13 Days Till 3

       

With just 13 days until Liam's 3rd birthday I find myself reflecting on the past 4 years. When I found myself pregnant with Liam I was shocked. It was unexpected. We didn't want to even try for a second child until the following year. After the shock wore off I was excited of course. Even more over joyed to find out that our little bundle of joy was a boy. The entire pregnancy we were expecting a healthy little boy. His birth date would have fallen perfectly with my time off between tax seasons (at the time I was a tax professional). I would have have enough time off for him to be a few months old before going back for training followed by tax season. This was going to be a career for me. Plans changed when Liam was born with Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia and our lives were turned upside down.
          Born with CDH".

I had started this blog at the end of my pregnancy with Liam. I figured things would get crazy with two kids, one newborn and one 3 year old. Little did I know how crazy things would truly get. The first time I blogged about Liam's birth he was 13 days old (July 28th 2011), already off ECMO, already gone through repair surgery. I recapped his first 13 days in a rush. I didn't exactly know what to say. I was excited because I was able to change his diaper for the first time. I had a lot of fears and questions. You can read the very first blog post "

         A Step Back".

The first time I got to hold Liam (July 28th 2011) was a tornado of mixed emotions. I was excited, elated, scared and more. It was also a freighting moment because Liam had just been excubated and had turned blue on me because he wasn't getting enough oxygen. Our first cuddle lasted about two minutes, five max. Read all about this experience in blog post "

          Then there was the time we started seeing his true personality. He would try to pull out his breathing and feeding tube when his favorite nurse wasn't looking. He would also open his eyes and look around when he was supposed to be sedated. For a few days she didn't believe me because every time she's watch him he would close his eyes and play nice, but as soon as she turned away those sweet eyes would open up again. Read all about Liam's NICU mischief in blog post "Good News".

         Critical Mistake".

The nurses and doctors worked smoothly in Liam's care. He was very well taken care of by them. There was one mistake made the entire time which almost set Liam back drastically. His left lung ended up colapsed because of this mistake (at the time I had wrote that his left lung was his good lung. I had been wrong. The left lung is his bad lung). Such a simple thing that was overlooked. One of the nurses (a male nurse) had pinched off his oxygen tubing with the side of the NICU bed. Liam oxygen saturation was extremely low. You can read about it in blog post "

          I can't talk about Liam without talking about the CDHer we shared a NICU room with. On Sunday August 7th 2011 Maddie lost her battle against CDH. Every family in NICU including us were devastated. We had grown close to the Spence family. They had prayed for our little one and looked after him when he arrived in NICU without us. The minute they did that, they became family. Maddie's loss was tragic and still hurts to this day. I cannot begin to imagine what it felt like for her parents, her brother and their loved ones to have to say goodbye to such a precious baby girl. They will forever be in our hearts and our prayers. Maddie's birthday is approaching and we will be praying for her family. "Tragic Loss"

        Eventful Day".

  August 12 2011 was an eventful day. One of the best joys of that day was the fact that we were finally able to dress Liam in full outfits. We had gotten the green light to bring in outfits for him. He was also moved into a crib and Nurse Sue suggested we get him some things to stimulate his brain. She suggested a mobile. That weekend we ended up buying him a mobile, crib mirror and a bunch of little toys that clipped onto the crib. He LOVED looking at himself in the mirror. This was the begining of "normal". Read all about it in post "

          When Liam turned one month old I cried. My miracle baby had survived so many odds already. I was so excited and proud of him. Read all about it "One Month".

          In blog post "Blessings" I talked about how overwhelmed I was being in NICU for 6 weeks and having a son so critical. We were on the verge of going home. It was the night before we were to be discharged and I was doing the overnight sleep in with Liam. One of the doctors came in to discuss his MRI results. That's when things hit me how important everything I did for him was.

      Read all about bringing our NICU graduate home in post "Bringing Baby Home A Year Ago Today" and see the wonderful pictures from that day.

          There was a moment we got a card in the mail from CHERUBS, when we supported them. It was a christmas card and Lanie had asked what it was. I told her it was a Christmas card for CDH kids. She replied "I don't want Liam to be a CDH Cherub. I just want him to be Liam Michael". It was a heartbreaking moment. I too just wanted him to be Liam Michael. Read all about it in post "I Wish I Was More Like Her".

          Liam's first Christmas was the best we could have asked for. We couldn't take him to see Santa so Santa came to see him. Read all about it and see the pics in blog post "Bryant's Special Christmas Eve".
          Christmas day was great too. "A blessed Christmas"
More Links from Liam's first Year:
We said Goodbye to 2011 with more hope for the future. "Saying Goodbye to Old"

We survived the "CDH Tornado"

 Liam's 9th hospital stay through pictures

When all else fails try new  things
         
Jump for joy at good news

Liam's One year old pictures

 Rewind on Liam's First Year

 We Made It: All about Liams first birthday

Pictures from August 15th 2011 and 2012

          Liam had a favorite stuffed puppy that he named. It was the first thing he named all by himself. The first toy he became attached too. He was devastated when it went missing. I looked everywhere but couldn't find one. I gave up and ordered one online. Liam was so happy to have his Baba back. Read all about Baba's home comming in post "A Sweet Home Coming"

The first time Liam was ever in a Pool: Pool Time

Liam first Tubie Friend

During one of Liam's many hospital stays I wrote this blog post "I wish I may, I wish I might..." where I wrote:

Star light

Star bright

I wish I may

I wish I might

Have the wish I wish tonight......

The strength to keep fighting when I feel weak and broken

The will to carry on when things look bleak and weary

The patients to endue the long lasting battle

The faith to believe that there is a light at the end of the tunnel

The ability to mend my broken heart

Liam's First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

Post from OCT 2012 Video Overload of Mr. Liam

          After Liam learned to crawl, he quickly learned to pull himself up on things. He spent alot of time doing so. "Adventures On The Go" shows just what that monkey got into through pictures.

Liam's 2nd Christmas "Christmas Day Special Gift" and "Christmas Eve with the Bryants"

2013 brought a "New Year, New Discoveries". Liam learned he loved trains and worked on walking. He still couldn't do it alone.

When I had to flush Liam's mediport and couldn't get it I felt like such a failure

See Liam's 2nd Birthday pics in Take 1 and Liam's 2nd birthday party

When Liam started running and talking in "Say What?!"

Recap of 2013 in 2013 in review

Liam's feeding issues has put us through all kinds of ups and downs. View Liam's Tubie Journey from birth on in "Liams Tubie Journey"

          As you can see with just these post that Liam has been  through a lot. We are so proud of him. In just 13 days Liam will be 3 years old. There was so much I hoped for. I could sit here and cry about how we can't throw him a birthday party this year because he needs to be healthy for mediport removal surgery and we can't risk exposure to anything. I could complain that he has to spend his actual birthday going to pulmonology clinic and surgery clinic.
          Nope! Instead I want to rejoice on how far he's come.
                *He's walking
                *He's stepping down low steps without sitting down!!!
                *He's meeting goals we set for 6 months out in mere days and weeks.
                *He's relatively healthy and very happy.
          Why shouldn't we rejoice in the miracle that he is? Our little Liam, our little lamb will be a blessed 3 years old!!!!! 3 YEARS OLD!!!!!
            We did it little lamb! We made it! You did it!!!! You are amazing!! I hope that when you get older you can be as proud of yourself as I am in you.