in the Christmas Spirit?

This was David's first Christmas... and only the second that Michael and I have celebrated together as husband and wife. I wanted it to be special, memorable, faith centered and captured on film so that one day it could be turned into a beautiful shutterfly photo book.

It's December 28th and only 3 of the advent candles ever got lit, it feels like we spent more time with our pediatrician than with our families, and the many attempts at a Family Christmas picture never quite produced a usable shot.

Two weeks before Christmas, at David's 2 month well check, we found out he was severely under weight. He was a little low at his one month visit but this is fairly normal for a kid with a heart condition (more on that in another post). This time, however, something was very wrong. So the pediatrician wanted me to start supplementing with a few ounces of formula after every feeding. But of course, David was NOT happy about this. What nursing kiddo would be? So he pretty much screamed for two days straight as I struggled to give him a bottle.

and why wasn't Mike helping, you ask? Because the day of David's visit, Mike had a flare up of his recurrent corneal erosion. (If you don't know what this is, it basically means that he feels like someone is shoving an ice pick in his eye for about 48 hours straight.) When this happens, he has to wear dark glasses, we have to keep all the lights in the house off and he literally can't open his eyes. Which means, not only was he in a tremendous amount of pain, but he couldn't help with David.

(When my mom called to check on me, I burst into tears. She came up and stayed with us for two days. Lifesaver. Literally.)

Since David was struggling to eat even the formula, we wanted to figure out what was going on. After a second visit to the pediatrician, we discovered David had pretty bad reflux. Then after our third visit to a lactation consultant we discovered that David has a high arched palate and a posterior tongue tie. Three problems that, when combined with his heart condition, make it nearly impossible for him to nurse. In fact, he was only getting about 1-2 ounces per feeding. At his age, he should have been taking in 5-8 ounces. Mike and I prayed for wisdom and struggled to decide what to do... should we quickly try to find a dentist to have the tongue tie taken care of? There's only one in all of Ohio who can handle David's particular type... and his office is closed until January. Should we continue to supplement with formula from a bottle? He even struggles with the wide neck bottles... the kind they recommend for breastfeeding babies. Finally, on December 23rd, the day before Christmas eve, David stopped nursing. He was tired of having to work so hard to get enough food. We decided that it's more important for him to eat than to nurse, so we switched him to the small nipple bottles and moved on.

Well, we're trying to move on. Now that David is finally getting full, he is struggling with constipation... which has given him a hernia... that will need surgery as soon as the holidays are over. (and a partridge in a pear tree.)

Before... 

... and after.
He gained a whole pound in one week.
Look! he has chubby cheeks now.

Mike and I have been floored by this. We thought everything was normal. We thought everything was fine. We thought that since we are healthy people who eat all the "right" things, who stay active, who avoid all the "wrong" things that we would have a healthy baby. A healthy baby that would be born naturally and who would nurse normally and who be adored by everyone as the happiest, most well adjusted baby on the block! Why is it than when you fall over your pride, it's not like tripping over a speed bump but more like plummeting off a tall cliff? We have been humbled and now realize that we have even less control over David's life than we originally thought... which we thought was pretty little to begin with. Our natural, non-medicated, granola plans have been replaced with formula bottles, reflux medication, dairy allergies and surgeries. But his needs trump our desires and, like Mary did in the first chapter of Luke, we will say, "Whatever, God. You do your thing. and Thanks for letting us ride along." (I'm paraphrasing, of course. :)

Despite everything going on in his body, this is the way he normally looks! We are amazed by him.