Anniversary of our new normal

**This post was supposed to be posted on 12/8/12 **

I posted this  last year on the 8th There are no words and I have to say it was my most widely read blog post since I started this blog in 2009. For those of you that followed our journey this was all supposed to start on November 7th, but due to some complications we were sent back home and the surgery was rescheduled for December 8th. I left Cincy that day feeling so dejected. I was sad. I was mad. I felt bad that my mom, my mother in law drove from Iowa and my sister brought her family from North Carolina. What a waste. However, God had different plans. During the month of November as we prepared Birk for surgery I felt God nudging me telling me … “this will be the right time. Just be patient.” Turns out, he does know what he is doing." December 8th. Birk had surgery. Turned out to be so successful, the surgery itself was shorter than they planned, everything “could not have gone better” (according to Dr. Cotton), and his recovery was shorter than what we had planned. We were home in time for Christmas last year.

Since his surgery Birk has continued to amaze us. He suffered through a series of ear infections the beginning of 2012, but once spring hit he blossomed. In fact, we had an illness free summer! Birk started to love the water (after being so afraid to even take a bath). He spent his summer playing football, swimming, sleeping in a big boy bed, sleeping in his room without a baby monitor right next to his face, and we could go anywhere without a suction machine. To say I’m amazed is an understatement.


I would never have wished this journey on anyone, but I have to be honest that I wouldn’t change anything about what we went through (well, maybe I’d change a few things …. Like finding Birk not breathing in the back of my Jeep at 5 months old). Being a Mommy (and I’m sure a Daddy) to a child that has a “special need” like Birk had taught me so many things. I have learned that life is precious in ANY fashion. Just because someone, specifically a child, has something that may seem limiting doesn’t mean they are limited. We were once told Birk would never talk, he would never walk … look at him today! He and his sister are miracles in every sense of the word!