Handsome Fellow

Tara and I (accompanied by Lulu, Tara's mother, this time :) visited UAB again today for an ultrasound check-up for Dade.  First thing's first: everything but his CDH remains normal!  The little guy is now a strapping 3.3 lbs. (up 1.3+ lbs. in the 3 weeks since last time) and has graduated from the 34th percentile to the 51st percentile in size.

We are so very thankful that nothing else appears to be amiss right now.  We've heard many stories from other families who have dealt with CDH coupled with other serious issues, so we know how blessed we are to have nothing else facing us at the moment.  We do have one more appointment just to make 100% sure that Dade's heart is at full function.  When I wrote about our last visit on May 7th, I mentioned that Dade wasn't turned in a way that let Dr. Kimberlin (one of the group attending physicians with whom Tara and I have developed a rapport) completely see his heart.  She tried again today, and again, he was turned face down so no go.  Dr. Kimberlin tried to coax him into flipping over, but apparently the little man was having a good nap!  Since she couldn't get a good look, Dr. Kimberlin is sending us to see a pediatric cardiologist so they can accurately assess his heart.  There are no concerns that anything is wrong with his heart, but they're just making absolutely sure!  The appointment with the cardiologist is June 5th.  I've added it to the list of dates in the right sidebar, so please be praying that we leave there still having no concerns about his heart function.

The best thing to come out of today is that we got to see Dade's face for the first time!  The ultrasound tech was doing her thing when she suddenly switched on the 4D.  She didn't even tell us she was about to do it, so it caught us both off guard in a great way!  It took my breath away for a second; it's wonderful watching the screen as those regular ultrasound images are showing, but it's a completely different feeling seeing this fetching face up on the screen:

FIG. 1 - Morning Nap

I haven't been able to stop looking at him all day; it's nice to put a face with a name!  Especially that face and that name!

As always, thank you all for your continued prayers, notes, and calls.  We love getting little snippets of scripture and encouraging words from you!  I'll close with a favorite of mine sent to me by Mark Conner, the director of the Engineering Academy at Hoover High School and someone I'm honored to call a colleague and friend.  He texted me this statement from his Sunday school teacher: "God is not reacting to your life; He's ordaining it!"  As long as this road will be, I breathe easily knowing that all of this is not and will not be in vain, and I can't wait for the hindsight that lets us see what God already knows!

We love you all!  More to come.