Happy to be home!!

We are home and feeling good... wanted to share the x-ray that Dr. O gave us at discharge. He wanted us to see how "lit up" Gavin's chest is...We are so proud of our son and how brave he has been the last 3 years...pretty amazing!

Update #4

The cardiologist came in and said his echo cardiogram looked good. Still waiting on the results from the chest x-ray. Hopefully we will be discharged this afternoon! Gavin got up this morning and "shaved" his face. Thanks Aunt Patti for the shaving kit!!

Update #3

Sleeping away after cath

Brother came to visit, Gavin was not feeling well at this point, very nauseated

(hence the pale skin & lips)

Feeling MUCH better!

Chocolate Ice Cream Mustache!!!

Gavin is doing great tonight, only threw up once right after procedure which is HUGE for him!! He is looking very PINK and we couldn't be more excited!

Update #2

Doctor just came in, Gavin did great! Dr. S put in the device and Gavin's stats shot up to 99!!! Gavin will stay over night to run antibiotics and he will have chest x-ray in the morning to make sure the device stayed in place. Will go back to recovery in 30 minutes to see him!

Heart Cath (Update 1)

Gavin went back at 7:50am. Should take 2 hours, if they have to put the device in Gavin will definitely spend the night. He was so brave, he requested for "bubble gum" flavor for his gas mask. He was out in minutes. The medical staff got Gavin back so fast that I didn't have time to take a picture of him. So here is a picture of baby brother (and Zee) showing his support for Gavin by sleeping too:

One Month, 5th Anniversary & Heart Cath...

Brody turned one month on 11/22! (Above are the only pictures I got of Brody on his one month birthday... both of my boys fell asleep on the floor after church, the last picture is Aunt Kiki & Bubba). Brody is getting to be such a BIG boy! At his one month check-up he weighed 11lbs 5oz. He is already wearing size 1-2 diapers and in 0-3 month clothes. Gavin weighed 5lbs 5 oz at one month. We are really counting our blessings and coming to a major realization how un-healthy Gavin was at this age. We definitely try to not compare them, however Gavin was our first child and we didn't know what normal was, God definitely knew what he was doing when he gave Gavin to us first. I think I would have been more scared if I had a healthy child first. It sounds weird but looking back, I wasn't that scared of Gavin and honestly didn't know any different. Seeing how a healthy child acts, really scares me now to think back to Gavin's situation. Thanks be to God for the strength he gave me! And thank you God for how far Gavin has come and for his weight gain! On black Friday Adam and I celebrated our 5th anniversary with some shopping & a movie! We had a great time and I can't believe we have been married for 5 years! I had a DVD made for Adam as a surprise, now that he has watched it I will share it with you! (Beware it's 20 minutes long)...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

PLEASE keep Gavin in your prayers tomorrow, we head to the city for his heart cath to close the fenestration hole they put in during his last surgery. He is a little worried about it and has asked me if they are going to "cut his tummy and look at his heart again". But he was quickly excited again when I told him he gets to pick his flavor to go to sleep. He said he is picking "bubble gum". I thought these surgeries would get easier with time, to me it's worse. He's older and he understands more, asks more questions and uses words to express his emotions. I will keep the blog updated as the day progresses! Thanks for the prayers!

Photo Shoot, Brody @ 3 & 4 weeks, Aunt Kiki's birthday, Hook Em' Horns

The week before Brody was born we did a photo shoot with Sara McDaniel (from MO, friend of a friend that came to do pictures). I thought I would share a few, because Gavin is just so beautiful in all of them!!! Thanks Sara for doing such a great job, we need you to come back and take Brody's picture!!!

Gavin doing "GO POKES!"

Last Thursday was the third week of Brody's life. He marked the occasion with his first "real" bubble bath. He loves baths and falls asleep every time...

It's the getting out part that he HATES!

All better now!

Last night we celebrated my beautiful sisters 21st birthday!! Aww, she is getting so old!

Look how chunky Brody is getting, he is quite the eater!!

I noticed that somebody commented back when Brody was born about Gavin signing "I love you" through the nursery window to his brother, he was actually signing "HOOK EM' HORNS"! We have never lived in Texas, nor rooted for Texas, so you ask where he got this from?!? His Grandpa Joe, who is an OU alum. Gavin is really into learning all about football, the mascots, team names, team chants, team everything! His favorite seems to be the Texas Longhorns. Funny story: the day Brody was born Gavin walked into the hospital and saw a man with an OU sweatshirt on, he walked right up to him and put the "Hook Em'" sign right in his face. I don't think the man liked that one bit! Yesterday we were in the car and he saw an OU bumper sticker and again put his hand up against the window and yelled "HOOK EM' HORNS!!" I guess we have a future UT student in the works!

Brody turns 4 weeks tomorrow, so I thought I'd post a picture of my precious boys from today.

TWO WEEKS...

Brody is two weeks old today! I can't believe it! I had my post-op appointment today and got a picture of Dr. N and Nurse F for Brody's baby book. Dr. N is a wonderful doctor and he was the first person to find Gavin's condition and sent us to the cardiologist that found Brody's VSD's.

Brody at 2 weeks:

*You love to be on your tummy.

*You love to keep mommy and daddy up all night.

*You love to grunt, cry and make any noise possible.

*You love to be held. (I think we have spoiled you in that area, especially since we didn't get to hold your big brother at all when he was your age, we are taking full advantage)

*You love to be swaddled, but you do not want your hands held down, you will do anything to get them out of the blanket and up against your face.

*You are a "tootin' machine" as big brother says!

*You are very strong, even the nurse in the hospital would tell us how much you liked to raise your head and look around. You have tried to roll over too!

*You are a big boy that loves to eat. You currently weigh 8lbs 15ounces.

Brody we are so blessed to have you in our family. We love you!

"I love to yawn!"

Our favorite nurse.. Nurse F and Brody

Dr. N and Brody

Halloween Festivities...

The week before Brody was born we took Gavin to the pumpkin patch...

Uncle Jared and Gavin

Grandpa, Gavin & Nana

The night before Halloween Gavin went to "HalloZOOween" with Aunt Kiki & Nana, Gavin had a blast! He didn't cry or get scared when he saw all the "dressed up" people.

Definitely overcoming that fear!

On the spooky train ride

Aunt Kiki dressed up too!!

Gavin spent the night with Nana & Kiki that night, they got up Halloween

morning and carved a "Boo" pumpkin...

Our Astronaut and Our Lil' Punkin

One Week

See post below... lots of pictures of Brody's Birthday!

We are Home....

We were discharged from the hospital on Sunday, trying to get adjusted to our new life of four! Brody is doing fabulous! The latest report is that the 2 holes in his heart are not completely through the heart and they believe they will close on their own by the time he is the age of 5. He will see the cardiologist at one month and we will know further details then. God is so GOOD!!! We give Him all the the praise for this wonderful news. I will try to update as often as possible... Here is a video montage of Brody's Birthday!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

He is here!

Brody Lane arrived at 8:42 am, weighing 8lbs 9 ounces & 20 inches. He is currently doing great and in the REGULAR!!! It's 11:45 and they just took him back for his echocardiogram. We will post results as soon as we get the information.

Tomorrow is the BIG day...

So it is 11:21pm on Wednesday and I am pretty sure I will not fall asleep at any point tonight, or should I say today in about 30 minutes. I am nervous and ready for Brody to be here! Gavin had a fun night with his great-grandparents, grandparents and Aunt Kiki. They took a trip to Hideaway, Fresh Berry and then to get a toy at the store. He was a little upset when I dropped him off today, but quickly recovered. I think he is excited, scared, confused all at the same time... hmm... sounds like me too! Well Brody should arrive shortly after 8am. Blog will be updated with pictures. Please keep the health of our son in your prayers, we greatly appreciate it!

Update on Brody

An email I sent out earlier:

Hi Friends and Family!

I just received a call from Dr. N's office. They scheduled my c-section for next Thursday, 10/22 arrive at 6am, c-section @ 8am. Dr. N made a point to say that this is not set in stone... he said that if he feels at any time between now and then that I need to go in for delivery he will send me to the hospital. This is why he has me coming in everyday between now and then. Depending on blood levels, NST test results and how my body reacts to this medicine they started me on. He advised that Adam not go out of town next week in case Dr. N decides to take Brody earlier. Otherwise, if all continues to go well, Brody will definitely be here Thursday. We continue to ask for your prayers, specifically for Brody to be fully developed and for the cholestasis to not affect him in any way. We ask for prayers for his heart, we are still believing that it will be healed! I ask that you pray that I will not have significant blood loss (a complication to the mother with cholestasis) and that I will recover from the c-section. I am obviously very nervous and worried at the moment, but at the same time trying to stay strong and rely on the strength that only comes from God. This has been a roller coaster of a pregnancy and in a way I am looking forward to it coming to an end. ;) We also ask for prayers for Gavin that he will go through this transition smoothly and for his current health issues. He broke his heart monitor and they sent us a new one yesterday. We are waiting to hear back from the cardiologist on whether or not to start him back on the new one or wait until things settle down and Adam and I are back at home with him after Brody's birth. Thanks again family and friends for your support during this time.

Faith

Gavin's Fire Party!

We had a pretty low key party for Gavin this year. We started off with breakfast at our house with some of Gavin's good friends from church. After breakfast we loaded 6 little boys up and headed to the local fire station for a tour. The boys had a blast, learned about fire safety, watched the fire man put on his gear, pet the fire dog and "drove" the fire trucks. After a fun time with friends, Gavin and I met Nana, Granny & Pepa at Chick-fil-a for Gavin's favorite lunch. Before we could leave the parking lot Gavin was passed out in his car seat. We got home and we both went down for naps. About 20 minutes into me laying down I received a phone call from my OB. I was kind of shocked because it was him personally on the phone instead of his nurse. The week before Dr. N had ordered some blood work drawn because of some unusual symptoms I had been having. Well the test results came back positive for cholestasis. (Click on the word for more information). So he wanted me to come in immediately and draw some more blood work, do a Non-Stress Test and get a steroid shot to prepare Brody's lungs for birth NEXT WEEK! He was originally scheduled to be born on October 28th, so he will be early! During all of this excitement, our family was arriving at our house for Gavin's "family party". Thank you Granny for setting everything up and to my mom and Adam for sitting with me at the doctor's office. I went back in today for my second steroid shot, I go back Friday for another NST and again next week. So with this we ask AGAIN for prayers for our baby boy and that he will be healthy upon arrival next week. This has been a roller coaster of a pregnancy and I really need prayers for a positive attitude and to trust in God's plan for us. Now on to a lighter note... here are the pictures from yesterday...

Breakfast/Fire station party with friends...

The Family Party...

Gavin giving his brother a hug, "thanking" him for his presents...

Such a sweet boy, going around giving hugs and thanks to everyone...