Chase's 4th Birthday!!!!

I don't have a lot of time these days (soverytruetrustme), so today's post will mostly be in photos. Of course I had to share a recap of our special little guy's FOURTH (yes, 4th!) birthday party! We are continually amazed by this rock star of ours, and it is SUCH a blessing to see this miracle of ours living life before our very eyes! When we received the diagnosis of his congenital heart defect (CHD) at our 20-week ultrasound appointment, we spent the following few days in a state of, well, it's hard to put a word on those few days. Suffice it to say, celebrating our son's 4th birthday party was not even in the galaxy of thoughts in our minds. Wondering if he'd survive his first week of life was pretty much the main fear that consumed our thoughts. So to be where we are today is nothing short of a miracle and complete blessing!

Now on to the celebration!!!

We started his first of two scheduled parties with a Friday night shindig at Chuck E. Cheese's (his choice, not mine... obvs). He was quite excited about it, and insisted on wearing his Super Mario (Fire Power) costume mommy made for Halloween. :) Before we get to that, though, let's get a glimpse at what little E thought of his first time at good ol' CEC:

This pic says it all! Overwhelmed much? Haha!

Now on to the bday boy (and his celebration cohort, LO)! Chuck E. is getting ready to come out and throw some tickets to the "crowd," but first, they have to do a little song and dance. Chase wasn't too sure about it but was happy to go along with whatever his big sister did!

After the tickets were tossed out? Hilarious. Chase grabbed one in the air and sat down with it to marvel at his treasure while all of the other kids were scurrying about trying to nab as many as they could.

Such a proud (and oblivious) boy, that one!

Back in full Fire Mario garb, he busted a move with the balloon guitar provided. It was upside down, but man could that thing jam!

Next up? A guitar pick medal medallion thing. He was thrilled. LO (in the background)? Maybe notsomuch. ;)

Happy birthday boy!

Now on to the cupcakes. Chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate ganache buttercream and sprinkles. I think I nailed it.

Make a wish! Oh, and please ignore the mostly-gone-but-still-there remnants of a pumpkin he had painted on his face at his school's harvest festival earlier in the day...

Ready to dig in!!!

I think he was just showing off here...

Next up? The highlight and most anticipated party agenda item: the Ticket Blaster. He chose big sis to head in and collect tickets with him (even though a certain mommy begged him for the honor and was denied).

I'm pretty sure they're discussing strategy here before the blaster started.

Game on!!! I love the look of sheer joy and excitement on Chase's face!

Post-blast inventory.

Counting it up!

Now it was on to the gifts! Yay for presents!

Loved this shot! By far one of the best faces of the night, and it was for the FREE FISHER-PRICE CATALOG that Gramma & PaPa threw in with his present (you know, so he could start browsing and selecting Christmas gift ideas). Kids.

Just love this shot of my little Fire Mario birthday boy. Love him bunches!!!

Mario? Meet Mario.

The next morning was his actual birthday, so of course we started out with birthday pancakes! Disclaimer: I had the focus on my camera lens set to Manual -- without realizing it. Hence the HORRIBLY POOR focus on EVERY shot below. Sorry!

Ready for pancakes! And for that durn hat to get a run in the washing machine. Geez!

He's so handsome. And fun. And I'm so lucky. Like crazy.

Makin' a wish!

More presents? Don't mind if I do...

Haha! I think he liked the Despicable Me 2 Operation game!

More opening!

Lots of Mario goodies!

Not the best pic to end this post with, but it's late and I'm tired. We had a super great party Friday night and an AWESOME day of family fun on his birthday on Saturday. Chase is such an amazing gift from God and I am so blessed to be his mommy! There just aren't enough words for me to express how I feel about this kiddo!

Happy 4th Birthday, Chase! Mommy loves you bunches!!!!!

The Preparation.

As I sit here thinking about where I was 4 years ago at this very moment, I find it hard to put into words the emotions and fear that overwhelmed me. I was laboring with Chase at MUSC in Charleston, SC. A planned induction. An expected heart defect. Almost 4 hours from home. And So. Much. Worry & Fear.

I thought I'd throw back to 2009 here for a moment, and repost the entry I wrote 2 days before Chase's birth. I wouldn't post to the blog for 2 more days -- after my sweet warrior's birth -- so this is as close as it gets to summarizing the thoughts in my mind as I headed in to have this baby boy of mine. A sweet little boy who, though about to be born with only half a heart, had already wholeheartedly captured mine.

October 24, 2009

OhMyGoodness!

I'm truly having a hard time believing the time is almost here!

Today is SATURDAY.

I'm going to be admitted to the hospital TOMORROW.

Chase will be here on MONDAY.

It's all so surreal! I am happy to report that I finally got around to packing my hospital bag today. I guess that's part of what makes an induction so convenient -- I can plan accordingly. And it's no surprise to me that Chase hasn't shown any signs of making an early debut. But now that the bag is packed and I'll be heading to the hospital in less than 24 hours, I think it's time for it to finally settle in that I'm getting ready to have a baby!

Although the future is VERY scary to me and I fear for my son's health and survival in the coming days, I know that ultimately we are all in God's hands and that He has a perfect plan for my family. I'm not at all loving that I will have ZERO control over our circumstances. I'm not loving the fact that I most likely will not be able to hold my son for the first time until the night before his surgery, which very well might not be scheduled for 7 or more days after he's born. I'm not loving being 3-1/2 hours from home -- from our friends, our family, the house we call home. It's really weird to prepare to go to the hospital to give birth to a baby that you know you won't be bringing home with you anytime soon. I almost feel like I'm just going in for a "procedure" of some kind, and then a few months later, I'll get to go back and pick up a baby to bring home with me. It's so strange! I've never felt anything like this before. But I'm truly anticipating that God will do wonderful things over the next several weeks and I'm so grateful I get to witness His work first-hand!

- Posted using BlogPress on my beloved iPhone 5

Epic Win

I'm taking every victory I can get here lately -- none too big or too small. With the mess of things I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to juggle recently, I don't necessarily go looking for additional ways to add to my crazy. But there was one thing that required my attention:

Chase's hair.

This kid. I'll tell you, he's been through more in 4 years than most adults will experience in a lifetime -- 2 open-heart surgeries, 3 heart catheterizations, several outpatient surgeries -- but if you come within 5 feet of this kid with a comb and some scissors? It's major meltdown central.

I don't know why. He's been that way for, well, basically forever. Not a fan of the haircut. As in, hold-him-down-kicking-and-screaming-while-the-poor-stylist-tries-desperately-not-to-cut-herself. He seriously handles hospital recoveries better than haircuts.

So rather than subject an underpaid stylist to put up with that kind of crazy, I opted to... wait for it... attempt it myself.

It was the perfect setup, from cartoons on TV to sitting in his own chair. But it still went down like mad. Luckily no one ended up scarred, bleeding or bald. 😉

I figure, after all he's been through, he can have this. The haircut crazy frenzy meltdown. Every. Single. Time. But I think it relieves some stress having him perform this madness in the comfort of our own home.

Not the best Before/After pics, but I promise it's much improved! My big kid!!! Four years old tomorrow!!!




- Posted using BlogPress on my beloved iPhone 5

First day of 1st Grade!

Here I am, ready to receive my Mother of the Year award!

Seems I started a post about LO's first day of 1st Grade (which yes, happened to take place over 2 months ago) but never managed to publish it on the blog! OMGeez. I'm awful!

Here she is striking a pose for the camera before leaving for school:

Isn't she just darling?!

Here she is right outside of her new 1st grade classroom:

My beautiful girl!!!

One last stalker-pic of her in the classroom before mommy left...

She had a great first day! And needless to say, she's enjoyed the past 2 months of 1st grade! LOL!

Just as a fun comparison, let's see her first day of school transition from K3 through First Grade!

She's growing up so fast!!! I'm so proud of this sweet girl of mine!

Coming up soon... CHASE'S 4TH BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!! Two days. Two parties. One amazing little fighter. And one mess of a mommy! We are SO. VERY. BLESSED. to have our sweet boy with us. He's been through so much! God is good! I can't wait to celebrate!!!

Five Months!

Happy 5 Months, baby E!

After last night's late-night vent session about time and the lack of it these days, I'm trying desperately to get myself together today. This has included a much-needed albeit minor update to the blog design for fall, the inclusion of baby #3 in the header graphic (welcome, little E!) and a 2-weeks-late 5 month photo session with the little guy this morning.

I'll admit this time and again: it is NOT an easy task for 1 person, 1 baby and 1 50mm lens to make magic happen. Hence the complete lack of a smile on the little guy's face. I tried to get Chase to help me make him smile, but that wasn't half as much fun as playing on the iPad, so I lost out there. If you know how to make a baby smile while simultaneously taking said baby's photo, I would LOVE to hear it!

Just a little recap on where we are 5 (and a half) months into things with baby E. He's SUPER AWESOME in the baby sleeping/eating departments. All of our kiddos have done well with these areas at an early age and I promise we haven't taken it for granted! Sleeping a good 8-10 hours at night around 2 months, then stretching out to a good 10-12 hours by 4 months is nothing short of a blessing! Especially when you have bedtime and morning school routines for two older kiddos to contend with! And he's been a great eater, as evidenced by the massive 15 1/2 pounds of baby pictured above. We're starting to settle into a feeding schedule -- about 4 times per day -- and I couldn't be more ecstatic that he's a nursing champ and that my supply has kept up with him! My long-time readers can remember the significant milk supply issues I had with LO and Chase, so I consider it a HUGE blessing to be in such a great place with him (not to mention the amazing frozen stash in our recently-purchased chest freezer!).

I admit I haven't been working terribly hard on getting him to roll over, sit up, etc. I know these are milestones he should be reaching around this age, and don't get me wrong -- he's close. He has rolled over two or three times (tummy to back), but I'm just not in a hurry to see this guy grow up. I guess that's pretty normal for the youngest/last baby (or so I'm told). For now I'm just enjoying those squishy cheeks and plenty of love and squeezes with my sweet baby.

Life as a stay-at-home/part-time-working/full-time-PTA-volunteering mama is HARD WORK. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise! At times I wish I worked a full-time job because it would eliminate a LOT of the "stuff" on my plate as a SAHM, but I wouldn't trade these special years for anything! I'm learning firsthand how quickly time passes (did I mention that little guy above will be HALF A YEAR OLD in TWO WEEKS!?) and I'm feverishly considering my options to allow me to put a greater focus on my children and family during these special years that will be over in a fleeting moment. Too many distractions and not enough quality time. That's what life boils down to for me these days. And believe you me I won't stop 'til I figure out how to balance it all... even if my FAMILY is the only thing left standing in my new & improved day-to-day routine!

(Hopefully) coming soon to the blog: The past few months in PICTURES. We've been up to a lot these past few months, and it's time to share with y'all (Read: document our life here on the blog so I have something to refer to when updating baby books and so my old-lady brain doesn't forget all the fun we've had)!!! :)

Thanks for hanging in there and being patient with me and my lack of updates, friends!

Time

Time.

What a rare commodity. Seems I've been running short on it here lately.

And by lately, I mean the past 6 months or so.

My head is swirling with a zillion thoughts on how to get back some of this precious gift of time.

Give up my part-time job?

Walk away from my position with the PTA?

Get another mom to room parent my 1st grader's class?

Quit one of the few church ministries I've always been called to serve in? ((Oh, wait -- I already did that last month.))

:(

There are so many things I need more time for.

Time for my family.

Time to blog the events and milestones I don't want to forget.

Time to play with my kids.

Time to update my almost 6-month-old's (!!!) baby book.

Time to sew my kids' homemade Halloween costumes / dress up play clothes.

Time to clean my house. It's seriously filthy and overlooked.

Time to plan my precious boy's 4th birthday party.

Time to pray and pray and pray and pray some more over Chase's next heart surgery that will take place most likely in May.

Time to update the blog about Chase's cardiology appointment earlier today.

Time to cook healthy meals for my family.

Time to grocery shop.

Time to spend in God's word.

Time to actually date my husband (without 3 kids & a drive-thru on the agenda).

The list goes on and on and on. I'm sure every mom can relate. It's not easy to balance work, family, volunteering and other commitments that require our time. I give kudos to those moms who were wired with the ability to work a full-time job while raising a family and still manage everything else with ease. I'll fully admit I am NOT wired that way.

If you would've asked teenage me what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was always the same:

A wife and a mother.

I'm there now. I've arrived. But I'm letting too many distractions keep me from doing my best at these two incredibly important roles that I've waited so long to fulfill.

I find myself missing out on the two weeknights of quality family time that I'm home each week by sitting at my computer, putting the needs of my daughter's school ahead of my family.

I find myself missing out on the ministry opportunity of singing in the choir each Wednesday because I'm so tired and overwhelmed by life to find the strength or willingness to go.

I find myself missing out on the relaxing yet productive Saturdays at home with my family because I'm commuting and working for 10 of those precious hours every Saturday.

I find myself missing out of the joy of worshipping with my family and setting a good example for our kids by attending church on Sundays because I'm too tired from working the day before and am just so desperate for some "downtime" with my family.

I find myself missing out on sharing in special school events with my children because although I volunteered to help with both LO & Chase's field trips, I just realized tonight that they are BOTH next Friday.

With Chase's first 4th birthday party that night.

Followed by Chase's second 4th birthday party the following morning (What? If anyone deserves two parties, it's this Rock Star Heart Warrior of mine!).

Whoa.

If you've read this far, way to go! Regular readers will know I always keep it real here. I'm being incredibly open and transparent with my struggles tonight -- that's for sure! If for no other reason, it's a wee bit liberating to me to put my thoughts out here so I can come back later and see that maybe it wasn't really as bad as it felt like at the time. Maybe?? And brain dumping on my blog has always been a good source of release for my crazy. ;)

So thanks to those of you who made it to the end. I covet your prayers as I work through some difficult decisions in the days ahead. Your support means so much!

Now to try and fit in some time for a few hours of much-needed sleep.

G'nite!


- Posted from my beloved iPhone 5

Four Months!

Happy 4 Months, baby E!

This little guy is the greatest! He's so laid-back and easygoing. Pretty perfect combination for a 3rd child, am I right?? He's been sleeping through the night since about 2 months old and I am so sorry I'm so lame that I haven't been posting more info and pics of this little nugget of sweetness! I promise myself (and grown-up E) that I'll do better so a certain little person doesn't end up with some crazy syndrome of being dwarfed in the shadow of big sis and big bro's blog highlights!

Here are a few outtakes from this morning. Side note: mommy was brilliant enough to time the photo shoot when the little person should have been napping! This my reasoning for his seriousness and lack of smiley-ness!

I just love him so!

Sweet Boy!

I thought I'd share some recent pics of our littlest guy, E, while his big sister and brother are getting all of their "back to school" attention...

Oh, wait -- what?? Did you catch that?? There are some pics of Chase mixed in! These boys sure do favor each other... only Chase never had as much "chunk" as E does. LOL!

Only the first and last pics are actually Ethan. The two in the middle are Chase!

Sweet boys!!!!!

First Day of Preschool!

Believe it or not (I choose not), my precious little Rock Star, "Baby Chase," began his first day of preschool. I am so full of emotions right now -- mostly feeling grateful, blessed, thankful... I can't believe that this day finally arrived! When you're told that your unborn baby would be born with half a heart and would die without 3 heart surgeries in their first 3-4 years of life, you don't have the luxury of imagining their first birthday, much less their first day of school. God has been SO GOOD.

I was VERY nervous about how he'd do. The ONLY time he's ever been outside of my, hubs', my mom's or my in-laws' care is when he attends his nursery/class at church. That's it. Every other moment of his life outside of church class he's been in my/hubs' care, a few select family members' care, or the care of an anesthesiologist and surgeon during one of his 9 surgeries/procedures.

Whoa.

He'd usually do great with his church class, up until a few weeks ago anyway. We were called to come get him from his class a few weeks ago and he WILL.NOT.GO.BACK. He straight up refuses, kicking and screaming, and there's no way we will ever get him back in that classroom. Nor do we want to. Obviously something left an impression and we have no choice but to move on. I tell you this only to say that his last/most recent experience with "going to class" has been extremely negative.

{{Insert my overwhelming concern for his first day of school here.}}

So the day finally arrived and I was NERVOUS. I had to wake him up, which (like his mommy) usually isn't a good thing. But to my surprise he jumped up out of bed and was super excited about his first day of school. We got through breakfast, getting dressed, brushing teeth and even... wait for it... brushing his hair. If you know Chase, you know he HATES having his hair brushed/cut/etc. so it was HUGE for him to sit in my lap for me to do his hair. Crazy awesome.

He walked into his new school (the same beloved Christian private school LO attended for K3 & K4), marched right into his classroom, and washed his hands (per protocol, thankyouverymuch) before finding his seat at the table and having some Play-Doh fun. It was the cutest thing.

Again, I was super nervous when it came time for us to slip out of the room, but I was already on such a high that he WILLINGLY walked INTO his class that I could tell he was going to be just fine. As expected, he waved us off while rolling out his Play-Doh and was nothing but smiles.

Thank you, Jesus! What an unbelievable answer to prayer!!!!!

When it was time to pick him up (just under 4 hours later), I peeked through the window and saw him eating his lunch with all the other kids like such a big boy. It made my mama heart proud to see how well he was doing! And boy was he super excited to see me, LO and E when we walked in! He told me how he got to finger paint and color and was just in such a wonderful mood.

When we went out to the car, he found a gift bag with some goodies inside (just like I did for LO after her very first day of school), so I let him open his gifts before heading home after his first day. I am just SO very proud of him. There just aren't words!! Just so proud.

Here are some pics from his awesome first day!

How'd THIS Happen?

Someone tell me how it's possible this little heart warrior of mine will be starting preschool TOMORROW!? I vividly remember wondering if this day would ever come -- if we would be lucky enough to have our sweet boy survive his first few days, then weeks, then months... To know he's THRIVED for almost FOUR YEARS and is starting preschool is an absolute blessing. We thank the Lord for this child and I pray he has a most wonderful first day of preschool!

Side note: I will be *that* mom in the morning -- the one huddled in the fetal position in a corner bawling my eyes out. Ya, that's me.

I just love him so!!!

World's Best Mom

So I think E is gonna have that "third child" complex thing for sure. Here he is going on 4 months old and I have yet to post his birth story on the blog nor hang up a single picture of him at the house.

Horrible mom. Scarring my children for life since 2007.

On another note, I know I still haven't updated y'all on Chase's cath results or his Fontan timing. The short story is his cath went great, his pressures are great, making him a good candidate for the Fontan, and that's really all we know. We've scheduled an appointment with his local cardiologist next month as he will share any news/updates from the team at MUSC at that time, but honestly we aren't expecting much more than confirmation that we're still good for next spring. I'll update again after that appointment.

- Posted using BlogPress via my beloved iPhone 5

LO Humor

I couldn't help but document a humorous moment with LO here. This was from yesterday when we were eating lunch. She's talking about the powder drink mixes for bottled water:

"Mom, I know how to do it. Open the bottle, add the powder stuff, shake it up and BOOM. Lemonade."

The best part was that she said it totally dry and very matter-of-fact-ly.
Love her.
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Thank You!

Just a quick post to say Thank You to the family and friends who have prayed us through another big heart procedure on our sweet Chase. The tally is up to 2 heart surgeries, 3 heart caths, 2 bronchoscopies and 2 outpatient surgeries. This boy has been through a LOT, with at least one more heart surgery to go.

We just simply couldn't walk this journey if it weren't for the grace of God and the love and support of our family, friends, neighbors, Facebook friends, twitter followers and blog readers. I send much love and gratitude to each of you!!!

I promise I'll write a post soon with the findings from today's cath and the plan for Chase's last scheduled heart surgery, the Fontan. For now my focus is on getting Chase settled into bed (after some late-night Mario Wii per his request) and getting little E fed and settled down for the night. Oh, and hopefully a long, restful night for mommy & daddy, too!

Thanks again to all of you for supporting us though our journey.

❤️ hugs!


- Posted using BlogPress via my beloved my iPhone 5

Cath Complete!

Just got the call at 12:05 PM. Going to see my boy.


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Cath Update #4

Our fourth update came in at 11:37 AM. They are pulling out the catheters now and preparing to put pressure on the insertion sites. This means they are finishing up and will have him up to recovery soon. Keep praying!!


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Cath Update #3

Just got our third update at 10:51 AM. They are coiling some collateral vessels and we'll get another update in about an hour. Please keep praying for my boy!!!

FYI: "Collateral vessels are abnormal blood vessels that connect the aorta with the pulmonary arteries, but they are normally small and are not used. Children with congenital heart disease have enlarged collateral vessels, which can let blood flow from an artery to an adjacent artery or it may carry blood downstream and then back to the same artery. To stop this flow and pumping blood into the lungs, coil embolization creates a blood clot which stops this reverse flow."

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Cath Update #2

Just got our second call at 10:07 AM. They ended up using three access points, one in both legs and one in the right side of his neck. We were not expecting this. They are doing the contrast dye angiograms now.

Please keep praying.

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Cath Update #1

Just got our first call at 8:57 AM. He went under the anesthesia fine. They have femoral venous access in his right leg and are assessing arterial access from either his neck or left leg. Will get another call in about an hour.

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Cath Begins

They took Chase back for his cath around 7:45 AM this morning. We arrived at the hospital at 6:45 AM and did some quick vitals. His o2 was 91%, which is well above his normal range of 82-85%. Weird. His BP was fine and thankfully there wasn't much else to do this morning since we did the full work up yesterday.

Chase handled things well, as long as he had his iPad in front of him (seriously, Best.Investment.Ever.). He refused to put on his gown (no surprise there) and refused to take his Versed (a.k.a. Happy Meds), so daddy and I had to hold him down for that. No worries, though. About 10 minutes later he was feeling the effects of it and had us laughing, forgetting what was ahead if only for a moment.

He wasn't "happy" enough to leave with the team, so mommy & daddy got to walk with him and the anesthesiologist down to the cath lab. He was starting to get so out of it. But when Dr. W picked him up from the gurney to carry him into the lab, he fought with whatever strength he could muster, which really wasn't too much by this point. I felt horrible but at least there wasn't any kicking or screaming.

I kissed my boy, told him I love him and to be brave, and watched him be carried into the cath lab for his procedure.

As the door closed, I found that I couldn't move. I stood there. Still as could be. Tears streaming down my face. My goal was to hold it together while I was with him, to be strong for him and not let him see the fear or worry I was filled with. Once those doors closed, I couldn't hold it together any longer.

It's so hard.

Being a mother to a child with a complex congenital heart defect is hard. So very hard. We have to do things that no mother should have to do. We have fears that no mother should have to fear. We have scary, uncertain futures ahead for our children that most mothers don't have. It's so hard.

But in the midst of my fears, and in the midst of the tears, I know Who holds my son's precious life in His hands. It's not me, not the doctors. It's my Lord and Savior, and without the knowledge of His love for me and my son, I could never get through a day like today.

I covet your prayers for Chase as he undergoes this heart catheterization. Our hope is that it remains a diagnostic procedure and doesn't require any intervention, although if they do find anything that needs attention, now is the time to address it. I'm hopeful Chase handles the anesthesia well and comes out of it without any pain.

We should receive updates every hour to hour and a half. I'll post updates here as I get them.

Thank you for your continued prayers for our sweet boy!

Here are a few pics from this morning:

Loving the iPad.



Versed on board and he's happy as a clam. Here he's putting the bubblegum-scented oxygen mask on Mickey.



The ride to the cath lab. He started in the middle of the gurney but started leaning over as we went along.



So. Very. Out of it. This was right before Dr. W took him into the cath lab. My sweet little Rock Star. I love him so.



- Posted using BlogPress via my beloved my iPhone 5

Cath Prep

Today has been quite an eventful day and I have never been more proud of BOTH of my boys! We had an early morning start to get us to MUSC in time for Chase's pre-cath work up, but the boys were both champs in the car. E slept basically the entire time and went almost 6 hours before he was finally ready to eat again! I was glad he did so well since this was his first long trip. Chase enjoyed lots of movies and snacks and for the most part seemed okay with our trip. He did say he didn't want to go to Charleston because he didn't want "that boy looking in his ears" (his ENT doc's student at his last visit), but overall didn't have many complaints.

We had the work up completed in record time! Only about 2 1/2 hours for the EKG, height, weight, oxygen saturation and questions. And Chase was straight up AMAZING!!! He handled everything with ease and there were no major freak outs (THANK YOU, iPad!!!). He even asked questions and wanted to know what was happening the whole time. Obviously quite different than his last cath almost 2 1/2 years ago! We answered all of his questions and discussed each activity beforehand so he'd know what to expect.

Here's our boy getting his EKG like a mad man:


And who owned the echo?? Oh, that's right -- it was Chase!


After we met with our favorite pediatric cardiology interventionist to discuss the procedure and saw our amazingly awesome anesthesiologist, we got our game plan for the cath and headed over to ENT for a quick follow up for Chase's ear tubes.

And by "quick" I mean that we waited OVER 2 1/2 HOURS just to see his ENT, who literally spent about 8 minutes in the room, 7 of which was small talk!

Whew.

Once we were finally able to leave the hospital, we went straight for -- you guessed it! -- ICE CREAM!!! I figured our big boy deserved a treat after the day he had (and the day he's going to have tomorrow).



Thanks in advance for your thoughts and prayers during Chase's cath in the morning. I'll post updates here as often as I can. We expect it'll take anywhere from 2 to 5 hours, depending on whether or not they need to do any coiling or ballooning.

- Posted using BlogPress via my beloved my iPhone 5

Another Heart Cath

Considering I haven't blogged in a while, it may come as a surprise to many of you to hear that Chase will be having another heart catheterization procedure at MUSC later this week. While Chase's special heart is something that is constantly on my mind, it's not something I choose to write about here often, unless of course we have heart-related news to share.

Some of you may recall that Chase had what was considered his pre-Fontan cath back in March 2011. The purpose of this cath was to confirm Chase would be a candidate for the Fontan, the third and final scheduled palliative surgery for his congenital heart defect (CHD) called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). This cath was supposed to be his last/only cath before his third heart surgery.

However, almost 2 1/2 years have passed since his last cath procedure, and we (his parents, pediatric cardiologist and surgical team at MUSC Children's Hospital), have all agreed that it would be best to get another peek at his heart before we schedule his Fontan, which will most likely take place next spring. So that means another heart procedure involving general anesthesia and all of the not-so-lovely risks of a heart catheterization procedure.

Ugh.

Please keep our little Rock Star Chase in your thoughts and prayers throughout this week as we prepare for his procedure. The last time we went through this he wasn't quite 1 1/2, so it wasn't terribly difficult to care for him since he wasn't able to verbalize his fears, concerns, etc.

This time around, we have a very opinionated almost 4-year-old on our hands, who will be VERY aware of what is going on around him and VERY unhappy with all of it. This one is gonna be hard on all of us (none more so than Chase, of course), considering we'll also have our hands full with our little 3 month old while supporting Chase through this procedure. Should be interesting!

Here's a pic of our little Chase following his March 2011 heart cath procedure:

We're praying he rocks out this procedure and that we don't find any surprises. If you're curious about his previous cath from 2011, you can read about that here.

Thanks for your prayers!