Hayden's Surgery

Last Friday, Hayden went in bright and early at 6am for surgery. The night before, to help ease my worries, I went out with a few of my June birthday girlfriends to a Ladies of the 80's sing-a-long that was a blast and got me home really late.

The children's surgery center had told me that Hayden wouldn’t be allowed to eat after 2am. This is so that he wouldn't get sick from the anesthesia. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I stayed up to feed Hayden an early feeding that he isn’t used to and it worked like a charm. He was just fine skipping his morning meal. He slept for the hour drive to the children’s surgery center and was all smiles when I had to hand him over in tears to his nurse.

Even with the knowledge that the surgery was best for him and my faith that all would be well, nothing could stop my tears from flowing knowing that my little baby had to cut open once again and recover from being stitched up.

Hayden had hernia surgery, circumcision, a bladder scope and another corrective surgery that went along with his circumcision that we weren't anticipating. Fortunately after all the doctor’s hard work for the 2 hour procedure and the recovery from anesthesia, Hayden was on his way home around noon. We both ate lunch and slept the rest of the day.

Thank you to those of you who prayed for Hayden. We took him to church today to thank and worship God for his goodness to us. Hayden was happy to see everyone and has been handling his recovery pain amazingly.All along we have been blessed by the good care that Hayden is receiving.

In the world of Spina Bifida, one of the most important specialty doctors is a urologist. The urologist helps with the day to day bladder and bowel issues that many SB people deal with. Not only are we blessed to have a urologist that focuses on children but that also specializes in Spina Bifida. We are blessed by his care, skill and education that enables Hayden to live a fuller life.

After such an emotionally serious weekend, our 2 year old knows how to keep us laughing….
Hanna is currently becoming interested in potty training and all of its dirty details. This morning, I was applying a self tanning lotion with a bronzer in it that I was rubbing onto my legs. Hanna excitedly pointed out to Daddy…Mommy pooped!


On another note…below are some of the adorable pictures that we took recently of Hayden and Hanna.

4 months old

Hayden had his 4 month doctor apmt today weighing in at 15lbs 11oz while whizing on the scale:). His weight and height of 26 inches put him in the 75%, just up from his SB Clinic visit. Our big boy is doing well learning and working hard in his physical therapy apmts too. He is rolling over from his side to his back.

He isn't sitting up very well just yet, but we keep him working hard.

His elephant outfit is just so darn cute, we had to get him in it today for his pictures.

Just two more days till his surgery on Friday.

Hanna's swimming lessons

Hayden working hard at tummy time. He should be pushing his head up with his arms reaching forward, but he thought that the pillow meant nappy nap time and he got his arms down beside him.

Here are the kids at Father's Day too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwvv5IyPkXM

Hanna is taking awesome swim lessons. Above is the link to the technique and below is Hanna swimming here at week 2.

Hayden's Story at Seton

Hayden had a very special 2 hour photo shoot that included several of the doctors & nurse from both hospitals that helped us bring him into this world with extreme care.

This is currently being published for Seton Hospital's annual report. It warms my heart to know that others recognize how special he is. I don't think of him as my special needs son, just my special son.

Several people always ask me how is he doing? One of my friends said that she didn't realize just how serious the Spina Bifida diagnosis was. She said that he looks like he is doing so well and normal.

I guess for me, it is hard to express what a miracle is. A miracle is evident in the simple everyday things that Hayden is able to do. He breaths, eats, smiles and kicks his legs. To some those might not seem like miraculous things, but for a child with Spina Bifida and all that comes with the uncertainty of Arnold Chari II Brain malformation, the normal everyday things are miracles. Hayden has blessed me to praise God for the little miracle that he is and each day that his health appears to be normal. We just take one day at a time and thank God for it.

Hayden's Blessing and Spina Bifida Clinic

Hayden had a very special baby blessing last Sunday. He had his Grandma Anna and Pappy come to visit from Montana and Great Aunt Terry drove a round trip from Dallas. In our faith we don't believe in infant baptism so we hold a blessing. http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=f318118dd536c010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=43695991d66db010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1 The blessing at church was so special because of all the prayerful faith of all the people and our ward that had held a fast for Hayden and his health prior to his birth. Many Priesthood holders participated in the circle of the blessing. Scott bore his testimony after the blessing in front of the congregation and said that if he could have had every Priesthood holder in the circle that had prayed for Hayden he would have.

Here we are trying to get Hanna excited about taking a nice pre-church photo.

We had a wonderful time with Grandma Anna and Pappy swimming with Hanna at the pool, eating BBQ and frozen yogurt at our new favorite place, Yogurt Planet and just hanging out. While the Grandparents were here, they stayed with Hanna while we went to our Spina Bifida Clinic with Hayden. His fast acquisition MRI showed that his shunt was working properly and that everything looked good. We also learned that with the AC II brain malformation and the correction of the hydrocephalus, the malformation does not improve, but has not shown to be symptomatic. Unfortunately while we were at clinic, we also learned that the other little SB girl that was in the hospital with Hayden had to have emergency shunt replacement surgery. We have been keeping her in our prayers and are so grateful to God for our blessings.Hayden also weighed in at a whopping 15.3 lbs. He is now in the 50% for weight and 50% for height, add those together and he is 100% our sweetheart little boy! He is rolling over from his side and swatting at toys and smiling the whole time:).

Hanna is our little singer, performer and talking non-stop. Hayden will have hernia surgery and circumcision on the 26th. Please keep him in your prayers.

Hayden's 3 months old and Memorial weekend happenings

Hanna has been practicing hard at being gentle with Hayden. Here he has one arm out protecting himself just in case. She loves being a big sister.Hayden is such a mellow baby that he lets his mom do double duties.Hayden finally got to meet his Poppy and Nana who drove all the way out from Albuquerque to meet their first Trigg grandson! He gave them lots of smiles and hugs. Hanna loved seeing her Nana and Poppy again and having them run around after her at the Botanical Gardens.
This picture was taken earlier of Hanna in her new swim suite. She loves going swimming!

Denver Nuggets biggest fan has Spina Bifida

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4215901