A message to Bennett...

We had a guest book for everyone at Bennett's party to sign.  (More on that in a later post.)  Here's the message from Chris and I that was at the beginning.

It’s hard to believe that you are a year old already.  We’ve spent much of the past month reminiscing on how things were for us a year ago.  Although we had known about the problems with your heart since June, it was at the beginning of September when we learned how serious those problems were.  Being told that there is a 70 – 80% chance that your child may not survive the rest of the pregnancy or the birth is pretty sobering news.  There was a song by Pink that was on the radio a lot this time last year.  It has the line, “Have you ever looked fear in the face and said, ‘I just don’t care’?”  I can’t even tell you how many times I sat in my car on the way to or from work, an appointment, etc listening to that song with tears streaming down my face.  At that time we would alternate between planning for your future and planning your funeral.

But you are a fighter!  You arrived a little earlier than we expected, but even that first night you were astounding people with how well you were doing.  Daddy reported that when you were at the NICU at the Brigham (to be stabilized before being transported to Children’s) the nurses were all questioning something being wrong with you because you were doing so well.  We had been informed that you might be in the hospital until when your due date was.  This would have meant a 6 week stay, but you went home in only 3 weeks.  And your heart wasn’t what was keeping you in the Cardiac ICU for so long- it was just the fact that you were so tiny and not gaining much weight.

You had a number of medical problems, some more minor than others: tongue tie, GERD, bi-lateral kidney reflux, plagiocephaly, RSV, bronchiolitis, UTI, blood infection, etc.  But what has made you so awesome, is that with all of these problems, everyone has been astounded with how well you have recovered/ handled them.

MIX 104.1 has an annual telethon to support Children’s Hospital.  When you were born we talked about how we would have to become Dream Makers (a certain amount ever month) in honour of you.  Rather than just calling in, we went down to the hospital to make our pledges.  While we were there, we told your story to one of the D.J.’s and he later spoke about you on the air.  You also were mentioned on WKLB 102.5.  Daddy wrote an email telling of your ordeal and asking them to play Trace Adkins’ “All I Ask For Anymore” in celebration of your first birthday.

Constantly Daddy and I remark to one another how awesome you are.  And it’s true!  We can’t imagine life without you here.  Although you certainly are exhausting (we’ve gone from sleepless nights to chasing after you as you have learned to crawl and walk) we wouldn’t trade you for the world.

Happy 1^st birthday!!!

Love, Mumma and Daddy