Jonah’s 1 Year Fixed Heart Anniversary

What a difference one year can make.  Our greatest fear for Jonah from the time we found out about his heart defect in January was staring us in the face knowing that the time had come for his open heart surgery.  At that time Jonah had been home about a month after his 27 day stay in the NICU after his birth.  When we went in for Jonah’s routine monthly check-up with his cardiologist Dr. Hammill and when he said…“I think its time to set up Jonah’s surgery” as all I can say is wow…can you say blindsided!  We were expecting his surgery to be when he was around 5 or 6 months old.  At this time he was about 2 months old.  My heart was racing knowing that this fear that I’d been dreading since January was about to become a reality.

So on this date one year ago on July 13, 2011 at the age of 11 weeks and 1 day old Jonah’s heart was fixed.  Seeing how this played out and is now behind us, finding out about the heart defect in January was a blessing.  God gave us time to prepare our hearts and minds for his surgery.  But it still was extremely overwhelming even with the 6 months in advance notice. We leaned on God!

Sometimes in the thick of things you don’t think you’re going to make it and you can’t endure another second but God pulls you through it.  Then when you look back on it you are still in awe at what God brought you through. One of the hardest thing for any parent to endure is to see your very own child suffering in any way and knowing that you can’t take their place.  Jonah had open heart surgery…I mean I’ve had surgeries in my life before but nothing like what he went through…at 11 weeks old; not even close.  I know he was just a baby and won’t remember any of it but to see how he pulled through still truly amazes me!  God’s hand was upon him.  Thank you Lord! ~ D

Here are a few “Memorial Stone” photos, these are reminders of God’s goodness, which even after only a year I had forgotten until I went back and searched for these pics:

Praise God for his surgeon Dr Peeler

This is Jonah on his surgery day! A lot of wires and he’s pretty beat up as you can see….

Day after surgery…still out of it

2 days after surgery. You get to see his battle scar here…still resting peacefully

Also 2 days after surgery…starting to become alert and getting back to being Jonah

3 days after surgery…no extra wires to be seen. He was so tiny!

Relaxing 3 days after surgery here. How our bodies heal so rapidly is amazing!

This is 5 days after surgery…no worries here :)

Packed up and ready to go home a week after surgery…Praise the Lord!

1 Year later!