I know it’s been quite a while since I’ve written a post in here. Those of you who have been following our blog know it has been a rather eventful year. As I reflect back on what has transpired over the past 12 months, I still have a hard time taking it all in. I think to say that it has been a roller coaster of emotions is an understatement. Sometimes it all feels like a bad dream. However, when I’m giving Faith her medicine every 6hrs or so, I’m reminded of everything that has taken place to get us where we are now. As joyful and painful as it all was, there were a lot of good things that came from it. The biggest one being that God worked a miracle in our precious baby girl for everyone to see. We also have new friends in the doctors and nurses who took care (and are still taking care) of Faith.
When you plan on starting a family, you never think that things won’t turn out the way you picture them. You know things won’t be perfect…you just expect somewhat ‘normal’. Especially when you start planning months ahead of actual pregnancy, and make sure you’re doing everything possible for your baby to have the best start before it’s even born. You even go so far as to plan the month you want the baby to be born (and it actually worked!). However, no matter how carefully prepared you are…there are just some things you have no control over. Like finding out at your exciting 20 week ultrasound that there may be a problem with your baby’s heart. Then being sent to a specialist in hopes that is not the case, only to find out it is in fact true. We’re not talking a little hole, we’re talking two pretty big holes. Holes that are definitely going to need surgery once the baby is born. To top it all off, the type of heart defect is not always, but quite commonly associated with Down Syndrome. So you go to the doctor’s appointments and the specialists and continue to gather an overload of information. Then it dawns on you, do we want just any surgeon repairing our precious baby’s heart? The next thing you know, you’re 8 months pregnant and moving 423 miles to be close to a hospital and surgeon known for their success in this area. God had a hand in all of it, from my OB knowing an OB in the area we were moving, to our pediatric cardiologist having gone to school with one of the pediatric cardiologists who would be taking care of us when we moved. Talk about Divine intervention and the unexpected.
Right after Faith was born she spent 15 days in the NICU. That was rough, but God brought us through. She came home on 24/7 oxygen and pulse oximeter (which kept track of her O2 sats and heart rate and alarmed if the parameters were exceeded). That was rough, but God helped us maintain our sanity. We had appointments with the cardiologists, pediatrician, nutritionist, physical therapy and speech. That was exhausting, but God gave us strength. We were getting a little excited, and definitely nervous as her surgery date approached. Excited at the prospect of her most likely not needing the O2 and pulse oximeter when she came home from the surgery, nervous about…well, about the surgery. From here you’ll have to go and read our September/October posts about the surgeries (yes, plural) and stay at the hospital. And yes, that was rough to say the least…but God was with us all the way. I never could have imagined until we went through it that God can give you such peace in the midst of such pain. To all those who kept Faith and our family in your prayers…THANK YOU!!! It means so much to us that people all over the world have been praying for our family.
Even though Faith came home with the O2, it was not for long and she is completely off it now and doing wonderful. She does need medicine about every 6hrs (though I try to stretch it out during the night so we can all get a little more sleep).
I cherish every day I get to spend watching and helping our little girl grow stronger and learn new things exploring her world (though that doesn’t mean everything is always easy).