold off on any other antibiotics for now as other studies recently have proved to cause more problems than prevent.

If you’re playing along at home, the official term for her condition is cloacal anomaly.  This is a condition that occurs exclusively in girls and happens about 1 in 20,000 live births.  It’s a broad term and her exact condition is hard to find studies on, but we have found documentation on cases similar to Natalie’s.

Please keep your prayers coming, and thanks for the many that have already been made.  We hope to bring her home by Thursday!

Yesterday Natalie had her first surgery, and it went very well.  She had a colostomy done to help prevent any infection and allow for future work to be done.  She’s working hard at sleeping and recovering, and has been such a sweetie.  Finally today we got to hold her again and help her eat.

We’re not sure yet when we’ll be able to bring Natalie home with us, but are hoping for later this week!  We are so thankful for all the help we have been receiving:  the amazing nurses, the talented doctors, and the fantastic family and friends that keep us calm and not overburdened (we couldn’t do it without you family!).

We’d like to introduce everyone to Natalie Elizabeth Nolte! She was born on Thursday, July 24, 2008, at 8:19 PM. She was 6 lb. 13 oz. and was 20″ long. She is in good health and cute as a button (though I’ve never seen a button that cute, it’s just what they say… but who’s they anyway? obsessed button collectors I suppose).

Pictures are available here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/noltes8704/NatalieElizabethIsBorn

While she is very healthy, parts of her did not fully develop properly. She has been transferred to Children’s Hospital where she is getting amazing help. We are happy to announce that they have found the problem and they are also confident they can eventually fix it. But again, thanks be to God she is living and breathing normally and is not in a life-threatening situation. We can also report she has been baptized, which we did Thursday evening. So continue to keep us in your prayers, thanks for all the prayers so far, and we’ll do our best to keep you updated.

We find comfort in words from Psalm 139:

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

Thank you all for your prayers, and we’ll be sure to keep the updates coming!

Willow loves swimming in her pool.  Maggie is jealous of how much fun Willow has - however, refuses to get her fur wet.  We’re hoping Willow is willing to share her pool with baby!

We had an awesome time for the fourth of July weekend, but forgot our camera when we went by Cassie’s.  Had fun visiting with everyone and enjoyed Autumn’s fantastic show.