Keeping up with Four Joneses!

Today we were so grateful and blessed to be able to drop off 96 loveys and 36 blankets at Children's - Minneapolis!  Although the drop off was fairly uneventful, knowing the families of the PICU and ICC will have something soft and cuddly to hold is amazing!  Thank you so much for being apart of our project to pay it forward! Austin saw Dr. Gremmels (cardiologist) today and got a fabulous report!  Our next appointment won't be for 8 months when he's a year old.  Austin was born with 3 "holes" in his heart (PDA, VSD and ASD).  The PDA and VSD have completely closed with growth.  The ASD is still 3mm and considered a small hole.  This is down from 4-4.5mm at his last echocardiogram which was done right before he was discharged from the hospital at the end of October.  Dr. Gremmels gave it a 90-98% chance it will continue to close on it's own.  If should stay at 3mm, they would still do nothing.  Only if we start to see growth in the size of the hole would w

Hello friends!  My mom seems to be awful busy these days and slacking with the updates, so I thought I would take it upon myself to do something about it!  I know you guys are my biggest fans and prayer warriors so it's important to let you know how I'm doing!  Long story short...I'm doing great!  I'm growing which is exactly what the doctors want!  I'm now 5.425kg (yeah, yeah, I know your wondering what that is in pounds and ounces).  It converts to roughly 11 pounds and 15 ounces.  I couldn't be exactly 12 pounds because my mom (being the math teacher and all) likes the nice even numbers!  I've also grown about 3.5 inches and am now 23.5 inches long! And...drum roll please!  I slept in my crib in my room for the first time last night! I'm not sure what the big deal is, but mommy and daddy seem to think it is! I guess we will get to the medical stuff...boring!  I'm up to 13ml/hr through my feeding tube.  I got stuck at 12ml/hr for a little

I've been avoiding this post all week.  With a lot of different emotions, I returned to the job I love last Tuesday.  I went out the backdoor to my car to find well wishes from my loving and supportive husband and walked into the doors of CMS to hugs, flowers and kind words.  You all know how to make a girl feel loved!  Thank you to all!  It was tough. I knew the day was coming and I tried so hard to prepare myself knowing the day would come when we would need to leave our fragile little guy in the hands of others. As the week went on, each day felt a little more like a new normal. I constantly remind myself how blessed we are...we have Max and Austin in our lives, we have fabulous support and care from PHS and we have family and friends who love us dearly!  Needless to say, it hasn't been easy, but I'm surviving. Nothing big to report medically.  Austin is up to 11mL/hr enteral (tube) feedings and his outputs have been in the mid to upper 40's.  Dr. Kevan wants