Liam's Big Week

This week was a big week for our little mr. (and ms.) on Liam's big day (explanation below) he surprised us by needing his bed lowered to the LOWEST level. Our babies are growing up! They were such happy helpers in making their beds a little safer.

We also knew that the doctor was concerned last week when Liam had gone down in weight from the previous month and he wanted our cardiologist to see him because of his heart defect. I thought the cardiologist was going to want to have him come in for his routine echo-cardiograph, (nope!) when in reality she wanted him to come in and be sedated for an echo and ultrasound of his heart. It was a little unnerving because he was just getting over a cold from the week before and is just so small, that the thought of him being sedated scared me. So once we found out his appt was less than a week away we were on lock-down, I didn't want to give Liam an opportunity to catch something and put his body at risk before his appointment.
The big day had come and Liam and I arrived a little early, enough time to play in the room while we waited to get checked in.

They got him checked in and gave him an official ankle band

And an IV.

We got back into the procedure room and they let him lay in my arms while they gave him the drugs. It was such a weird sensation to feel my baby go limp and see his eyes get a little distant.

We got him onto the bed and I watched him lay there, barely able to move his body, staring into my eyes with his deep questioning and slightly distant eyes. He would lay there and quietly murmur, I told the nurses even while being sedated he was trying to flirt. As I watched him lay there, a calmness came over me, I knew he was going to be alright. There was a happy and peaceful energy in the room. The nurse mentioned that he was fighting the drugs, I had to giggle, of course he was...that's my boy, the fighter!

I just watched his vitals as they started to set up for the tests. I remembered what everything was from when he was in the NICU. It was interesting to see his heart rate go so low as he started to give into the drugs.

Here they did an ultrasound of his heart, that was fun to see.

And then the echo-cardiograph.

All throughout the day he kept teasing us, he would dip and need oxygen and as we would go to mask him as if he knew he would pick it back up and breathe normal, silly boy. In the end the nurse just set it next to him.

And just like that it was over! He started coming out of it right away, mumbling words and looking around in a daze.

By the time we made it up to recovery he was waking up and trying to figure out what was happening. He was trying to eat his IV and couldn't quite coordinate it to his mouth.

By the time we made it home he was pretty much back to his normal happy self!

The cardiologist was so sweet and called us as we got home with the results, it seems that where they thought he had one hole in his heart there were actually two. But the blood flow between the two is less which leads us to believe the holes are getting smaller and that he is healing on his own. Needless to say I was so elated and well, relieved. What a blessing it is to know that he is getting better all on his own. I am so grateful for this experience, no matter how hard it was to watch. I feel at peace with everything because I know that everything is going to be ok, he will make it through this trial just to face another, but I know he will survive it all and be stronger for it because, he is a fighter!