One Year Ago Today....

One year ago today, we got news that Landon was going to have a heart defect.  A major defect that would likely entail three surgeries.  Suffice to say, it was the hardest day of our lives.  All the worry and anxiety and and the feeling of complete helplessness.  We knew we would have to wrestle God with this for 20 weeks before he was even born.  Seems like a blessing to know beforehand, but having to agonize over it for months before he was born was daunting.

Landon has spent approximately 39 days in the hospital.  Been to numerous other doctors appointments.  Had two surgeries and a catheterization.  Consumed bottles of medicine.  Fought acid reflux when he was trying to recover.  Had RSV.  He has dealt with a couple of other colds along the way.  Was on oxygen for three months at home, which brought many other challenges along with it. 

But you wouldn't know that he has been through any of this if you met him for the first time today. 

The other day he was playing in his exer-saucer and we realized some obvious cognitive development.  There is a little toy on there that makes different sounds when you push it.  If you push the same button four times in a row it begins to play music.  Landon likes the music so much that he will push the button as fast as possible to get to the music.  When he gets there he stops and listens to the music.  I love that he takes time to stop and listen to the music.   

Seems like a small thing, but to us it is awesome because this quells one of our biggest fears.  That he won't cognitively develop normally.  Little things like this make a huge difference.

I am so grateful for everyone who have been in his life these past 7 1/2 months.  He wouldn't be doing so well without all of the love and affection poured on him.  He laughs so much.  He laughs more in one day than I do in a year. 

Landon sleeps through the night now.  No coincidence that this started briefly after removing the oxygen at night.  The cord is quite annoying to have shoved up your nose.  He is also starting to make consonant sounds.  Every day is different, but better than the previous. 

Praise God for the miraculous start to his life.  

Gary

P.S. The bolded sentences are on purpose.  Go back and read them one more time to realize how amazing this journey has been for us.

He's Heating up, He's on fire!

Landon has done fantastic over about the last 18 hours. He has slept very well, continued to wake up on his own to feed (not quite every 3 hours like they want, but getting closer!) and is taking increasingly larger quantities. For the last few days now he has looked much more comfortable while feeding and isn't showing signs of pain which we think means the acid reflux meds are finally working well. Hopefully before we leave the hospital he'll be down to one of those, but one step at a time!

It is such a relief to see him actually look content while he eats and to know that he's finally starting to get closer to consuming the amount of calories he needs! Thank you so much for your prayers- God has been so good through this whole process. We know that He is control, even in situations that may be difficult, and it has been amazing to see Him provide encouragement for us just when we needed it. On Tuesday I told Gary when he got to the hospital after work that I didn't think I could do another day like that. It was just so hectic with nonstop hospital staff coming to see me for a million different reasons and with phone calls to set up things like home health care, etc. And that was all on top of the fact that he was seeming to be in pain and eating terribly with no signs of improvement- not to mention me being exhausted in so many ways. Then yesterday was just a totally different day- things were a lot calmer with visitors coming to do "business" and he started to show an interest in eating again. And as little sleep as I've gotten, I felt so refreshed in knowing that things were starting to change for the better.

Knowing from the beginning that this would be a tough journey, I feel like we have tried to take very little for granted, but after the last few weeks I am SO happy to see him eating well and improving almost hourly. No exact word on when he will go home- he's still got to prove himself for a little bit longer with his quantities and his weight gain, but we're hoping it will be very soon and that it will be without an NG tube (feeding tube)!