3.27.10 - Feeding time!!

We just fed Liam his first meal about an hour ago...It was SO exciting! I think I was more excited about it than he was, but he did GREAT and ate about 2 tbsp. worth of sweet potatoes! Here is the video...





Pretty funny - he would scrunch his nose every time he took a bite, but then would open his mouth for the spoon when I went for him, so I thought that was a good sign =) It feels so good to feed my baby!!

So needless to say the swallow study went great the other day. Liam still aspirated on the thinner liquids, but the honey consistency formula and the marshmellow barium paste they fed him he did great on - no aspiration! From what I can understand, Liam's only problem was coordinating his swallow when food/liquids pass down his throat. His swallowing seemed stronger and able to do the job, but the thinner liquids went down too quickly and he didn't have a chance to swallow to guide it down the right tube, hence some of it went down his trachea. With the more solid, thicker formulas and food, he has time to swallow it because it doesn't go down as quickly. The OT did say he could tolerate a honey consistency formula, but that it really wasn't going to do anything since he wasn't strong enough to suck a lot of it out of the bottle since it is SO thick. He would just waste too much energy trying to get it out of the bottle. Plus, she said he is at a good age where we can start teaching him swallowing reflexes with solid foods and this should get his coordination better to handle liquids in the future. Looks like we are on our way to slowly eating normal - I am thrilled!!

We also now have a date scheduled for his next surgery. The heart cath will be performed on Wednesday, April 28 and the surgery will follow the next day, Thursday, April 29th. She said that Dr. Mendeloff will have a meeting with us after the cath to go over exactly what they will be doing in surgery. As we understand from our meeting with him before Liam's first surgery, this surgery will involve replacing his pulmonary valve and closing his septal defect (hole) between his left and right ventricles.

I am just overjoyed and in awe of how God is working in Liam to heal him. Dustin and I know and trust in the Lord's timing for everything we have been through and God has been faithful. I never doubted He would be! Even though I have many moments (ok, sometimes days at a time) where I am freaking out in anxiety on the inside, I really do have confidence that the Lord has placed us in the right surgeons hands and above all else, in HIS hands. This will be a LONG month for us/ME...the anticipation has already begun to sink in. Now that we have an actual date it is also becoming more real. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing Liam home for the first time and now its time to go back and do it all over again. I am scared, in all honesty, of going through this again...I have never walked a journey like this with the Lord and I am scared. I know He knows this secret about me and I know He knows how I feel, and truly understands...I find it fitting that Easter is just around the corner.....


Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 2 Cor 1:3-5