My trooper, my son.

This is Elijah...my firstborn, and my hero. Even though he has given us a hard time due to his "busy, independent, and smart" personality, he and I have become good friends.  We have "talk time" every night and we always ask for one anothers apology when needed.

All was well at this moment... but just a few minutes later, the nurses took him to the NICU...and never brought him back.  A few hours later we found out that Eli had Transposition of the great arteries-  a birth defect causing a fatal condition(if not treated) in which there is a reversal, or switch, in the truncal connections of the two main (great) blood vessels to the heart, the aorta and pulmonary artery.  But from the beginning we were assured that through surgery this could be fixed and Elijah would live a healthy, normal life.

We were in a little bit of shock, not believing that something like this could happen to us. Elijah was flown by helicopter to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City.

To keep him from moving around too much and upsetting his fragile state, nurses had to give him medicine to sedate him. This made him feel like he had the flu-the nurses told us.  I recorded my voice singing various songs and put a little speaker by his head.  I had been working as a music therapist during my whole pregnancy, and Eli had heard the vibrations of the guitar, and my voice.  I thought this would help him...I hope it did.

This sad picture is what we saw after surgery.  He was swollen from the trauma of having open heart surgery where they stopped his heart! And he was hooked up to a million different machines in his own special room with one nurse constantly monitoring his status.It was a blessing that Travis and I had different days of strength.  When I was OK, Travis was not.  At this moment, I was able to somehow hold it together, and Travis almost fainted!

We were happy parents at this moment, and especially grateful.  The surgery was successful.  The amazing part was after we spoke with the surgeon and he told us how everything went, I saw the doctor in the cafeteria getting lunch. I felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude and amazement that here was this man that saved my son's life-literally, and yet he appeared like any other, in line to get his lunch. I was deeply humbled by the miracles in life, and knew that Heavenly Father had guided that surgeon's hands.   

Here is Elijah's nursery that was waiting for him!  We were so excited.

Eli recovered quickly and was only in the hospital for 16 days.  Although it seemed like forever, and like the world had stopped.  It consumed my whole life during that time.  He came home with oxygen and a feeding tube. Here you can see the scar where they cut his chest and sternum to get to the heart area.

Now Eli has a life just like any other 4-year old. Out of all the heart defects-this is the one to have, said the doctors.  He needs no medicine, and he can do any recreational activity he wants.  We are truly blessed.

My Super Hero.

I am so grateful for my Eli. We are so blessed to have him in our family. 

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