Cardiac catheterization

We're at Children's National Hospital

in DC waiting for Micah's cardiac catheterization. 

Laura got in plenty of snuggles and kisses this morning. 

It's comforting that this procedure is in DC the same day as the March for Life. There are lots of prayers for little babies just like Micah. 

I'll never forget having to forcefully tell doctors that we will not consider having our son aborted as an option.  We are continually focused on what we can do to give Micah a good life. As always, thanks for the prayers! We'll update everyone in a few hours. 

Update: After about a 3 hour wait, all went well!  Our doctor did some good ballooning of his right pulmonary arteries (and some to his left, as well). The before and after pictures look great.

Welcome 2015!

PHEW.

We made it.

2014 was the hardest year and the most rewarding.  We experienced some incredible hardships that prepared us for wonderful blessings.

I'm a program manager so I like to speak in bullet points. Here's a recap of the year by months.

• January: went from care-free "power couple" excited to learn the gender of our second born to despairing bloggers.
• February: coping with Micah's disease and deciding, why not, lets fix up our condo and try moving. 
• March: deciding on Children's hospital over Inova. Aka, deciding that commuting to DC isn't so bad... right?..?
• April: Sold our condo and decided to move to Bristow (aka "the country", "not Manassas", and "you know where Jiffy Lube Live is, right?") the land where nearly everyone is a commuter with small children.  Ray took the GMATs for MBA school.
• May: Moved.  Dylan started a new daycare (and got bit twice on the first day). Met many wonderful neighbors and love being close/really close to the grandparents. Micah is born!
• June: Doctors, open heart surgery, extubation, commuting, oh my!  Also, a LinkedIn message worth it's weight in gold.
• July: ECMO and the beginning of the comeback story. 
• August: Micah starts kicking butt and is extubated and sent from the ICU to the HKU.  Ray starts the first classes at the WSU Online MBA program.
• September: Micah came home after 109 days in the hospital. Finally!
• October: Our 4 year anniversary of our marriage on 10/16/10.  Micah's cheeks continue to grow.
• November: Ray started a job at Google in Reston, Va.  Dylan's second birthday.  Micah's cheeks continue to grow.
• December:  Micah's cardiac catheterization (aka the "mini surgery" postponed until the new year).  Laura graduated from her Master's program at GMU.  Micah is becoming quite the sitter.

The past few weeks have been awesome for Micah's development. Aide from the looming cardiac catheterization that was bumped because there were no open beds in the CICU and bumped again because he got sick, we really can't complain.  It still hasn't been rescheduled and is still looming, but we've been able to work with him a lot on sitting, eating and tummy time.  

2014 is a year to remember - our family grew by one and we all grew closer.  We're so thankful for all the prayers, views of our blog (over 36k!) and generosity over the year.  I have a feeling 2015 will bring many more blessings.

Thanks be to God!