Moving Forward...literally

We went to the regular Ophthalmologist yesterday to see how Caleb's eyes are doing and to check his vision. This eye doctor differs than the ROP doctor because she is not looking just the ROP but the overall health of his eye. She said that Caleb was doing just perfect for his corrected age (7 months) and sees great. She did not want to see us back until he's 3 years old. It's hard to imagine that time will go by so quickly and we will be back before you know it. Our next visit to the ROP doctor is on October 3rd, for hopefully what will be our final send off. We have our last hearing test this afternoon and that will be one more specialist that we can cross off the list of having to see. Caleb has been doing so amazing the last several weeks. He has been learning to scoot around the floor and and getting quite good at it. Therapy has been such a huge blessing for him and I wish every child could benefit from having and extra set of eyes to look out for them. It's been a great bonding time for Caleb and I too since we practice at home. I have come to realize that so many people have a negative idea of therapy, and I wish that could change. There isn't anything wrong with it it's just a way to improve what you already have. He has been trying new foods as well and I think we have discovered he loves Cantaloupe. He gets this glazed look in his eyes and is off in his own little land when he's chewing on his teething net filled with cantaloupe. He's not a huge fan of those baby puffs or Cheerios, He grunts when he feels them on his tongue and acts as though he is gagging still. I guess it will take some time before he will learn to accommodate the new texture. He is a fan of celery though. Sometimes we let him chew on the stalk during dinner and he really enjoys that. We have estimated that he is just over 20 pounds or so and is becoming a little hard to handle for this tiny mommy. I saw this carrier that would be great to have. A lady at physical therapy let me try it out and boy was it comfy. You can see the carrier I'm talking about here. We've been planning a small get together for Caleb's Birthday with will be an owl theme in honor of my favorite time of the year and our little whoo. Just cake and Ice cream by the pool and a few friends to celebrate ALL that GOD has brought us through. October 5th will come sooner that I can realize and there is still more small projects for me to do to get ready. The word on the street is that Caleb's Grandmas might make a trip out to celebrate with us.... I hope they can because we'll have a HOOT together.

Sleep Study

Hi!

This week has been busy with my mom visiting and us preparing for Caleb's sleep study. He has not had any apnea since he's been home, but the sleep study was recommended by his Pulmonologist to have some documentation in his file that he has not had any problems while he was sleeping. We made our way to the hospital, one that wasn't as clean as I would expect, but there wasn't anything that we could do about that. I just prayed that God would protect Caleb fom all the unseen germs that are lurking in those places. We fed Caleb and got him ready for bed and then all the fun started. The Tech lathered... and I mean lathered Caleb 's head with his Vaseline like goo and then put probes all over it. The did the same with his legs and then put two bands around his mid section. They finally finished preparing him for sleep by inserting prongs up his nose to measure his breathing. They put all these probes on him to measure his sleeping patterns which include his heart rate, oxygen saturations, deepness of sleep patterns and a few other things. The read out looks like a polygraph test and was just as colorful to look at. The tech said that Caleb did well and everything fine, but the doctor will analyze the patterns and get back to us and then hopefully discontinue us using his monitor.

The monitor itself was given to us just as a precaution because Caleb had some later episodes of apnea while in the hospital. The apnea is a common in preemies and newborns, and is given when having a micro preemie. It just took Caleb a little longer than thought. We wanted to show you a few pictures of our little cable guy last night. Caleb has gotten so big that we are so very excited as we approach the summertime and hopefully will be able to spend more time with family and friends. He's is now around 14 pounds or so and is already in 6 moth almost 9 month clothing. He has been doing well with therapy and we are hoping that we will get the GI's okay to start with some solids next week. Until then ...thanks for reading and following our blog.

Our Birth Story...The Final Part

October 4th...Day 4

The night was not good. The sleeping pill was not very effective and even through I tried getting through the contractions alone sometimes I just couldn't. They seemed to just be so piercing. Once again I had oatmeal and prune juice and hoped that it would be effective. We met a new doctor today, Dr. H. She was young, very friendly and pregnant too. She examined me and had said that you were still in a good position and that it could be any moment. She also had said not to try to push when I felt I had to go to the restroom. I had many visitors that Monday, but the pain was just so consistent that I know I was not very pleasant. I hadn't wanted to be touched or cared for. I prayed through each contraction and hoped that I could relax enough not to strain our baby. I remembered the message that Warren Wiersbe had given and concentrated on that. I knew that God was in control. My husband's mom had sent us some encouraging words that her dad use to say. She was on her porch when she thought of them...

"FAITH IS THE BIRD THAT FEELS THE LIGHT AND SINGS WHEN DAWN IS STILL DARK"

Since the contractions were more frequent the doctors had taken away my eat privileges. I started to feel very uncomfortable... as if I thought it could have gotten worse. My mom had a feeling that tonight might be the night so she stayed until about 10:30p, but had decided to leave as I was very sleepy. I went to bed and then..... I awoke with more contractions back to back. I was tired and couldn't breath, I was afraid that I wasn't going to be able to keep the baby safe, I was panicing and that is when my husband shared some of the words that I will never forget. He has said that God wanted Him to share them with me. From Revelations 2:10.. he said, " 'Do not be afraid for what you are about to suffer...' God is in control and He will decide when Caleb will come to be born, not you. So don't be afraid'" Those most unusual words..."about to suffer" brought so much comfort to me. I knew that I din't have to try to keep the baby in, I just needed to be the vessel He wanted me to be. After a few more contractions i noticed that the pressure have changed and the pain was different. The nurse came and called the doctor. Dr. H said, "it time".

My husband was called mom and telling me to remember that God was in control and that there was nothing we could do, but BELIEVE this was how He had written our story. Dr. H asked about the baby's name and we told her Caleb George. She said "hey my son's name will be Lucas Caleb!" How about that. I couldn't see anything because I didn't have my glasses or contact.... so as I began to push I couldn't see anything. After 3 pushes our son was born inside his sack. Dr. H had to cut him out and there was a small squeak of a cry. They allowed my husband to cut the umbilical cord and them right there they worked on stabilizing our son. I remember the doctor saying that she knew I was uncomfortable and that she was going to try to help me... I wasn't sure what that meant until there was pain again and then she said . "WoW there is a lot in there... you can go to the restroom now" Before they took our son away to what would be his home for the next 4 months they brought him to me to see. At that moment I was so overcome by feelings I cannot describe even today....

On October 5th 2010....Our life had changed forever and we would begin a new journey as a FAMILY with a baby boy that weighed 1 pound 10 ounces and was 12.5 inches long!

Our Birth Story...Part1

As I said before I want this blog to be an encouragement to other families who have walked the same path we did in 2010 and 2011 with the birth of our son. I feel we have had such an exceptional experience and I know that it's been our faith in God that has made the difference. Although our story began in 2010, many people still don't know the full extent of how it all began. So, I figured that this would be a good place to tell our story for anyone who may come across our blog by intent or by chance. It will be detailed.....I want to share a little back story because it just goes to show how God plans everything out so perfectly and for good.

On May 26th 2010 I announced to my hubby that he will be a daddy. It was also the anniversary of the day that he asked me to be his wife in 2003. We had just started to pray for a baby if that is what God had planed for us. The first week of June we had an ultrasound done and everything looked wonderful and sounded strong. We decided to buy these picture frames that said "MIRACLE" on them for our parents to announce that we are expecting...ironic how that will be the perfect word to describe Caleb. So I had been feeling wonderful the whole time, no morning sickness or vomiting, just a lot of saliva and shortness of breath. We were so excited and started praying for our baby. We were praying that God would allow us to properly care for the child he has loaned us. Everything is going super all the tests had come back great and there is no indication of any problem. One day my hubby and I listen to the same Bible message on the radio about parenting and both (unbeknownst to each other) feel that me staying home is the best choice for our family. We start praying that God will help work it out for us to be able to do that. So, with that in mind we decide that we would find out the gender of our baby to prepare accordingly. That ultrasound is scheduled for mid August and we find out we are having a baby boy! We had tossed around several names that we both liked and decided to choose Caleb because we wanted a biblical name and one that had a strong meaning and story (you can read the story of Caleb here).

So the last weekend of August I had to work and I bumped into a friend at the church that I was working at. We talked about the plans that my hubby and I have made and she decided to share a little bit about what she knew about pre-term labor and babies. It was a very interesting conversation which really stuck with my heart and I walked away amazed how some women are so strong. I see the doctor on September 22nd and had a list of questions that I wanted to ask. I started out asking if pre-term labor is hereditary. And she says "no". I ask her if I could fly to California on Oct. 16 for an amazing baby shower that my mom had planned and she said that wouldn't be a problem because everything has been perfect. I also let the doctor know that I was planning on doing the HypnoBirthing method and asked if anyone has had any experience with that and she said "no". I really wanted to do a natural child birth, just because I wanted to. I guess I really wanted to have the full experience of feeling what God had intended my body to do. I was going to buy the hypnosis tapes next week or so. There had been a lot of issues going on at the company I worked for and my boss and I were praying that God would change hearts of people who made decisions for our company. We are praying for very specific things, such as the company giving me the opportunity keep my job & insurance to have our baby in January. With all my heart I knew He would answer those prayers.

So that brings us to sometime the week of September 27th 2010 my lower tummy is a little tender to the touch. Nothing painful but just sore feeling ...like my skin had stretch too tight... which it had. Duh I'm pregnant! I really didn't think anything about it but I did tell my hubby. I told him that I wanted him to know just in case anything crazy happens because "you never know"! I tend to tell him random things with that same explanation. So the tenderness persists through the week not getting any worse. I am 23 weeks and 4 days along on Thursday when a co worker asks me to take an online test at the office so in the afternoon I go in and do the test online. During which time I feel like I had a little accident so I went to the bathroom and noticed a little dampness and something else. This had never happened before so I call the doctor's office a described what happened and the nurse said that since everything was clear looking there really wasn't anything to be concerned about. She also said that it was normal for that to happen during pregnancy. I said "okay" and go about the rest of the day. I get home and cook then relax with my hubby. A friend of our sent us an email that night and told us that her husband was in the hospital and wasn't doing very well. It was such a shock to get this email and I hope that the news will get better soon and I looked forward to seeing her at the baby shower in California in a couple of weeks. I told my hubby that I would walk with him in the morning if I felt better. I woke up on the morning of October 1st and I was very thankful that it had rained and that I was not in the mood to walk that day. I got up, showered and put on a pair of jeans, boots and a top for work. I got to work that morning and started made some calls and confirmed my visits for that day. I really couldn't get my friend and work issues off my mind and so about 9:30am I decided to send an email out to some very special friends of mine asking them to pray for my job and for my friend in the hospital. As soon as I sent the email I felt the urge to go to the restroom...if you know what I mean. So I walked into my restroom see the RED spot . I stood up and decided that I should call the doctor's office again. I am 23 weeks and 5 days...basically 6 months and shouldn't have been bleeding that far along. The same nurse I spoke to the day before answered and I explained what I saw. She is calm and said "not to worry" and said I can come in later in the afternoon when a doctor is there or I could go to Triage at the hospital. I called my hubby and asked him what he thought and in the end we decided that we would meet at the hospital ....just to be safe.

Oh Happy Day!

Happy Birthday to the Greatest Man I Know!

This morning started out at 5am with a bottle for the little one in preparation for his eye exam downtown at 7am. After 3 hours of being there at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute we were finally able to go home. The doc said that Caleb's eyes were slow to progress, but that they have not gotten any worse. Because he was a MicoPreemie he has an eye condition called ROP, which you can read about here. We know that his eyes can take up until he is 70 weeks gestational to correct themselves and we have decided to trust that God will heal his eyes completely in His time. NOW that the yucky exam is over we can celebrate Daddy's birthday tonight.

I am so happy that we have loved each other for the last 15 years. We were High School and College best friends and sweethearts and now we have a life time to create more memories for our family. Speaking of memories, the picture above is one of my favorites from high school. But back to tonight we will celebrate with Ryan's favorite Hot Wings from Sports Grill and then a homemade chocolate cake with Ganache topping.

So here's to Love, Laughter, Life, Family and Good Food!

Happy Birthday my BeLoved!

"You Never Know How Strong You Are Until Being Strong Is Your Only Option"

It is a quote that forever changed our family one October (2010) morning. It was the day I went into preterm labor at 23 weeks and 5 days. After defeating the odds of medical science for 4 days our son, Caleb George was born at 1.10 ounces and 12.5 inches long. It was a four month journey that God carried us through every step of the way. We found so much peace and comfort through the support of our faith, friends and family. I wanted to try to create a resource of encouragement for other parents who may be going through the same circumstances of having a Micropreemie. I also hope to provide other resources that have helped us too. A MicroPreemie is a baby weighing less than 3 pounds. I also wanted to have something special for our family to look back on to remind us how faithful God has been...in case we forget. I hope that you will enjoy our journey and adventures of raising our MicroPreemie. Please feel free to read Caleb's story at CaringBridge here.