3 Questions

For today’s post, I wanted to start by answering three questions I am most often asked:

1.  Did all your boys have that much dark hair?

Yes!  All the boys were born with dark hair.  Asher’s is maybe on the longer and thicker side, but they all had a pretty good amount of it.  All of the nurses even comment on it when they first see him.  For the other boys, their hair usually starts to thin out and grow in light around three months or so.  For you own comparison, here’s a picture of each boy at birth:

Landon:

 

Davis:

 

James:

 

2.  How are you feeling?

Many of you want to know how I am feeling post c-section.  My recovery has gone very well, and I have minimal pain along my scar.  Usually I only notice it when my ibuprofen starts to wear off.  My stomach muscles don’t seem to be as sore as they have been in the past, so I feel like I can move around great with virtually no pain.  I still have to be careful of moving around too fast or lifting things, but that is normal for now.  I get tired easily and my body is achy if I have over done it, but that’s probably normal for all new moms!

As far as emotionally, there are definitely days of ups and downs, times when I’m more stressed about Asher and how he’s doing, and times when I’m so surprised at his progress.  I would say most days I feel moved to tears at some point throughout the day, but more times than not, it is because I am so overwhelmed with gratitude at all of Asher’s progress, all of the love and prayers from so many of you, all of the love I feel constantly from our Heavenly Father as he brings so many small miracles and periods of comfort.

3.  What is the future prognosis for Asher and his HLHS? 

We found out about Asher’s Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome at his 20 week ultrasound.  It was a very, very difficult day, to say the least, but we were blessed to meet with Asher’s pediatric cardiologist that same day for an echo cardiogram, and we learned about the basic prognosis for his life and what this condition might mean for him.  While his congenital heart defect is one of the more severe ones and is uncorrectable, they are able to make adjustments to the heart to make it function as it needs to, even though it’s not functioning like a normal heart.  Asher will go through three major open-heart surgeries.  The Norwood, which he already had, is the most risky of the three where they are only a few days old.  Without it though, babies with HLHS die within a week because they have no way to pump blood to their body.  His second surgery, the Glenn, will be around 3 months old, after his pulmonary veins have had some time to develop and grow.  His final surgery, the Fontan, will be around 3 or 4 years old.  These two surgeries have much higher survival rates – in the high 90’s.  If all goes well, his heart will be able to function for him throughout his life.  He will have to go in every 3-5 years after that for a heart catheterization, where they will close off some of the extra veins that tend to grow to overcompensate for his heart. 

However, the Norwood procedure has only been around for about 25 years, so his prognosis beyond that is not really documented.  He may need a heart transplant as he grows older, or some even need them as children.  It all just depends on how his heart responds to the surgeries, how strong his tricuspid valve remains, which pumps blood to his body, and other factors.  We will just have to wait and see.  We will always have to be careful of sickness, and we were told he couldn’t play competitive sports, especially contact sports (I’m holding out for tennis though!).  Overall though, his chances are good to live a relatively normal life.

Today:

Today, it was great to be home, to sleep in my own bed, and to work on Asher’s care here at home.  He is still struggling a bit with his formula, so I changed it from 24 cal/ounce to 22 cal/ounce.  He has to drink a little more to meet his caloric needs, but he seems to be able to drink the extra and not have as upset of a stomach.  He did still spit up once today, but not as much as yesterday. 

Landon was excited to hold Asher as soon as he woke up this morning.

 

My mom left after Davis got home from preschool and took Davis and James to Ashland until next Wednesday.  That way, I can spend a few days continuing to work with Asher on his feedings without having to take care of them.  They were excited to go!  My mom has been so helpful with the boys and taking care of things around the house.  I don’t know that we could have done it without her!  She’s only held Asher a couple of times, just since he came home, so we had to get one with her holding him before she left today.

 

Asher taking a nap at home:

As soon as Landon got home, he wanted to hold Asher.  He held him for quite awhile, talking to him, and Asher just looked up at him and all he was saying.  It was fun to see.