There are no words to express how joyful an Full my Heart is! I have been crying tears of joy and thankfulness all day and just telling God all day, "Father you knew it the entire time and you saved him and are showing us( Mom and Dad) that our little boy was Greater than we could have ever imagined- Brave and Powerful and Inspirational like No other! Yes there are much worse illnesses and God Knows We know how blessed we are and that it could be so much
worse but this baby has had a huge surgery and been poked on and had more tubes and drains than I have ever seen on someone and soared through it like a
SuperHero! Yes I know we know kids are resilient but this has been mind boggling- especially after our day yesterday.
   All day I have felt the same way I felt the day I became a Mommy to Rowe and Ryder.... I never knew my heart could love something so much and was just in Awe of the Miracles God Blessed Roman and I with. I have felt this same feeling of love and fullness today! The Doctors and Nurses here- when they leave after their 12 hour shift I h
ug them and cry as if my boys were leaving to go to College- this is the love you feel for these Angels!!! True Heavenly Angels that God Places in this Hospital.
  Arkansas Children's Hospital is kind of like walking into the Holy Land- it is wrapped with Gods Arms and all of his people and it is The Most Beautiful Experience!!! I have so much more to write but will more tomorrow- Thank you all for your prayers ande ePlease continue to Pray- God hears th
em and We feel them- God Bless All of You and always Remember Rejoice and Give Praise and Always have Hope!
         Blessings,
                 Casey

Picture Update

This was right before surgery

this was on Thursday day after surgery! after he had gotten some good pain meds..

Boys with their Cousin Britt Britt night before Ry's surgery!


Getting hugs right before his Happy Juice!

aEating his favorite strawberries with sugar and getting some pre-surgery love from Aunt Mr, Aunt NeeNee and Aunt White Whit!!!

Rowe telling brother everything will be alright!

rowe getting to play on the playground at hospital!

With Yaya and Sweet papa after some happy juice--full of smiles!

my little buddies meds but weaning off more each day!

Successful surgery!

  


We are Praising God for a very successful surgery! Things went so very well and we are so thankful and just know that God had his hand in every nurse and surgeons hand today!!! I woke up this morning with such a peace so I knew that was God letting me know all would be well! I have literally trusted God from day one of his diagnosis and known
that he would walk us through this. He surely has. Shortly after surgery Roman and I got to go see Ryder and as other Heart moms had told me- it was a ha
rd sight to see at first and I know now what they are talking about. He has lots of tubes and monitors on him but his coloring looks amazing and his numbers are looking great! I have the frozen soundtrack playing on my phone by his ear and he is sleeping peacefully. God has answered all of our prayers today but please prayer warriors I ask you to not stop praying. We need to pray his blood pressure maintains where it needs to be and does not get too high
or too low! They say his pain will be more intense tomorrow and Friday so pray for him to not be in pain.
The amount of people that have visited, called, texted, FB messaged- you will NEVER know how much it means to our entire family! We feel so much love and prayers and what a comfort!!!! I have heard from people that I do not even know praying for Ryder- what a beautiful thing! In the hectic, crazy world it is so comforting to know how many people stand on God's Promise and Trust in Him and Glorify His Name!!!! I have had doctors and nurses say, thank you for your prayers during surgery. One Doctor said, we just turn it all over to God- how beautiful!!!! So thankful for every sweet path we have come across. More to come later- going to sit with my baby
 boy!

Lots of Silly Laughs before Surgery and he has not even had the silly juice yet! So proud of our Tough Brave Boy! He was teary before Pastor Britt Skarda came back to pray over him and now all smiles! Britt is so special to our family and we are so thankful for the beautiful prayer he gave us this morning!

Testing Day at ACH

Meet Ryder's New Patient Doll that the Child Life Specialist gave him today. He named his doll Eneal (FYI ... this is Ry's Imaginary Friends name) I knew the minute I ask him for some reason what his Patients name was that is would be Eneal! I have a slight suspicion that Eneal will be going back to surgery with him in the morning.

     This morning we arrived at ACH at 8:30 for testing and to meet the Cardiologist and Surgeon. Ryder's anxiety really kicked in on the way to the hospital and he was crying so hard for his bubba. He wanted Rowe there. When we got there we ask if Rowe could come and sit with him during test and they said Absolutely!!! Yaya and Sweet Papa brought Rowe up to be with Ry and it did settle his nerves quite a bit. The worst part for him was drawing the blood.... but I tell you this little guy is brave. He looked at all the pictures of the tubes that he will have tomorrow after surgery and it did not phase him one bit.
     When the Cardiologist came in to check on Ryder she said he has no pulse in his legs, His Coarctation is so severe and they said that is the explanation for his severe leg cramping at night. The amazing thing is that Ryder has Good Collaterals, Blood Vessels that have grown to spread blood to his extremities. I believe that is a MIRACLE from God to make sure that our baby survived. The Cardiologist said there is still a chance Ryder will have high blood pressure for several years but hopefully after that maybe not. We met with Dr. Michi, the surgeon,  and were very impressed with him. He is very professional and just gives you the facts, he also gives you a list of all the complications.... I listened but kind of want to pretend I did noThear them. Before Dr. Michi left Ryder said, "Please Fix Me." Dr. Michi smiled and said, "I will." It was so sweet and brought tears to mine and Roman's eyes. The POSITIVES that I want to focus on from today is that Ryder was so brave and kept saying he was going to be brave tomorrow. The Anesthesiologist said he may not have to have breathing tube after the surgery because of how healthy he looked and his age. Also the Cardiologist said that they have a scale of surgeries at ACH and the scale is 1-5 with 5 being the most complex. She said we consider this surgery a 2. What comfort that gave us. There are Risks with everything but God has had his hand in this from day one and with Your Prayers God will see this surgery through and Restore our Child to health. Please Pray tonight for our precious Ryder Jack, for him to not have any anxiety and pray for all of our family. Tomorrow is going to be tough as they wheel him back to OR so pray for Roman and I. PRAY PRAY PRAY!

                                                                                                     Blessings,
                                                                                                                 Casey
            

Special Evening of Prayer for Ryder

           There are no words to describe what took place in our home yesterday evening. About a week ago a dear friend of mine ask me if it would be ok for her to come to our home and lay hands on Ryder and pray for him. She asked for us to invite family and some of our closest friends to pray as well. Of course I began crying when she ask because I was so touched. So we all held hands and each said a special prayer for Ryder and just lifted him up last night. Ryder even said his very own prayer it was so beautiful! Our family feels all the prayers and we are so thankful for them. God definitely is with us on this journey and is showing up in so many beautiful ways. Thank you to Karen Blasingame for leading us in prayer and for doing this for our family. God Bless you Sweet Girl. Truly an evening I will hold in my heart forever. Thanks to my dear friend Kate for getting this pic of our family.

       To those of you who have sent me your personal messages and stories, THANK YOU! My heart is so full right now and we will all get through this because of the amazing Love and Support we have. I also just recently by Facebook got to know another Mother that is at Children's now with her son who had heart surgery last Wednesday! It was an intense 48 hours for them but that beautiful baby may be going home tomorrow! God is Healing all around us!!!! We are packing getting ready to head to Little Rock and I will be posting more later.

    "For You Created My Inmost Being; You knit Me Together in My Mother's Womb. I Praise You Because I am Fearfully and Wonderfully Made; Your Works are Wonderful, I Know that Full Well."
Psalm 139: 13-14

                                                                    Blessings to All,
                                                                                     Casey















                                
                                                                                                              

Ryder's Diagnosis

        The last visit we had with our pediatrician was in January when Ryder and Rowe had bad coughs. Dr. Susan Averitt noticed that Ryder's blood pressure was abnormally high. They took several times and no change. Dr. Averitt asked for us to come back in a week to check it again. The next week weather was bad so we did not get to go in. That next week Dr. Susan called me and said I really want to see Ryder back and check that blood pressure. The next day we went in and it was really high, so the nurse checked his pressures in his legs and it was really low. Me, knowing nothing in the medical field thought how well that is great at least it is low in his legs. This was not a good sign to the Doctor. She called me in 10 minutes and said, Ryder is scheduled for an Echocardiogram tomorrow at Children's in Lowell.
      On February 13, 2014 after and Echo read by a Cardiologist at ACH in Little Rock Ryder was diagnosed with a Coarctation of the Aorta. Basically, it is a narrowing of the Aorta. Ryder's is very severe and almost 100% blocked. We were scheduled to meet Cardiologists at ACH in Little Rock the next day. The Cardiologist at Children's said he needed surgery immediately. He wanted to schedule the surgery for the next week but the operating rooms were full. Ryder will go in at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 26th to have surgery. They are able to go in under his left arm to perform the surgery. I was relieved they would not have to go through the chest, but the doctors say under the arm is much more painful. February 14th will be a day I will never forget, my heart was heavy that day but Proud at the same time. If this diagnosis goes untreated it can be fatal as early as the age of 18. Dr. Susan Averitt has saved our child's life. According to the Doctors after this surgery is done Ryder will be able to lead a normal, healthy life. PRAISE GOD!!! We know God's hand is in this and he will see healing to our Precious Son! I ask you all to pray for Ryder, Our Family, The Doctor's and Nurse's at ACH. I will be posting many updates on this blog throughout surgery and the days ahead. Remember, Give Thanks to the Lord, For He is Good!!!

                                                                                                                       Casey

                      "For I will restore you to health and heal your wounds."  Jeremiah 30:17

My Introduction to the Blogging World and Our Journey

       

       Hello Fellow Bloggers! Please be patient with me as this is all very new to me! I have wanted to blog for many years but just never quite found the time. I am not much of a writer, I love to journal but that is different when it is just you proofreading! My name is Casey and I have been married to Roman for 14 years.  Roman and I struggled with infertility for several years and finally decided along with Doctors that IVF was are only chance at having a family. We embarked on that journey and we were pregnant our first round and found out at 8 weeks we were pregnant with Twins! On September 29, 2009 we witnessed TWO Miracles from God. Rowe James, Our firstborn by 1 minute has the Kindest Spirit, Most Loving Soul, He is very soft spoken and shy.

Rowe is very protective of his brother Ryder. Ryder Jack was born 1 minute later. Ryder has a spirit like no other, The child Never meets a Stranger and is the First to run and give you a hug... He is also quite the Entertainer.

Rowe was born 5lbs, 5 Ounces and Ryder 4lbs, 4 ounces. Both were born Healthy and only in the hospital for 8 days.