#NaNoWriMo2017, Day 21 or It’s Been a Decade

I probably write about this every year but… too bad ;). It was a momentous day for us.

This is what I posted on Facebook last year:

Nine years.

It’s been nine years since this sweet boy went in for likely life-saving surgery.

At nearly four months old he’d gone from 6lbs 6oz (and 30 days early) to just over 8lbs…and back down again. He’d spent over a week in the hospital trying to figure out why he wouldn’t gain weight.

Pics from last year

Turned out it was severe GERD and he needed a Nissen Fundoplication so he wouldn’t spit up anymore. (You know how it always seems like babies spit up everything they eat? He literally was spitting up 1/3-1/2 of every feeding. We measured.)

For the four months before that and the 9 years since, people like Roberta, Dakota, Kourtney, and the rest of the crew at our doc’s office gave us the love and support we needed – and never, ever made me feel like they thought I was doing less than my best. In fact, when I was worried they’d have no choice but to call DFS (because a baby that size losing a half a pound in one week…), they just hugged me and said they knew I was doing everything I could.

He couldn’t burp for two months and had other issues growing for the next year, but this was the beginning of his recovery.

He’s now a healthy, happy, gregarious 9yo. He’s got personality for miles (can you tell?!) and is the sweetest kid.

So grateful for him, the surgeon and his team, and all the others who supported us through that very difficult year. Love you all.

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I had spent nine days in the hospital with him from Nov. 9 to the Friday before (whatever date that was) then we went home for the weekend while they ordered the equipment they needed since the surgeon had done this surgery on tiny patients before but not since he’d moved to this hospital.

I didn’t go to bed the night before. I was so far behind on my grading that I stayed up trying to catch up. I didn’t, but I only got about 45 minutes of sleep before it was time to take my little guy to the hospital.

We were there until Sunday. Thanksgiving dinner? Hospital food. My sister brought a little of the good stuff from home, but we didn’t have out usual Thanksgiving since hospital and all. She also brought her TiVo and we watched TV all day ;).

I don’t miss those days. I do miss my tiny boy sometimes, but I don’t miss the challenges. After he made it through the not burping phase, he spent two months, literally, going 1.5-2 hours between every feeding, around the clock. That meant I never got more than 1.5 of sleep at a time, and usually less. A successful day meant everyone was alive at bedtime and the two in diapers didn’t stink too long.

That was a very long two months.

But now… he’s a generally happy, healthy ten-year-old/5th grader with a personality that doesn’t stop.

We still deal with the aftereffects of surgery, mainly that he can’t throw up unless he’s REALLY sick, but otherwise, he’s all good.

I did get some writing done last night. Not as much as I was hoping for, but some. Remember to sign up for the newsletter if you haven’t already because there’s news going out today or tomorrow most likely. That’s what I spent part of yesterday working on. I also looked through some of book 3 while working on something else and can’t wait to get back to it once In Concert with the King is finished!

Yesterday’s Stats:

In Concert With the King
Yesterday: 2136
Total: 67023

NaNoWriMo 2017
Yesterday: 2136
Total: 57736