Happy 1st Birthday Baby Boy!!!!!

One year ago today, our miracle arrived and this is the story that we had to tell that day:

Zeke's Birth Day

At 2 am on Monday morning, I started contracting, not a suprise. The doctor checked me at 3 am and I was dilated to a 2. He said that I had to go to labor and delivery so I am thinking so what. Then he says you can have an epidural whenever you get ready since you already are feeling the contractions, so I decided maybe they weren't kidding this time. By 5, I had my epidural. By 6, I had some spots that weren't numb and were called hot spots, which don't get numb. By 7, i was dilated to 4 and by 8 I was dilated to 10 and ready to start labor. At 8:39, Zeke came out screaming and boy could he get loud. They put him over in the bed and started checking him out. They called Dustin over to talk to him. They told him that he was breathing on his own and was looking good, but that they had a few ortho issues. His left side was very constricted in utero and his left arm is missing from the elbow down. His left leg also appears to be turned outward, but they aren't sure if it is because his hip is out of place or if it is just his foot. They take him out of the room to be admitted to the NICU. The nurse brought him over for me to look at and told me he was 4 pounds 1 oz and 17 inches long. Once he was gone, Dustin and I got some much needed time alone. We talked about how glad we were he came out screaming and he explained to me what the doc had told him. We both thanked God for our little blessing and then we decided that we should tell the family before we went upstairs to see our little man. We told our parents and they informed the other visitors we have that our boy had a couple of problems. When we got to the NICU we were overjoyed to see he still was breathing 100% on his own. He was happy and healthy from what they could tell. I spent the next few hours in my room with family while Dustin took each one in and out of the NICU to see him. Dustin was completely exhausted so we decided to go in together and visit with Zeke alone. It was wonderful to get to be together as a family, we both even got to hold him. We came back to the room and after the family left we crashed. I woke up several times to call the NICU and each time we heard good things. He started eating 6cc's of formula every 4 hours last night at 8 pm and has been doing that ever since. We are so excited about that too.

We saw several doctors in the NICU today. The first was a ortho pediatrician. He explained the xrays to us. The left arm has the ulna, but not the radius bone and he has mobility so that is a really good sign. His legs are not dislocated, they will ultrasound his hip joints in 6 weeks to determine if they are growing incorrectly or if it is just his feet that are. If it is his feet, he will be put in a series of braces from 2 months of age to 10 months of age to straighten them out. If it is the hip, he will wear a brace for that too, didn't say how long on that. Then we saw a geneticist who told us that he was going to do ultrasounds on the abdomen and brain, and get a cardiologist to do an ECHO and compile that with our history to determine if the problem is genetic but he believes it is not from initial review. He believes that since the arm forms before 21 weeks that it is not due to the PPROM, but instead it is from a syndrome called amniotic band syndrome. He said the blood flow was restricted to the arm and that is probably why it didn't continue to develop. He said we were lucky because the blood flow could just have easily been restricted to the head or legs or any other body part. He said our boy was lucky, but I say he is just meant to be! The cardiologist did an ultrasound of his heart and had all normal findings. They have an IV in his head so they haven't done the brain ultrasound yet. They hope he will be able to eat enough not to need the iv soon. Tonight he is having trouble digesting his food. His tummy can't digest all the food they are giving him because he isn't stooling quite enough. So he throws up at every feed. They decided they needed an accurate measure of intake/outake so they put in a feeding tube, this will also keep him from aspirating if he throws up. Now that he has seen all his doctors he is in a closed bed to keep him warm and quiet, this is a good thing, the open bed is for babies that are at high risk for problems.

Today was an amazing day, a day of celebration of life. I think sometimes we take for granted how fragile life really is, thankfully I no longer do that! I know that God gives us one day at a time and it is all about what we do with that one day. I remember so well 2 am August 11, 2008. It was just another day God had kept me pregnant, another day for Zeke to grow. I went into labor and thought it would be like the many other trips to L&D. At 3 am, which seemed like forever waiting on him to get there, the dr. informed me otherwise, this was it! When we got to L&D, we called our parents to tell them the news. It seemed like forever before anyone got there! By 7, I remember that I had seen Mom, Dad, Cyn, Gran, and Lisa, and they were shortly whisked away so Dustin and I could bring our boy into the world all on our own. We wanted to be there alone to bear any good or bad news together before anyone else was in there, just another way God protected us and brought us closer together. I had a fairly quick labor, around 40 minutes of pushing. When I heard him cry, I knew everything was going to be okay. Shortly after that, I was trying to get Dustin to go over to him and I could tell something was wrong by the look on his face. I couldn't hear the doctors talking, but he could. He heard them say he was missing his arm, his hip was out of place, he had no knee caps, and that it looked syndromatic. They were all wrong, except for the obvious, he was missing an arm. They brought my boy over to me wrapped up, I thought I was going to get to hold him but no such luck. I got to look and then they whisked him away, better than some mommys get. He was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen and I was crying my eyes out. After they left, Dustin shared with me Zeke's condition (or what the docs thought anyways). It was very hard for him to have to tell all of that to me. We just held each other and prayed, so thankful that everything appeared to be okay for that moment. A NICU nurse came in to talk to us to tell us what she knew and give us pictures, I treasure those to this day! When they finally decided I was able to go see him, we shared the news with our parents and friends. Our first trip to the NICU was hard but amazing. Our little boy was so sweet laying in his open bed sleeping away. You could tell by looking at him that he was a fighter and that he would not give up easily. He had a beautiful head of dark brown hair with an IV in it, a sweet face that called out to kiss, a tiny hand that he always kept near his face, little heart patches and wires, a preemie swaddler diaper that was folded down it was so big, two tiny feet that were all snuggled up in a snuggly with hearts on it and he layed on a blanket with footprints. The blanket (though standard in most hospitals) reminds me of the footprint stuff you see, through this time I carried you, and I believe God did just that. I did not get to hold my baby boy or feed him, but I just stared at him and got to touch him with my index finger and I already loved him so so much. It is so amazing how much you can love someone. Lots of family and friends came that day and night, but after a while he had had too much company and was overstimulated so we had to let him rest and go back later. When we went back that night, he was eating a little but we still didn't get to hold him. The following day, I got to hold him, Dustin was so afraid he would pull his IV out that he just wanted me to hold him. When she put that baby in my arms, the whole world felt right! Nothing is better than that to this day! He got better day by day and I watched him grow long before I could bring him home.

Things he survived/overcame:

1. Not digesting enough to keep food down
2. Jaundice-double light phototherapy
3. Feeding Tube
4. Bad Diaper rash
5. First Bath
6. Circumcision
7. Lots of Mom's photo shoots
8. 6 Synagis shots
9. x rays every 3 months
10. upper respitory infection
11. sitting up
12. rolling over
    
13. crawling
14. cruising
15. walking 10-12 steps at a time
16. a crazy winter ice storm
17. no electricity for 8 days
18. his first bike ride ( I was the driver)
19. ear infection
20. two top teeth and two bottom teeth
21. getting fitted for foot braces
    

His favorite toy: Razorback bat
His favorite nontoy: Cell Phone
Favorite Food: cool whip? (he got the most excited over it), spaghetti
Favorite drink: ours
Favorite adult: Momma and Daddy
Favorite vacation: Branson (not a fan of the lake)
Favorite place: outside
Favorite activity: Bike or stroller(especially in the mall)
Favorite restaurant: (Colton's and Dixie)
Favorite song when he goes to sleep: Jesus Lover of my soul
Favorite music to dance to: Third Day Revelation CD
Favorite music in the car: Veggie Tales Sunday Morning Songs
Favorite place/way to sleep: with Momma and Daddy on his belly
Favorite nap place: swing
Favorite pet: Chance (only pet, but he sure loves that dog)

A year has passed and Zeke has really changed. He went from 4 pounds 1 oz to 21 pounds 2 oz and from 17 inches to ___inches. He is really walking good now for a while, 10-12 steps. He is so sweet when he wakes up in the morning. He just sits up in the bed and cries out until I get him and then he just smiles. When he gets sleepy, he wants me to rock him and cuddle him (this is a new thing). In the car, he likes to take a paci (also a new thing) and listen to his veggie tales cd or sleep. He loves to crawl, cruise, or walk around and he almost always has his bat. He loves to stroll in the mall, but please don't shop. He loves the play area in the mall and riding the golf cart and bike. He loves to play with anything he can beat on and roll the ball back and forth. He cries occasionally when I leave him and is very clingy these days. He loves to play with and laugh at Chance. I don't know why a dog is funny. He loves Cheerios anytime of day. He likes apple juice better than white grape. He spits food out if he doesn't prefer to eat it. He despises shoes, so we will see how these SMO's go. His favorite thing to do on a sunday afternoon is nap in the chair with momma (oh wait is that his fav or mine.........good thing we both LOVE it). He is really good in church for one hour, if it lasts longer than that he is ready to go. He also loves to play in the nursery and knows exactly where it is, lol. He has made lots of friends this year. He plays with Caden at Gran's & Kaylee at church. He is getting better about hitting. He still loves Abbi and Emma and watches their every move. Dustin and I have still yet to go out alone because he is so entertaining, we will have to do that soon, lol. He loves to call the Hogs, just ask him! He just loves life!

God has a plan for our child and we love to watch it shaping day after day, we live our lives to be a part of his! Each day brings new challenges and each day God helps him through them. He is doing everything any kid his age can do and more! Our God is a Big God and he can move any mountain you have in your life. He leaves footprints when he carries us through our storms and rainbows when they are over, how great is that! Keep Zeke in your prayers for the next few weeks for his braces and his next set of x rays, we know God will provide a way!

To my baby boy:
I love you more than anything, Happy Birthday to you sweet boy!