Look at Me Now!

As I have remembered the past year and celebrated my son's very first birthday, I can only marvel at what an AMAZING miracle he is and how far he has come!!

When he was born, he weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces. 

He could not breathe without the help of a nasal cannula.

He had a grade 1 brain hemorrhage.

He had patent ductus arteriosis (hole in his heart).

He had a ventricular septal defect (hole in his heart).

He could not breastfeed or take a bottle.

The numbers on his monitor (oxygen saturation, heart rate, etc.) were constantly up and down.

He then spent the first 97 days of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit.

During his stay, he struggled with breathing on his own.

He had heart surgery to close the PDA.

He was on a ventilator during and after the surgery.

He spent two months learning how to eat from a bottle.

He struggled with hypertension.

And when he was finally able to come home, he was behind developmentally.

And now?  One year later?

He weighs a whopping 17 pounds and some change.

He is 28.5 inches long.

He can sit up and hold his head up.

He can scoot on his belly.

He can crawl on his hands and knees.

He can smile and babble, and recognizes his name.

He can pull himself up to standing on anything and everything, and can get himself down.

He loves to socialize and play with his sister.

He can cruise along the furniture.

He can eat an entire bottle of toddler formula.

And he can eat baby cereal as well as stage 2 baby food solids.

I'm really just amazed at the progress he's made.  At this point, he is not even behind his peers as far as his motor skills are concerned.  And although it has been very slow progress to get him to eat solid foods, he has come leaps and bounds in the past 2 months. 

But as proud as I am of him, I really can only give the glory to God for what He has done, and what He brought not only my son through, but me and my husband through as well.  I spent some time today going back and reading my posts from those early days and remembering how incredibly difficult it all was.  How my world was turned upside down.  How much my heart ached to watch him suffer.  What a struggle it was not knowing when the end would come and what the outcome would be.  And now, a year later, to see him happy and healthy, I really just don't have the words to express what I'm feeling.  But mostly, I am trying to remember.  And never ever forget.  As in, never forgetting the miracles I saw God do in my son.  Never forgetting the lessons He taught me through the process.  And never forgetting the love and support and prayers of so very many people, some of whom I have never even met in "real life."  For that, thank you.  I am so grateful that I did not have to endure alone. 

And so today, we remembered, rejoiced, praised God, and celebrated the life of my sweet sweet little boy!

And as a side note, I am very happy to report that I made it to my son's first birthday with a baby still in my belly.  When we celebrated my daughter's first birthday last year, we also had a one month old!   So I may have celebrated that a little today too.  ;)