Liam's Story

I saw a compilation of posts like this on another blog that I frequent and I really liked that it kept all of the posts together and told a story. So here is Liam's Story...

As you may already know, our son Liam is truly a miracle. You have come to the right place if you want to read all the posts about Liam's amazing story! The posts are in reverse chronological order, starting with Liam coming home from the hospital and going back to the time in my pregnancy when his congenital heart defect was first diagnosed. To read them from the beginning, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on "older posts" until you get to the first one, and then read from older to newer.

We ask for your continued prayers for us and especially for Liam, as we journey along the path God has for us.

You Never Let Go

When clouds brought rain and disaster came

Oh my soul, oh my soul

When waters rose and hope had flown

Oh my soul, oh my soul

Ever faithful, ever true

You, I know, you never let go

In joy and pain, in sun and rain

You're the same, oh, you never let go

This day a year ago changed us forever. It was a year ago today when we first learned that something was wrong with Liam's heart and it was also the day that we learned that God would never let go. On that day we were rocked in a way that I can not explain, a way that you can only understand if you've been there.


A few weeks after finding out, I asked for your prayers on our blog. Here is a clip from what I posted:

Right now we are still trying to come to terms with what this means but know that God has a plan and has chosen us to be this little guys parents for a very special reason. What this all means for us is that nothing about delivering this little guy or his first few months of life are going to be normal.

Liam was still unnamed and unborn, he was perfect and he was broken all at the same time. I had a strip full of ultrasound pictures clutched tightly in my hand, we had just found out our baby was a boy; we were thrilled and we were scared, we were ecstatic and we were heartbroken. The doctors were telling us that something was wrong with his heart, they were drawing us pictures and asking us questions and trying to explain things. In all honesty, a lot of that day is a blur but one of the things I do remember is that as Rolf and I drove home from the hospital that morning, each in our own cars, we heard the same song on the radio. It was "You Never Let Go" by David Crowder Band and the lyrics are above. I knew in that moment that God was there with me, it was as if I could literally feel his arms holding me and I knew he was speaking to me. It is those words that have carried me through this last year and I know they will continue to carry us along this journey.

God never let go when we were told that our sweet baby boy would be born with a rare congenital heart defect. And he was there as we were going through additional tests, and searching for a hospital. God never let go as we were waiting in Philadelphia and preparing for the birth. He never let go all through delivery where Liam's heart stayed strong and then when Liam was born and he was big and strong and ready to fight. And he was there during the surgery, he was with the doctors as they operated on Liam's small heart and there when Liam came out of surgery already off the ventilator. And when we brought Liam home from the hospital and each and every day since.

God has never let go and we have made it through our darkest moments, through hours and days when we thought we might lose him or maybe never even meet him. And though we don't know how many more dark moments may lie ahead for our sweet baby boy, we do know that we are celebrating this one year anniversary knowing that God will never let go.

Just like one year ago today, when I relished every single kick and flutter I would feel from Liam moving inside of me, knowing my baby was alive and safe, cherishing each special moment I was able to spend with him, so it is today, a year later. We savor each new day we are allowed to spend here on earth with our precious little miracle, our strong-willed warrior, our sweet baby boy, Liam! Am I scared of what our future holds? Most definitely. Do I wish that we were on a different path, that this wasn't our reality? No doubt about it. Do I have faith and hope that God has a plan far bigger than us? Absolutely!

Farewell to Philly

We are so blessed to share that sometime tomorrow we will be discharged from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and will be taking our son home to Portsmouth for the first time. We have enjoyed our time here in Philadelphia and are very thankful to CHOP and the amazing staff here for saving Liam's life. He is truly a miracle to us and we look forward to sharing him with you. Needless to say we are overjoyed and have been eagerly anticipating this moment for a very long time!

Over the last several days Liam has been progressing and recuperating at a rapid pace and Rolf and I have been working to check all of the boxes necessary for discharge. Liam our "strong-willed warrior" is doing outstanding and is indeed living up to his name. He has shown more strength in his 11 short days of life than I could ever imagine and has proven to be quite the fighter. He is breastfeeding like a champ, challenging us with every diaper change, and has all of the nurses wrapped around his little finger. Liam will be followed very closely at home and except for needing a little bit of oxygen that we hope to be able to wean him from in the next couple of days, Liam is doing better than we could have ever imagined. We could not be more ecstatic about leaving the hospital and heading home but ask for your continued prayers for us as we travel but especially as we transition into our new life as a family.

Once we are settled in at home we have lots to share with you. Over the last 2 weeks we have been very blessed to experience many of the normal newborn firsts, take lots of photos with visiting family and friends, and meet some incredible doctors and nursing staff. We can't wait to share all of these things with you through our blog, so please stay tuned for more.

Again, we are so thankful to each one of you for all of your prayers, thoughts, and kind words during this journey that we have been on. We look forward to starting to return emails and phone calls and truly can't wait to share Liam with you.

FAREWELL PHILLY!! PORTSMOUTH OR BUST!!

All Thanks Be Given to Our Great and Mighty God

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

2 Corinthians 9:15

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6

Today one week after welcoming our sweet little Liam into this world we come before God on this Thanksgiving Day with humble hearts more thankful on this than we have ever been before. As I sit here now watching Liam peacefully sleep with a full belly and swaddled tightly by his daddy, my heart is full and overflowing with the boundless love that God has for us. One week ago today, we knew that God had a plan for us and that no matter what He would walk with us through each day and would carry us when we could not walk and that He would be holding Liam in the palm of His hand as he had this entire pregnancy. Well our God is truly an awesome and mercifully God and there is an amazing power in prayer.

We apologize for not keeping the blog more up to date as promised but we are now settled into our own room and will hopefully be able to stay a little more on top of things as the days pass.

On Monday, Liam underwent open heart surgery to repair his truncus arteriosus. We spent the morning hours with him prior to the surgery and we were able to hold him for as long as we wanted. When they came to take him to surgery we did not want to let him go but knew that this was his only chance at life and he was in the best hands possible. I can not even begin to explain what we felt as we walked with him down the hall to OR and kissed him goodbye. We spent the next 3 hours waiting for the nurse who came to update us about the surgery about every 45 minutes. Around 11:00AM she let us know that the Dr. Spray had finished the surgery and would be up to talk with us shortly. He came to let us know that the surgery had gone amazingly well. Because of Liam's size he was able to us one of the largest conduits possible to connect the pulmonary arteries to the right ventricle which will hopefully extend the period of time between open heart surgeries. He also did not think that the leakage in his truncal valve was as bad as what had been seen on the echo. He was able to put a small stitch in the valve to hopefully help contain the leakage and avoid a replacement right now which was one of our biggest concerns and fears. After one small set back in the OR to contain some bleeding that occurred as they were closing Liam returned to the CICU and had already been taken off the ventilator. By God's grace we did not have to go through the pain of seeing our little one on the breathing tube. He did however have in several other lines but seemed to be resting comfortably. He spent most of the day coming off the anesthesia but we were able to be with him and did not leave his side.

On Tuesday morning he was becoming more alert and was definitely in pain but the nurses were doing a very good job of helping to manage it. They decided to pull out the chest tube that he had from the surgery but within a couple hours of pulling it he started having problems breathing and was noticeably in a lot of pain. After doing another chest x-ray they saw that he had air that was compressing his lung and had to put in another chest tube to relieve the pressure. This took us by surprise and as the doctors rushed in very quickly to help Liam we were rushed out in a state of fear and panic. The procedure happened bedside and went very well and very quickly. Liam was heavily sedated but was doing well and we were allowed back in to see him within about 30 minutes. We spent most of the day waiting for him to wake up so that he could finally feed for the first time. Around 9:30PM on Tuesday evening we were able to feed Liam for the very first time. Having not truly eaten at all since birth he quickly "pounded" 2 ounces of breast milk from a bottle with both Rolf and I being able to share in the excitement of feeding him for the first time. Rolf, being a truly amazing father, stayed at the hospital this night a woke up for each and every feeding, not wanting to miss one moment of our little man's amazing life. On the doctor's strict orders, I went to the hotel with my mom to rest and take care of myself, as I was not feeling well at all, knowing that Liam was in very capable hands.

On Wednesday, Liam was continuing to progress and was able to get all of his lines taken out including the chest tube that they had to put back in. This was a very exciting moment for us as it meant that we were now able to hold our baby boy whenever we wanted. We quickly moved into parent mode, pushing the extremely capable nurses out of the way, taking over changing all diapers (one of Rolf's favorite things), swaddling him in his own blankets, and holding him as much as possible. Rolf and I both will just sit and rock for hours, gazing into his eyes, watching his every move. On Wednesday night we were moved to our room, still in the CICU, so that we would have a little more privacy and could begin to work on breastfeeding.

That brings us to today, Thanksgiving Day, with so much to be thankful for. We spent the day hanging out with our little man and began working on nursing with my mom's help this afternoon. Liam immediately latched on to the breast and started nursing like he had been doing it since birth. With a quick break between feeds Rolf, my mom, and I rushed out to enjoy a quick Thanksgiving dinner. Rolf, Liam and I then spent the evening nestled in our room enjoying a quiet evening just being together as a family. Rolf reluctantly went back to the hotel tonight and I am here excitedly looking forward to my first night of nursing Liam.

Also, on this Thanksgiving Day, we are especially thankful for each and everyone of you. Thank you for all of the comments on the blog, emails, text messages, phone calls, e-cards, and especially of the prayers and praises lifted up on behalf of our family and for Liam. We apologize for not being able to respond to you individually but wanted you to know how thankful we are for you and how blessed we have felt over the last week to have you. There is power in prayer and it has brought us such comfort over the last week to know that we were being constantly prayed for by so many people. We fill so blessed to have such an amazing family of faith that extends far beyond those of you that we actually know personally. Thank you for adding us to your prayer lists at church, asking your friends and family to pray for us, and sharing our story with others. Sorry for not updating sooner but I hope that this makes up for it.

All THANKS be given to our great and mighty God for the miracle of life that we hold tonight in our sweet little Liam.

One Hard Days Work...

On Wednesday, November 19, we checked into Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Special Delivery Unit at 6:00AM ready to welcome our little one into the world but as we have learned throughout this entire pregnancy God is truly in control and that was not his plan for this day. After almost 12 hours on pitocin with minimal contractions, the decision was made to call it quits on Day 1 around 7:00PM. Rolf and I settled into our labor and delivery room with a nice dinner and a movie to prepare for the next day when we knew we would definitely be in labor one way or another.

On Thursday, November 20, we woke up around 6:30AM to begin preparing for our second day of induction. Pitocin was started at 7:00AM and my water was broken at 8:30AM, from that point on there was no turning back we were having a baby!! From about 8:30 to 10:30 things progressed similar to the day before but with one big change, each time they kicked up the pitocin my body responded. By 10:30AM we had retreated to our labor and delivery room accompanied by 2 nurse midwives who were in and out all day, several great L&D nurses, and an amazing OB/Gyn. Labor intensified throughout the day and there were several times that I wanted to give up but having Rolf as a labor coach that was not an option. He kept me going, reminded me of our plans for this birth, encouraged me through each contraction, and let me know that he knew I could do this. However, the most encouraging part was that the baby was doing amazing. His heart was accelerating with each contraction as it should, he was slowly but surely moving down. He was handling labor like the fighter we knew he would be.

At 9:00PM, I began pushing and after 2 hours and 43 minutes we welcomed Liam Walter Graning into the world at 11:43PM (just 17 minutes shy of his actual due date). He weighed in at a very healthy 7 pounds, 12.7 ounces and is 20.4 inches long. Since he handled labor so well, the doctor and midwife were able to let me pull Liam up onto my belly as he was born, Rolf got to cut the cord, and we had a few minutes to hold him and hear him cry for the first time in our arms. For us these were truly little blessings as we were prepared for him to whisked off as soon as he was born. Minutes after delivery, he was moved to an adjoining resuscitation room for evaluation by a neonatology team. The team made sure that he was truly stable, put in several lines, and prepared him to be transported to the CICU. On his way to the CICU he stopped into visit with us and was able to meet his grandparents for the first time too.

Rolf and the grandparent's followed Liam to the CICU and were able to spend some time with him as the doctors got me situated following delivery. Very shortly after delivery I was able to go to the CICU where both Rolf and I were able to spend some very special time with Liam.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers for us yesterday and today as we were in labor. It is truly a blessing and a miracle to have been able to experience such an amazing birth with such a special baby. We have many hurdles still ahead but know that God will be with us then just as we was with us on this day.

Sorry for the delay but we hope you enjoy the slide show.

Update on Liam

Sorry we have not been able to add more pictures but I am sure as you know things have been very busy and we have been trying to spend every minute possible with Liam. He has been doing amazing over the last three days and is by far the best baby in the entire CICU but I guess we are a little partial.

This morning at 8:15AM he will go in for open heart surgery. The surgery will last between 3-4 hours. There are still a few unknowns as they head into surgery but we have faith that God will be watching over him and waiting with us.

Thank you for all your kind emails of love, support, and especially prayers. More to follow soon.

Mission Accomplished

After a long day of labor Holly and I would like to welcome into the world our new son: Liam Walter Graning; 7 pounds, 12 ounces, 20.4 inches; born 11/20/08 at 11:43 PM at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Mom and baby are doing fine and both resting. Lots of pictures to follow.

Baby G Update...

This year has been a continuous lesson in not being in control... This is Rolf, updating the blog for Holly as she is currently resting. For all those out there waiting and hoping to see the name and possibly even a few pictures of Baby G, that is not to be today. As planned, Holly and I checked into CHOP early in the morning (before 6:00 AM which is, according to Holly, an "in-human hour..." I think I should let her talk to my residency program director). The day initially went as expected: get checked in, repeat our medical history for the 275th time, get Holly into that cool hospital gown and ugly socks with the rubber soles (plenty of pictures to come). The pitocin was hung at 0900 and by 1100 Holly was having regular contractions. All was going well.

Throughout the day however the contractions never really got more than "noticeable." We were thinking Holly was either incredibly tough (which she is) or Baby G just wasn't ready to come out. By 1800 (6:00 PM) Holly was rechecked and her cervix had not changed even a little bit despite a day full of increased pitocin doses, lots of walking, and incredible back rubs by yours truly. After getting a full list of choices from our OB-Gyn and Midwife (as well as some behind the scenes advice from an OB-Gyn named Walter Neal (Holly's father) who has delivered over 10,000 babies and seems to know a thing or two), we decided to stop the pitocin for the night.

Holly has since had a good meal (she wasn't allowed to eat anything more than ice chips all day) and is already fast asleep. We will awake early tomorrow morning, have her membranes ruptured, re-start pitocin, and pray that she goes into labor sometime tomorrow. As our Ob-Gyn said, "One way or another you will have a baby tomorrow..." Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we promise to update the blog as soon as we known more.

Progress

A quick update from our appointment today - I have progressed to 4cm which is good and that is 4cm out of 10 I won't have to go whenever I do go into labor. I have been having irregular contractions throughout the day today and I am still hopeful that I might go into labor on my own. My sweet husband even let me get a maternity massage today in hopes that it might relax me enough to stimulate labor. I don't know if it worked yet but it definitely felt very nice and was very relaxing. Unless something happens before Wednesday, we will go in at 6:00AM on Wednesday to be induced. I am not at all excited about the 6:00AM part because for those of you that don't already know, I am NOT a morning person in the slightest. I tried to fight this and argue for a later time but I was overruled by a lot of people especially Rolf who is really ready to get this party started and really ready to meet our little man. I am hoping that if I have to be induced that they might be able to get things started by just breaking my water and that I will still be able to avoid pitocin. The fact that I have made progress in the last couple of days is promising and something that should definitely work to our advantage if we have to be induced.

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers and for all the kind emails and comments that have been coming our way. We are so blessed to have such amazing friends and family praying for us and sharing our story with others we don't even know, who are also kind enough to also be praying for our family. There is truly power in prayer and it brings us a strength and peace knowing that we are being lifted up.

Please pray for us in the next couple of days that we will continue to have patience and a peace knowing that God is walking with us through this. Pray that as we head into delivery that the baby we handle the transition well and that he will be stable upon birth. Please pray for all of the doctors and nurses and hospital staff that will be involved. Please also pray for our families, especially our parents that will be here supporting us.

10 out of 10

Today we had another appointment at CHOP for a biophysical profile (BPP) and a non-stress test. We are now going in for these 2 tests twice a week. The baby passed both with flying colors. He scored a 10 out of 10 on his BPP, which means that he was moving all over the place, had plenty of amniotic fluid, was breathing well, and had good muscle tone. He also had great heart tones when he was on the monitor for the non-stress test. They were looking to make sure that when was moving his heart rate would go up and it did when they were finally able to get him to wake up.

Rolf and I were also able to meet another one of the midwives that could possibly be there when we are in labor. CHOP has 8 midwives on staff in addition to the team of MFMs and OBs. We feel very comfortable with everyone that we have met so far in the Special Deliver Unit and feel very blessed to have such an amazing place to give birth during such a hard time.

As for our adventures around the city, we tried to take it easy today. After the doctors appointment we went to an Aveda Institute (beauty school) for what was advertised on TV as beauty on a budget. Last night while watching the local news they ran a spot called "Beauty on a Budget", which talked about a couple of the local training institutes that offer low priced beauty treatments by students. I talked Rolf into giving it a try since he needed a haircut and I wanted a pedicure. We walked right in and while I enjoyed a great spa pedicure for super cheap Rolf struggled through a haircut with someone who must have been new. Needless to say my husband who doesn't have a complicated haircut (buzz cut with a #2) and isn't picking about where he gets it cut (normally Haircuttery) was very disappointed and will probably be heading back to Haircuttery next time! Oh well, it was worth a try and at least he got a bag of Aveda samples for me to use in the hotel.

After dinner, we ventured to South Philly for Italian at L'Angolo on the recommendation of our friends from Philly the Gugger's. This place was totally amazing and we would recommend it to any and everyone. We went early and were very lucky to get a table even on a Thursday night. We enjoyed some of the most amazing authentic Italian food and hope to make it back sometime during our stay. After that and since we were already down in South Philly we drove by Pat's and Geno's just to check them out, I am sure we will be venturing back down there for a cheesesteak before too long.

No Room in the Inn...

This past Wednesday, October 22nd, my mom and I headed up to Philadelphia to be close to Children's Hospital just in case this little guy decided he was ready to make his way into this world. Much to our dismay we were not the only ones with plans to hang out in Philadelphia! The Philadelphia Phillies are playing in the World Series for the first time in 15 years and on Monday prior to heading up to Philly I had a feeling similar to Mary finding that there was "no room in the inn." Seriously, there were no rooms in Philadelphia close to the hospital for us to book for a continuous stay. We ended up booking for 3 nights at one hotel, moving to another way outside of the city for Saturday night, and now we are back in our original hotel until Friday but at least we have a place to lay our heads at night and for that I am very thankful.

I am also very thankful that we made it to 36 weeks!! A couple of days ago we were worried that we might not make it to 36 weeks or to Philadelphia for delivery. On October 15th, I went in for a normal appointment and my doctor decided to check my progress. Much to her surprise and mine I was 1-2 centimeters dialated, about 25% effaced, and the baby's head was engaged, for those of you non-medical folks, this means I was showing signs of early labor. My doctors decided that it would be best to put me on modified bed rest and to take me out of work. This took me by total surprise as it was NOT part of MY plan. I had planned to work up to 37 weeks, head up to Philadelphia on November 2, and then wait for Rolf to finish up a week of cardiology before we were really ready for the baby to come. Well God has another plan for us and you would think that with everything that has happened so far with this pregnancy that we would have learned that this is not about our plans but no. So we spent a week going to the doctor every couple of days to be checked to make sure that things were staying the same and that I was not progressing even further. Saying lots of prayers that the baby stayed same inside until we headed up to Philadelphia.

We are now safe in Philadelphia and are just waiting for Rolf to finish up with his October rotation and head up this way. Thank you to everyone who is reading the blog and praying for us daily. Your prayers are truly a blessing to us. We ask that you continue to pray that the baby will grow strong and stay safe inside until it is his time to be born. Please also pray for the doctors here at CHOP both those that will be there when we deliver and those that will be performing the surgery shortly after delivery.

Update on Baby G

After visiting both Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Duke Children's Hospital in the month of September we have decided to give birth and have Baby G's surgery at CHOP. Both hospitals are amazing and we are truly blessed to have had the opportunity to visit both and to have the option to decide. Although CHOP is a little bit further away from home and from our family in North Carolina we felt that give our circumstances this was the best place for us to welcome our new little man into the world.

We will give birth in CHOPs Special Delivery Unit which is quite impressive. This unit is brand new and just opened in June of this year. The SDU is the best place in the world for our little man to be born. On our last visit to CHOP we were able to tour the unit with one of the high-risk midwives that works there. We are very encouraged that we will be able to have the natural normal delivery that we hope for. We will deliver in one of two very special rooms that are accessible to an infant stabilization room. Once delivered, Baby G will be handed through a window into this room, and Rolf will be able to watch through the window the entire time he is being worked on. Once he is moved to CICU, I will be able to walk down the hallway to visit him. The SDU was designed to allow parents to be close to their babies that need special care. We are so thankful for the SDU and it played a major part in our decision to go to CHOP.

So far we have had 2 appointments at CHOP. Our first appointment was for a fetal echo to confirm diagnosis and the second was a level 2 ultrasound that looked at the baby in detail. It was a very long ultrasound but in the end very rewarding because we were able to take home several 3D pics of our little man.

Our plan currently is to head up to Philadelphia around 37 weeks and be there until we bring our little boy home. We are very blessed to have great insure that will be covering all of our medical bills and will be helping to cover other costs that we will have being away from home. We will be living in a hotel that is within walking distances to the hospital for our entire stay in Philadelphia. From what the doctors have told us so far we will not be induced early unless something changes with my blood pressure but they will not let us go past our due date of November 21st. We are praying that we go into labor naturally and that things go well for delivery. We have been attending Birthworks birth classes and are really building up our bag of tricks for delivery day.

We asked for continued prayers for us as we prepare to head up to Philadelphia for what could potentially be a very long time. We are busy nesting and preparing our home and especially the nursery for the baby but the days are getting short and there is still a lot to be done. We also ask for prayers for the doctors and nurses at CHOP that will be caring for us and for Baby G. They have an amazing staff there and we know that we will be in great hands because ultimately we are in His hands and there is no better place to be.

Prayers for Baby G

As many of you already know, on Tuesday, July 15th the day before we left town to celebrate Rolf's sister Evie's wedding in North Carolina we had our formal ultrasound. This is the ultrasound where they measure and look at every part of the baby in detail to make sure that things are going okay, that the baby is the size that he should be, and to tell the sex. It was very exciting for us but very quickly became very scary. Because of the concerns with my high blood pressure, we were having our ultrasound done by a Maternal Fetal Medicine doctor with a specialty in ultrasound. On this day this turned out to be the first of many signs that God had us right where we needed to be. During the ultrasound the doctor noticed that there was something noticeably wrong with the baby's heart. He called a pediatric cardiologist, who just happened to not be busy to come up and look at the ultrasound. It only took the 2nd doctor a matter of seconds to review the ultrasound and agree. He then asked us to come down to his office where he would be able to do a fetal echo of the baby's heart. We left the first doctor with very little information other than that we were having a boy and they thought everything else looked normal. We moved down to the 2nd doctors clinic and they were waiting for us to get there, another sign that God was with us because in Navy medicine it is very rare that you ever get right in to see the doctor. After about an hour and a half of fetal echo the doctor had some answers for us about what was going on. We found out that our sweet baby boy has a severe and relatively rare heart defect called Truncus Arteriosus I am not evening going to try to explain it but if you are interested check out this link: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11073.

The Thursday after Evie's wedding we had an amniocentesis done to find out if there were any other possible complications for us to be concerned about (all of which were very, very scary). The amnio in and of it self is very scary because it carries a slight risk for miscarriage of the baby. The doctors assured us that the benefits of knowing something far out weighed the risk and we just prayed that everything would be okay. We spent 11 days waiting, worrying, and praying about what else might be wrong with our little guy and that God would let His will be done and would bring us a peace and understanding no matter what the test results were. On Wednesday, August 6th we found out that all of the results from the amnio were normal and they don't believe there should be any unforeseen complications with the baby. For us this is truly an answered prayer and in my opinion a miracle because the odds were about 50/50 that something else could be wrong. We feel like we have made it over a very big hurdle and that God has truly blessed us but we do still have a long road ahead.

Right now we are still trying to come to terms with what this means but know that God has a plan and has chosen us to be this little guys parents for a very special reason. What this all means for us is that nothing about delivering this little guy or his first few months of life are going to be normal. With in the first 3 to 7 days of his life our baby will require an open heart surgery to repair the defect that he has. The Navy hospital across the street from our house where we thought we would be delivering will not be able to perform this surgery. Since this is one of the more rare heart defects we are currently looking at either going to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) or Duke Children's. For us going to Duke would be like going home but CHOP is the #1 Children's hospital in the US, which is pretty hard to turn down. Once we decided where we will be going I will more then likely go to that area around 35-36 weeks (the end of October) to be near the hospital for weekly appointments, etc. After the baby is born we will more then likely be whereever we go for about another month depending on how the baby is doing and how the surgery goes.

We ask that you pray for our sweet little boy and that he continues to grow strong while in the womb. We ask that you pray for us for daily strength to deal with whatever may come our way as we deal with all of this. We ask that you pray for the doctors that will be delivering the baby and for the doctors and nursery that will do the surgery and take care of him after. We feel so blessed to have such amazing friends to be able to share with and to ask to pray for us.