All Hallows Eve......

October 31, 2011

The Eve of Hallows.....that has two meanings for us.  One of course, Halloween, which we had the cutest little frog you have ever seen!  But also,  it was the night before his second open heart surgery, the hemi-fontan. Here is a look a our little "Froggy"!  Cute as he can be! He wanted to chew on his feet!

Yummies!!

October 27, 2011

Hunter likes pears! His first taste of baby food, and guess what?  He likes it!! Hopefully the start of working towards not needing the Mic-key button for tube feedings again!

Out of this world, or state, at least!

October 22-24, 2011

The Beautiful Smoky Mountains

Hunter took his first official mini-vaca to Gatlinburg, Tennessee on a family trip to celebrate great grandma (GiGi) and great grandpa's (Papaw) 50th wedding anniversary.  We had a big beautiful cabin in the middle of the many colored leaves where we all stayed together.

All of the excitement wore him out!

Although Hunter didn't actually see it, there was a bear in our neighborhood! Aunt Mandy and Uncle Christopher were the lucky ones to get to see it in person.

Hunter loved his first visit to the Great Smoky National Park.  He loved playing with his new little baby black bear, except for when the bear cried. By the way, he loves his paci, too!

Ohhhh sugar high... Hunter had his first taste of whipped cream! I think he like it. LOL!!

It was a short trip, but it was worth it!

"Hunter's Moon"

October 11, 2011

How about that, my little buddy has his own moon! Or at least that's what Grandma says! :)

The full moon in October is known as "Hunter's Moon".  The Farmer's Almanac states Hunters Moon was named such by Native Americans because of the light it provided to hunt by. It is the smallest and furthest from the earth full moon of the year. 

Whatever the original reasons were, I'm sticking with the thought that this moon is lighting up the sky for my grandson, my little buddy, Hunter!



Hunters Moon rising in the East

And a beautiful sky to the West!

SHINE ON,  HUNTER, SHINE ON!!

Grandma loves you!







Step 2 Prep Approaching and A Little Red Toe

As the summer months are quickly disappearing, Hunter is doing very well, but it is almost time for his Heart Catheterization. It is needed in order to prepare for his second surgery.  They will be looking at the things they did in his first surgery and making sure there is nothing new that needs attention.  His heart cath is scheduled for Monday, October 3.  There are so many mixed emotions as this procedure date approaches. We have grown to know Hunter with his warm, happy, trusting and loving personality.  It is going to be very difficult to have to stand by and see him handed off to the nurses. I know he will be in good hands of the doctors and nurses at St. Vincent and there will be many prayers for this little guy, but still very stressful to say the least. Because of his heart defect and to protect his respiratory system from distress, he will have to be intuabated and place on a ventilator, which there are always increased risks of complications involved.

Here is Hunter before the procedure being his happy little self!

His heart cath resulted in good words! All looked very good, there was only one very small area of the shunt that they used a small balloon to open a little wider. He was kept overnight to allow the anesthetic to wear off and for futher observation.

Here is the little man resting after being moved to his room:

 He came off of the ventilator with no problems! There was a big sigh of relief, but also additional stress and worries not too far away. He was scheduled for the next surgical step, hemi-fontan on Tuesday, Nov. 1.

It is quite amazing at how strong these little angels are and what they can endure.  The words above his bed state how I feel about him and are very fitting!

The "Little Red Toe", or our little E.T., as I like to refer to it, is a pulse oximeter.  It is a small electronic device attached to the end of the index finger or toe that can calculate the amount of oxygen carried in the blood .

This quick and painless procedure, pulse oximetry, can be life saving for newborn infants. It has been found that by using pulse oximetry, heart defects can be detected in newborns that otherwise could be sent home to later develop fatal complications and possibly die within hours of being discharged.   A very small and inexpensive step for saving lives!  Indiana passed the legislation for all newborns to be tested prior to discharge effective 1/1/12. (Newborn Testing)  Thank you little angel Cora Mae McCormick (Cora's Story) and your momma!!