January 12th, 2026

9:00pm

Ruth had another relatively stable day. Once or twice her heart rate fell to 40BPM just because she didn’t enjoy the nurses touching her, but we are thankful that we didn’t have to administer more fentanyl (even though she did *really* enjoy it).

Now that she has crossed the 800 gram threshold (almost double her birthweight), we are starting to think about what it’s going to take to close her heart valve from a surgical perspective. For now our game plan is to transfer her via fixed wing medevac to Houston (or possibly Dallas) where they can do heart surgery on little tinies. It’s relatively non invasive—basically inserting a plug in a heart valve via a catheter that goes up her elbow—but the traveling will be equally difficult. They did a test on her today with a normal non-pulsing ventilator, one that will be needed for aircraft travel and surgery. She didn’t appreciate it, so for now we’re waiting and letting her grow.

Also—forgot to mention this yesterday—her platelet count is still fairly good. They’re still being used up somewhere, but they’re not at rock bottom like they have been.

Thank you for your prayers. We serve a just God.