happy thanksgiving!!!

Four years ago tonight, I had traveled for two days; 2000 miles while in labor. When looking back, I remember not being scared. I’m not an anxious person, not usually anyway. I was calm, from looking at me you would have never guessed that anything was wrong. I didn’t want to lie at the airport, I didn’t even have to I was so calm! Crazy… actually it was more like I was naïve. And also, God only lets you see what you need to see at times, to be able to get through the storm. Today? I couldn’t do it, no way. My dad had taught me the night before how to give myself a shot… lol… for those of you who know me, like from before, you know that I don’t do well with any of that! But hey, they were to slow down my labor… of course I was going to do it, no problem! When we landed in Nashville, all I wanted to do was sleep. I was a little disappointed when everyone insisted I go to the hospital to get checked out. About 6 hours later I was in the operating room having an emergency C-section. It’s kinda strange looking back, because I felt relieved. I had been in so much pain and my contractions were just getting worse, I couldn’t imagine having to stay that way for weeks. Now, looking back I realize that that pain was NOTHING compared to what was coming. They told me to not expect any baby cries, that they were too little for that. But we did hear them, it sounded like a soft kitten cry. The Doctor that helped deliver them was very impressed with how strong they were, he’s from Mexico City so of course he said that they had good strong Mexican genes to thank for that. After that I just remember being very light headed all the time, close to fainting constantly. When my baby cousin was born, 4 years before that, my aunt sent me with him and a nurse that was going to poke his heal and have drops of blood for the newborn tests that they do and I barely made it without passing out… like BARELY. SO, seeing my very tiny babies with IV’s, tubes and wires everywhere was difficult to say the least. And for 113 days they literally had to fight for every breath they took, and so did we. I named my blog ‘113 days of praise’ hoping that one day I can look back on those days as something to greatly rejoice about, a trial that tested us and found us praising, honoring and glorifying God ( IN THIS YOU GREATLY REJOICE, THOUGH NOW FOR A LITTLE WHILE, IF NEED BE, YOU HAVE BEEN GRIEVED BY VARIOUS TRIALS, THAT THE GENUINENESS OF YOUR FAITH, BEING MUCH MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD THAT PERISHES, THOUGH IT IS TESTED BY FIRE, MAY BE FOUND TO PRAISE, HONOR, AND GLORY AT THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. 1PETER 1:6-7).
Those 113 days we did praise, we cried and begged like never before. Everyday brought new challenges, every brain scan that didn’t show damage was a victory. I feel like we did enjoy the victories but at the same time, things could and would change from one moment to another. It’s like we couldn’t take deep breaths. Looking back, mostly I feel pain, resentment. My sons birth day was the worst day of my life… I know it sounds terrible and I didn’t start feeling that way until close to their 1st birthday, when I started re-living those terrible days. I so long to see them as days of praise! But it was the day that my twins started suffering so very much… the day they were born 15 weeks early. Please, don’t get me wrong, it’s also the day that God showed his grace and protected us from death. I am thankful that I have two very happy, amazing, joyful, precious boys… if only they could have stayed in me longer.
It doesn’t help that things aren’t going well with Levi and the trach removal process. I just thought that by now, by their fourth birthday we would be so much further along. Expectations kill joy… for sure. In the last procedure, the one that Levi had on the 17th, the Doctor saw no improvement whatsoever. The section of the trachea is just not healing. He didn’t understand how after steroids and anti-inflammatory antibiotics, things could look so the same. He said it looked like he had just had surgery. He will be checked again the first week of December, after that, if things don’t look any different we aren’t sure what plan B will be.
For those of you who have faithfully prayed for the boys, I ask that you will continue to pray, please! For complete healing for Levi’s airway. That God will restore him. For wisdom for the Doctors and us, we don’t know what to do! We are so thankful for the hope that we have and that HE is in control. Levi has done so well going back to the hospital time after time, we are so thankful for that! Beyond thankful… we couldn’t have continued with this process if it wasn’t so. We hide surprises for him to find every time we take him back. He goes into the OR with a smile and excited to see what he will find. I need to learn from him!
Again, thank you all for your prayers. We love you all and could not have made it this far without your support. Happy thanksgiving!!!