Another Update

I am so excited to tell you that MUSC has wireless. So after they close the computer lab I can still post. Coleman is doing well. She is still on the ventilator and they are going to keep her on until morning. She is doing good with the breathing part but when they turn the machine off and have her breathe on her own her blood pressure drops. It has to do with the veins around the lungs tightening up. Since they had to repair the right ventricle it is not strong enough (yet) to push the blood through the tightened veins.
Anyway they are helping her sleep tonight and feel that when she wakes up in the morning she will be ready to come off the ventilator.
We ask that you would join us in prayer in having this happen. The sooner she gets off the ventilator the sooner we can get some of the other wires and tubes out of her and get her to another room so we can hold her.
Another prayer request - I am so impressed with all the families we have met here in the PCICU waiting area. The little boy I talked about in an earlier post is out of surgery and doing well. But now I have met another family who has a 4 year old son and he is currently in the waiting room awaiting a heart transplant. Please keep this precious family and little guy in your prayers. The really awesome thing that we have going on here is all the prayer. Both families are strong believers and we just share God's love and peace.
God Bless you all

In Him
Scott

First Night After Surgery

First of all I want to say sorry for not updating sooner, the computer room gets locked at 4:30 pm so I can't blog in the hospital after that time.
Meghan and I spent the night down here at the hospital last night or I would have gone home and blogged.
Coleman is doing well, she is still on the breathing machine at this time. The doctors were hoping to get her off the breathing machine last night but she did not wake up enough or was alert enough for them to do it. They will try this morning. So please pray that she will become alert and be breathing on her own so they can get her off the ventilator.
She looks really good, even though she has all kinds of wires and tubes coming out of her. We have been blessed with two wonderful nurses who have been watching over her and caring for her.
And as Coleman showed us when she was in the hospital back in April, no matter how well they keep her hands covered she will find a way to pull out something. Last night it was her IV port that she will be using when she leaves PCICU and goes up to the 7th floor. At least it wasn't something that was pumping in, or pumping out fluids.
We ask that you would just continue to pray for complete healing for Coleman and rest and peace for the family.
I also would like to ask you to pray for two other families we have met here. One is a baby boy and his family. The boy, "Chet" was born on Monday and is actually in surgery at this time to repair the left side of his heart that did not develop correctly. Please keep all of them in your prayers.
Also pray for the family of a loved one who passed away early this morning. We met this family (and I mean the whole family was there to support each other, about 25 of them) in the ICU waiting room last night. The young man was in an accident about a week ago but never recovered. The neat thing (if that is appropriate to say at a time like this) is that the man who passed, his family had his organ's donated and a family friend received a kidney. So please keep all those involved in your prayers.
Meghan and I know the power of prayer and we know that you are some great prayer warriors. WE felt God's peace all day yesterday and His loving arms around us. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and our prayer is that God would reward you for your faithfulness and dedication to Coleman and us.
You all have blown us away with the comments you have posted on the blog. They are so supportive and encouraging.
In His Loving Arms,
Scott and Meghan

Out of the OR

The doctor just came in to tell us that Coleman is out of Surgery and is in the PCICU. The nurses are getting her settled in and we will be able to visit her in about 45 minutes. The doctor said everything went well with surgery and the heart is repaired. He said her blood pressure is up a little but they are giving her something for that.
They hope to get her off the ventilator by this evening or at least tomorrow morning.
Again, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS!!!!!!!

God is faithful and so good!

In His Loving Arms
Meghan and Scott

Update #3

The nurse just came in to tell us that they have repaired the heart, have taken Coleman off of the bypass machine and they are just looking for routine bleeding. Then they will close her up and she will head to the PCICU. If all is well she would be done in an hour and we should be able to see her in like two hours.
Again thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Much Love in Christ
Scott

Surgery Update #2

I guess I was a little late on getting the last update on the blog because I no sooner hit post and I had the second update. They say everything is moving along well in the OR. Coleman is very stable and they are about 50% complete.

We also have an update on Tradd and Cooper, they are having a blast with Ms. Charlotte and playing up a storm.

Will post again when we have an update.

First Surgery Update

Wow God just keeps amazing us at every step of the way. This morning when we arrived at the hospital we were greeted by a good friend, waiting to carry bags, open doors and push elevator buttons. Then when we opened the door for the surgery registration we were greeted by another friend and co-worker, Chuck who prayed with us before taking Coleman back for the prep work.
We really felt God's peace again was we passed Coleman off to the doctors and nurses to go for surgery.
We have been blessed by so many wonderful visitors already and lots of prayer. It has just been AMAZING!
We got our first update from the O.R. so I wanted to share it with you all. It says;

"Good Morning, calling with your first update. The nurses raved about how sweet Coleman was this morning. She did well with anesthesia and they got started on time. They are now on heart/lung bypass and working away. I will send another update in 1 hour."

So there you have it, that's all we know at this time, but we are pleased at how things are going.

We will continue to update you all as we get the updates.

Thanks again for the prayers, I can't tell you enough how much we feel God's perfect peace at this time and how blessed we are.

In Him,

Scott

Early Morning Tomorrow

I know I say this every time, but again, thank you for your prayers. Things are falling into place. Meghan's mom and dad arrived on Sunday afternoon and we have been enjoying their company. My mom arrives tonight. The boys are having a sleep over with some really good friends of ours. I think we are set to head to the hospital in the morning.
We did all our pre-op stuff today and every thing looks good. One thing we would like to add to the prayer requests is that Coleman would not have what they call Transfusion Rejection. My understanding of it is that Coleman has some antibodies that reject certain kinds of blood. So they were testing her blood against the blood that was donated to make sure they have enough on hand for the surgery. They were to call us if they did not have enough, and since we have not heard from them it looks like everything is a go for tomorrow.
We need to be at the hospital at 5:30 tomorrow morning. We will check in, they will take us to a holding area (whatever that may be), and then they will take Coleman back to get her ready for surgery. At that time Meghan and I, and our family will be in the PCICU waiting room on the 4th floor of the Main Hospital. We will be getting hourly updates from the nurse and there are computers in the waiting room so hopefully I will be able to update the blog on a regular basis.
Again thanks for your prayer, and I apologize for bad grammar (Maureen, Terri and Jen that was for you) But it is late and I have had a long day.
Safe in God's arms,
Scott and the family!

Because He Lives...

Today on my way home from church/work I started thinking of all the folks who commented about the "emotions" Meghan and I must be going through at this time in our lives. And the cool thing is, is that we don't feel that stress, or crazy emotions anymore. We really feel God's peace about the whole surgery.

This got me thinking about a song that Meghan's mom plays on the piano all the time. It's called "Because He Lives" and the words really are full of peace.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow,

Because He lives, all fear is gone

Because I know, I know he holds the future

And life is worth the living, just because He lives.

I can't imagine what it would be like to face the surgery of our 6 month old baby girl without God in our lives, and without our Christian friends and family there to support us. It is because of all your prayers and the grace and mercy of our loving God that Meghan and I can face tomorrow and know that Coleman has a future with God as her father!
If you are reading this, and don't know that peace, may I invite you to seek out and come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

In His Love,
Scott

a couple more things to pray about

I can't tell you enough how blessed we are by all your prayers, and wonderful comments. We truly are feeling the prayers and God's perfect peace. We just wanted to add a couple more things to your prayer list. Meghan's mom and dad will be traveling down from Ohio tomorrow and my mom will be flying in from PA on Tuesday. The following weekend my dad, sister, nephew and niece will be driving down. If you could pray for God's traveling mercies to be upon all of them, especially my mom who is flying down here alone. (I'm sure it is not something she is looking forward to doing). Meghan's parents and my mom will need some extra energy while they are here as they are going to be taking care of Tradd and Cooper (our two boys) while Coleman is in the hospital. They are excited to have Grandma and Grandpa and Nanny here and I'm sure they will wear them out!
Thanks again to everyone out there praying, what a blessing you are to us. God is so Good!

Surgery Date Moved Up

We just got a phone call from the sugeron's office and they are moving Coleman's surgery up a day. So we will be in surgery on the 30th instead of the 31st.
This just has to do with scheduling issues on their end, nothing to do with Coleman.
Thanks again for your prayers and comments.
In Him,
Scott and Meghan

Prayer Warriors

Meghan and I know the power of prayer and teach our kids about the importance of a powerful prayer life. We would like to take this opportunity to share with Tradd, Cooper and Coleman how God's faithful prayer warriors from all around the world are praying for Coleman's surgery and us. We have decided to use a visual and put a map of the world up in the boys room and mark where everyone is while they are praying. Please post a comment on the blog and let us know where you are located.
Thanks for your time, prayers and help in teaching our children how prayer really works.

Scott
And I know this will be an encouragement to Meghan and I

Prayer from around the globe

Meghan and I are so blessed by all your support, love and prayers. We are blown away by all the people God is using to pray for Coleman. We have heard of folks from Canada to Europe to Africa. God is so awesome. We were at a birthday party shortly after Coleman was born and met a women who's mother lives in the states but had heard about Coleman through a mutual missionary friend in Romania and was praying for us. We are in Awe of what God is doing and the peace that he has granted us. We pray that God would bless each of you for your prayers and support.


In His Love,
Scott and Meghan

As promised here is more information about Coleman's surgery. She has an AV Canal Defect, which we are told is common in Downs Syndrome children. The way I understand it is that the heart has four chambers, two at the top, two at the bottom. The wall that divides Coleman's bottom chambers did not develope correctly so they have to do surgery to create that wall.

We are so blessed by your love and support and especially your prayers. We thought we would list some specific things to include in your prayers for her. Thank you so much and may God bless you richly!!

· The surgeon’s name is Dr. Scott Bradley
· After surgery, it can be tricky getting her awake enough to be taken off of oxygen—sometimes takes several tries and more sedation
· Doctors will want to see her eating well again after surgery
· A common complication of the surgery is a leaky valve—sometimes requiring more surgery later
· We would like to experience God’s perfect peace while Coleman is in surgery and recovering
· Recovery and healing of the wound without complication or infection

Thank you for your prayers,

Welcome to the Kinney Kid Blog

Hey gang,
I am not a fan of blogs but since so many people are asking for us to keep them updated on Coleman's surgery I thought this would be the easiest way to do it.
I will be posting again soon with more information and pictures, but in the mean time remember Coleman is scheduled for surgery on May 31st and we will post her prayer cards soon.