Wednesday's Update

Baby Landon did not come home today, but he continues to do pretty well.  He is eating well and passed a major test by eating enough to avoid a feeding tube.  Please pray that he continues to eat well.  The pediatric cardiologist evaluated Landon again today and was pleased with what he saw, but believed another 48 hours in the NICU was necessary to be more sure that he will do well on his own until the "second" surgery in the process can be performed.  We are definitely ok with him staying a little longer as it is reassuring that someone is watching his vitals 24/7.  The nursing staff has been excellent and very helpful.

Allison has been having trouble pumping.  The lactation consultants have been racking their brains to get her pumping well and small improvements have been made, but please pray for Allison that she can release the immense pressure and discomfort that she is experiencing.

Last, but not least, Baby Landon had a hearing test today.  His left ear passed the test, but they need to retest his right ear.  We are not sure what they saw yet that would require this, but please pray for his right ear and that any issues they saw will clear up quick.

A lot or prayer requests!  While it was a difficult day for us, we absolutely love being around this little guy.  He is a 10 on a scale of 10 for cuteness.  While mom has not been able to feed him yet, it has given dad a chance to bond with Landon a lot through his bottle feeding.  Landon will probably be hearing a lot about the Detroit Tigers and Hokies in the coming days from daddy!

Gary

A few more photos

Here are a few more photos of Landon that we've take over the last day or so. We think he's pretty much the cutest baby in the whole world.






































We also wanted to say a huge thanks to all of YOU. We have received so much support over the last few days (and months really!) through calls, texts, blog comments, facebook messages, emails and visits. We have been surrounded by an amazing community (local and long distance) and all of you have shown so much encouragement and faith! We cannot thank you enough for showing such love for all 3 of us and for your prayers and messages of encouragement.

Update #1: Things looking good so far

Hi all! It has been a wild ride so far, but things are looking good so far. The pediatric cardiologist gave us some positive news this morning. The pulmonary valve that needed to be at least 4-5 mm in width (was only 3-3.5 mm a month out and they weren't sure it was going to grow) was 6mm! 6mm is the normal size. Praise God for this small miracle! They are feeling good that he won't need the first surgery now. He is breathing on his own, though he has many instruments and tubes hooked up to him to monitor him. His SATs are in the normal range fairly consistently, which is fantastic because that means he is adequately oxygenating his blood throughout his body.

Mom is doing well and recovering beautifully. Please pray that baby Landon eats well over the next few days. There is potential for him to be discharged on Wednesday, but we are keeping our hopes tempered on that. An amazing ride so far, but THANK YOU to everyone who has prayed for him.

By the way, the pictures don't do him justice (while those are still cute). He is much cuter in person! I am still waiting to hold him for the first time. Allison has been holding him a lot today as they begin to get him to breastfeed. She is loving just holding the little cutie. That is it for now. More to come as we find out, but Wednesday could be a very pivotal day. Please continue to pray for him, but please also offer thanks for the prayers answered thus far.

Papa Gary

He's Here!!

Landon Edward Walenga was born today, September 25th at 4:59am. He weighed 6lbs 9 oz and measured 20 inches long. We are so excited to finally see our baby boy! He is precious and such a gift from God. He is in the NICU and doing ok so far. They've run a few echocardiagrams on him already today and are monitoring him and have him hooked up to several lines. They will keep him in Colorado Springs until at least tomorrow. Still no decision yet on if he'll need surgery in Denver or not.

We're trying to get down to see him as much as we can but I'm also still recovering and everyone is trying to catch some sleep here and there since last night was a long night! My water broke at 2:30 yesterday afternoon so we came to the hospital and then I wasn't making good progress (even with some pitocin) so it seemed to take forever but I guess we were an "average" first birth at about 14 1/2 hours. It's so agonizing to have to leave him in the NICU while I go back to my room- I just wish I could hold him but for now they're just trying to make sure he's stable. Please be praying for him (and for us!) - he's already shown a lot of strength and we know God will get him through whatever happens.

We're just proud parents right now and so in love with our son!

I am not afraid to ask...

I am not afraid to ask God for a miracle for our son.

Why should I be?

Why can't I believe that he who is in me can do all things?

I have come to the realization that I am ok with whatever God's will is in this situation.  Some roads are certainly harder than others. I see where each of those goes, all with different purposes, but all of these roads lead to the same place.

It ends with our family continually coming back to Christ no matter what.  I am asking you to not be afraid to pray for a miracle for our baby.  I know that God is sufficient and that he is listening.  I know that his will is pleasing and perfect.  I rejoice in the Lord for these tough times for I have seen the amazing community of people that surround us.

And so we wait to meet him...

Gary   

Getting closer. . .

Counting down the weeks is turning into counting down the days and we're getting very excited to meet our son! We've been staying busy trying to get lots of things done around the house and also take a little bit of time to go out to a few nice dinners together before our family of 2 becomes 3! My mom is coming out this weekend (Dad will come out a little later) so we'll be very glad to have her here to help us get some of those last minute things done and to keep me company once I finish up work.

As we thought, the last echo we had a few weeks ago didn't tell us for sure whether he'll need surgery initially or not.  They will administer a series of echos on him after birth to see how is reacting to life on his own and make the call after a few days. I've been going to appointments twice a week to get tests to make sure he's still doing well and so far he's been doing great with them. Driving downtown 2 times a week for appointments that are 1-2 hours has been kind of taxing but I'm glad they are keeping such a close eye on him. I (Allison) am doing well, just getting more tired and achy and stuff.  I'm starting to see myself being really ready to be done being pregnant by my due date! 

For now, we're just trying to enjoy this time together as a couple but also anxious and thrilled to finally see our little boy face to face!

Getting Ready!

Again, it's been a few weeks since we posted (I feel like I say this every time now!) Being back home for a few weeks we've stayed in one place at least but haven't really "slowed down" quite yet. I'm definitely getting there since my body seems like it's going to be limiting me on how much it will let me do! Maybe that's a good thing. I mean, I can't wait until we have this baby and things finally settle down a little bit :-) (hopefully you can sense the sarcasm on that one).

We've been busy on getting some things done around the house, spending some time with friends and overall just preparing our lives for a baby, but I still feel like we've got a long way to go! Luckily we have several more weeks before this guy gets here but it's rapidly approaching!

We decided pretty recently along with the advice of the doctors, to deliver in the Springs. There didn't seem to be a solid reason we needed to be in Denver and the doctors feel confident that the baby will do very well his first few days and that the tests and care will be the same whether he's in the Springs or Denver. If it is determined after birth that he'll need the first surgery, they'll have to transport him up to Denver, but no one has given us any indciation that this would be a high risk scenario or be cause for concern. He have another echo in a little over a week, so they might be able to tell us if they are leaning towards surgery or not, but I think we're both counting on just not knowing for sure until after he's born at this point.

So delivering in the Springs is good news and a relief to both of us that I (Allison) won't have to go up to Denver 4 weeks early. If it was necessary, we'd absolutely do it but it's nice that we think we'll be able to avoid that added emotional stress. The not as great (but not terrible) news is that even though we'll be delivering in the Springs, I'll have to deliver at a different hospital than my OB delivers at, so I am in the process of switching doctors. It's a little nervewracking being as far along as I am (over 34 weeks) and not have even seen the doctor that will probably deliver me, but whatever's best for this little dude!

In the mean time of transferring hospitals & doctors, we're continuing to prepare however we can. We've been getting the Baby W's room ready -see below for a few updated photos - still a few things to hang on the walls and a cube organizer to assemble & get in the room, but just about there! We had a shower at my work this week (a surprise to me) and are having another garage sale/ baby shower next weekend that we are very excited about. We've been SO blessed by people who have offered to do some wonderful celebrations for us and our little one! We've taken a birthing class so we feel a little more prepared for labor and delivery and have been watching some videos online to learn about infant care. We're getting very excited to meet the newest Walenga and will be thrilled to share in the excitement with all of you!