One long day...

Here is a little back ground information for you...Cayden was born on May 14th, 2010 weighing 8lbs14oz. He is a beautiful baby boy and is doing all the developmental stepping stones that he should be EXCEPT gaining weight. So per our pediatrician we increased calories, fed every three hours, and did weekly weight checks. Finally last week on Friday at our weight check while she was accessing him she heard a heart murmur that wasn't there before. I ,however, was not concerned due to the fact the both Chase and Cooper Baby both had this which corrected itself as most newborns do! Since he wasn't gaining weight and she heard the murmur she decided to run a few tests that afternoon. This was the beginning of our ONE LONG DAY! We recieved a call from Dr.Davis at 6:30pm on Friday stating that Cayden had a coarctation, which is a narrowing of his aorta, and he would need surgery to repair it. We were told to be at the Children's Heart Center at 8:30 Monday morning to meet the cardiologist and surgery would be either Tuesday or Wednesday. Our weekend consisted of worrying, tears, family time, prayers, with a splash of Chuck E Cheese for Janyce's (our niece) birthday, and church (which was an outpour of emotion, love, and support). Monday morning did not come fast enough but once we got there things seemed to go lightning speed! We sit down with the cardiologist as he is explaining everything and informs us that surgery will be in a few hours not days! He also informs us that he has an atrial septal defect and would need a second surgery once he is older. Let the panic begin...forms to fill out, phone calls, prayers, etc. Surgery on his aorta began around 3:00pm on Monday, June 28th. Things went smoothly and the repair went well. We had an overwhelming response from friends and family but most of all we had the peace and grace of the Lord. He took care of our baby and is making him well again! It will be a longer road than originally thought but once all his repairs are complete he will be a completely healthy boy and be tormenting his brothers I'm sure!!

I have never been good at not sweating the small stuff or the big stuff either. I usually panic, get angry, place blame, and call life unfair...this is a struggle for me, its something I pray God will help me with everyday. But I have to say that through this ONE LONG DAY I have been able to find the many blessings that are in this situation. Do not get me wrong, I have had my moments but I am truely grateful for what God has done in our lives. Before this diagnosis there was talk of possible cystic fibrosis, thank you God for it being something "fixable", the surgery was suppose to take 3-4 hrs but it was much shorter that that, thank you God for sparing my baby more time under anesthesia, as we are eating dinner last night in the waiting room we spoke to a women who is here with her 5 month old daughter who has had 3 heart surgeries with 2 more in the future, spent the first 120 days of her life in the hospital, and is separated from her Daddy and siblings because they are from out of town and cant be here all the time, thank you God for giving us our baby right away and keeping him well for this long. There are so many blessings I see and I hope that I NEVER lose sight of this...thankfulness for my husband and children, for our church family, our friends, the birthdays that we get to celebrate and all the daily things that we experience. I am grateful to the Lord and looking forward to the end of this ONE LONG DAY and ready for many short days to come and maybe even a few more long days just for good measure!