Boogies

Well...the cough and boggies have been caused by a sinus infection! Poor little guy! We got some antibiotics and he should be feeling better soon! The shots didn't go well, he cried for 30 mins after they were over! Dramatics! He is sleeping now and I know he will be VERY unhappy when he wakes up! Im going to get going so i can enjoy my peace! Happy 6 month birthday baby boy! We love you!

6 Months

Malachi will be 6 months old tomorrow! We are celebrating with his 6 months shots at the doc. Yuck. When he got his 4 month shots he was a BEAST afterward. Tomorrow I will be brining the Tylenol and will be ready to give it to him. We will also give him his favorite dinner...sweet potatoes! Exciting day, I know.

The BIG day is getting closer and closer. We are busy getting things in line. Josh is working on sub plans for 7 to 10 days, I've been busy talking to the PICU social worker trying to line up our stay at the Ronald McDonald House and we have both been going over finances for our week in Chicago. Not to mention we are getting Malachi dedicated the sunday before we leave and hosting a big lunch at our house afterwards! And while we have all of this going on, I still have to take him to 6 doc appoints in 2 weeks! Soon this will all be over and we will be wondering what to do with all our free time!

Good news, his cough is getting a lot better!! I have only heard him cough twice today! Praise God. Josh is currently sucking boogies out! It seems like the never ending processes. He is a boogie making machiene!

I will be posting more and more as we get closer to the big date! Keep praying for Malachi!!!

Surgery and other stuff

Jan. 20th is the BIG day! The day that we have been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. The day we hand over Malachi to the skilled surgeons to fix his broken heart! Josh and I have been busy preparing ourselves mentally for the overload of emotions we will experience at the end of the month. We are focusing on the positive outcomes that this surgery will provide for Malachi. He will have a working heart, many of his other health complication will lessen, he will have more energy and he will (hopfully) stop taking majority of his medications which are currently keeping him alive! We can't wait for this to be done witth. We are thankful that Malachi will remember none of it! We will be keeping you all updated on his progress through the surgery and through out his recovery! Malachi is our hero!
Aside from all the medical issues Malachi is doing great! He is growing (now 10.13 oz) and making progress in eating, as well! He is getting more and more active and learning how to get his arms and legs under him! We are getting excited to start PT and OT. Hopfully we will get started before the 20th, but we heard there is a waiting list out here. Our lawyer is going to write the company and see if she can get our name pushed farther up on that list.
Some good news, Malachi had his VCUG donw today and we found out that everything looks normal! There is no Urinary Reflux! Josh and I are very excited to cross yet another possible complication off the list!
No other exciting news. He has a little cold Josh and I are trying everything so it doesnt turn into anything!! Please pray God keeps him healthy!
Thank you for all your support! There are a few things we would ask you to pray for.
*The docs and nurses that will be doing the surgery. Give them knowledge, steady hands and gentle touch.
*For Josh and I as we prepare for 7-10 days of recovery. This will be a very difficult time for us!
*For finances. We will be eating 3 meals a day out! Thats 21-30 meals we will ahve to buy. This expence is not in our budget but we are confident God will provide one way or another.
*Thank God for keeping Malachi healthy, for sustaining him and being the Great physician!

We are thankful for each of you!! Love you!

The new year...

Happy New Year! We have been so busy around here I haven't even had a chance to blog about Christmas. Please know that we are all doing GREAT! We are in the process of switching all of Malachi's Docs and getting him started in PT, ST,OT and so on. Malachi surgery will still be on the 20th and we are busy trying to keep him healthy. He has a cold right now with a bad cough. We are praying that we can get him through this with no hospitalization. If he gets admitted we will have to wait another 4 weeks for the surgery! Please pray that he gets better soon! And if any one has any home remedies to get rid of a cough let me know!

Have a great first week of 2009! I hope to find time to blog more after Josh goes back to work and things settle down here!

Merry Christmas

We hope everyone had a great Christmas!! I know we did. It was great spending time with both sides of the family! We know Malachi had a great time too! He didn't want to sleep! And we are paying for it today!

I will post pictures when I have more time!!

1 Month

Peewee has been home with us for 1 month (on last friday). Crazy huh? Josh and I feel like the time has flown, but we also feel like he has been with us all along! Malachi has changed our lives for the better!

This is a picture from the 1st time we met him. He was only 6lbs. And had only been out of the hospital for a week. He was about 3 months old. This is the momment Josh and I feel in love with our son!

This was our second visit and our 1st family picture! I think he was around 7 lbs when this was taken. We went and visited him every weekend for 2 months. It was a long time of waiting and working to complete all the paperwork. It seemed like he would NEVER come home!

And here is our 2008 Christmas picture! He is 10.58lbs and getting stronger every day. He has been home a month and has enjoyed getting settled in. We can't wait to see what the next months hold. We love you little man!

Surgical Consult.

We got up super early and headed into Chicago for Malachis surgical consult on wed. After a lot of waiting we FINALLY got to speak to his surgeon (who we LOVE). He explained that the wall that separates the 2 ventricles of his heart was not there causing blood to "swish" everywhere and not properly circulated. Their plan is to go in and patch the hole (he has a little bit of the wall at the bottom and top of his heart, but it does not connect which makes a hole) with Gortex. Josh was pretty excited about this and said that Malachi was going to have a waterproof heart. (It was nice to have some comedic relief, i was feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of tears). There is another issue that they are going to have to fix, he only has 1 valve. So they are going to make 2 valves form the one. The actually surgery should take about 5-8 hours but the prep time will at up to 2 hours onto that. Because they are operating on his heart they are going to have to stop it. He will be hooked up to a machine (i forgot the name of it) to keep blood flowing to his brain. Because he is so little he will be needing a blood transfusion. He does not have enough blood to run through the machine. They will be braking his chest bone to get to his heart. I am scared. This is something no one should ever have to go through, let alone a 5 month old. He is a fighter and I know he will fight through this too! He is my Hero.

So we have to go in January 19 for some pre-op stuff but the surgery will take place on the 20th. We are waiting to get in contact with the social worker to see if there are any openings at the Ronald McDonad house that is close by. His recovery will be 7 to 10 days from the day they take the breathing tube out.

We need you to pray! Pray for the surgeons, nurses and Malachi. Pray for our family as this will be VERY difficult time. Pray for finances so that we don't have to worry about that too! We will be making a prayer card and mailing it to family and friends. If you want to be included e-mail me with your address. Thank you for all your support along the way. We look forward to the day when this is all behind us and Malachi is a Healthy little boy!