Merry/Happy _____________________(<enter nearest holiday)!!! Not sure when this will actually be published...but wanted to cover my bases. Let's just get into it, shall we?
We made a new person! By God's abundant grace we introduce you to...
BOAZ JAMES VAN ANDEL (Bo, Bo-Jangles, Little Bo-Beepers (who lost his sheepers), Beepers, Bo-licious, Bobert, Bozart, Bop-tart, Bee-bop, Bo-boogies...the list goes on)
Boaz is HERE and HEALTHY and GROWING like a Washington state weed. My pregnancy with Bo was my very best despite "momming" 4 others in the process! Although the pregnancy came with it's own set of unique challenges, I cannot help but ponder how seamlessly this pregnancy progressed in comparison to the previous 3. The one considerable bump in the road came around the 34 week mark when our family inevitably came down with a certain virus. (More on the subject of Emri/Rona coming in the next few paragraphs) C-vid can greatly affect the health of the placenta, especially when contracted during the third trimester of pregnancy, and because of this my wonderful midwives requested we monitor Bo with weekly non-stress tests and consider inducing early. One of my strongest and most bothersome symptoms during c-vid were the coughing fits that continually sent my body into these fun little delightful contraction fests. Praise the LORD, my body held out until Bo was a good 37 weeks and 3 days baked. November 21, 2021 we departed our home at the atrocious hour of 3AM and arrived at Special Delivery Birth Center...reasonably haggard yet overly eager to welcome our darling boy into this nutso world. Labor was...well, laborious....but probably the best one yet. The waters were broken at 8:30AM and little man officially arrived at 11:10AM! Every birth is extraordinary and miraculous and difficult to ever entirely process...a whole new soul thrust into the complicatedness that is this world, but fraught with potential to bring glory to our Creator and King. It's just really...really incredible.
Bo was born very quickly. The overly rapid exit caused Bo to retain a lot of excess fluid which consequently made the whole "breathing" thing extra tricky. Our wonderful, God-fearing midwives prayed aloud as they worked to get Bo breathing consistently on his own and at one point stopped and asked Brett to pray. About 20 seconds after Brett had finished praying, our sweet boy began to nurse and his tired little body assumed a more reassuring shade of pink rather than blue. Bo continued to have small grunting episodes accompanied by blue-ish lips until he managed to expel an impressive amount of fluid at 2AM the next morning. After the great fluid purge, Bo contentedly assumed the position of "new kid on the block" in our home. He is abundantly adored by all four older sibs, although I will readily confess that Eiley's love comes in waves (dramatic ones) and with certain conditions...we'll get there😄. Brett was able to take a good, healthy chunk of time away from work to hang at home and the Lord knew we needed it. We now embark on a new journey with constantly evolving routines/schedules, endeavoring to settle into a groove that works for us.
Because it's been a dismally long period of time since I have written a blog, I feel like a head-to-toe Emri tour may be appreciated by those of you who may occasionally wonder about such things. I will commence the tour with Emri's eyes. Emri can SEE. Emri's sight has perpetually been obscured by globular lenses that have parked themselves quite unabashedly in Emri's line of sight, causing her to see 180/20 in one eye and 120/20 in the other. In laymen's terms...quite legally blind. At her last ophthalmologist appointment at Hopkins, we received the good news that those silly balled-up lenses had finally dropped out of Emri's line of sight (something we had been hoping for) and that with help, Emri's vision could be corrected to 40/20. We were overjoyed at the prospect of Emri being able to see this well after so many years of horrendously poor eyesight. After being unable to successfully attain a strong enough pair of glasses, we resolved to give contacts an old fashioned try. After a skirmish of monumental proportions, the contacts were in place and we eagerly awaited the official report from Emri....she could easily read off the correct number of fingers that I was holding up for her a whole 15 feet away! It took a small while for Emri to understand that seeing "clearly" was how she was always meant to see. After 10 years of viewing the world through perpetually shifting globular lenses, Emri can now SEE. We are so immensely grateful for this.
Emri's mouth is about to undergo a major remodel. She will soon be going under at Seattle Children's in order to pull a number of teeth (baby and permanent) and will also be getting a pallet expander placed in order to widen her extremely high/small pallet. After all of that, it will be time for braces.
Emri's spinal rods are holding steady and we were told that the next spine surgery would most likely be a final fusion...meaning no more rod replacements!
Emri's aorta continues to make small, incremental jumps in growth, but has, for the most part, remained stable as she, herself has grown as well. Her aorta is measuring anywhere from 3.7 to 3.9 mm. Emri's heart valves continue to leak, but remain in the "moderate" category. We continue to pray (please pray with us) for her heart to remain stable and that aorta/valve surgery can be put off for as long as possible. Or just pray for complete healing of her heart...because we know God is able, don't we?
Emri continues to be primarily g-tube fed and is a total turtle when it comes to gaining weight. Weight gain has ALWAYS been a major struggle for Emri and we are continually surmising new and inventive ways to add calories to her diet. We have held strong at just under 50 lbs. for a while now and pray we can help her body continue to gain steadily.
Emri continues to walk with braces that support her feet/calves, but has become frustrated with some muscle regression stemming from her spine/lung surgeries two years ago. One of Emri's feet turns in pretty substantially when she walks and it has caused walking to become more painful, tiring and overall discouraging. We will be visiting Hopkins this spring and hope to have more insight into any available therapies/surgeries that may be able to help fix whatever is causing her foot to turn in so dramatically. Pray that this is something that can be improved on as it continues to be a major frustration in Emri's daily life.
As I mentioned previously, our family caught that one virus (you know, the ONE) in October. I was the first one to come down with symptoms and Emri was the last. In my hours/days/months worth of reading/researching/questioning everything c-vid, I FINALLY found a local health care provider that would work with me in preparing a "home pharmacy" so-to-speak in the event that Emri would test positive. We worked together with this provider to treat Emri prophylactically and also to collect the drugs/supplements we felt needed to be available to her if the time would come. Well...the time came. Along with body aches came Emri's positive test. The Lord led us to the right health care provider JUST in time to have the tools available to treat her. Although Emri didn't feel her best, she certainly came through the virus more unscathed than any other virus she has had for the past 5 years. It was truly unbelievable to see Emri fly through c-vid after all of the time and energy we have spent attempting to prepare for it. The rest of the family handled the virus very, very well. Eiley showcased some impressive snot rockets for a good solid week and really soaked in those empathy snuggles. The boys seemed to experience an absurd INCREASE in energy despite testing positive for the virus and Brett had a whole 24 hours of symptoms after taking the same "magic meds" (inquire within) that Emri was put on. We praise the Lord for His provision through our c-vid journey and are immensely grateful for those magnificent natural antibodies we can now depend upon!
Besides all of THAT👆☝👆, our family has been SO BLESSED this year to have my mom jump into homeschooling the oldest three kids. I cannot EVEN tell you the sheer joy and relief it brings my heart to have someone so naturally gifted in teaching (I think I missed that gene) able to school my kids this year. While the kids and Gamma conquer school, I get to hang with the littles, the laundry, the dishes, the mop, the chickens, and occasionally Dora the Explorer. IT. IS. SO. GREAT.
Well, I think I covered our year in a vague-ish, perhaps slightly incomplete nutshell. I have so much to say in my heart that delves deeper than the physical realm, but this may have to do for now. As we all well know, life is not as predictable as we once perceived it to be...but I dare say, realizing this is a good thing. Living out our lives while more constantly realizing our own fragility comes with a certain eager intentionality to really seek and truly rest in our Savior, yeah?
"God is our REFUGE and STRENGTH, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.....
.....Be still and know that I am God."
I fail every day in so many ways to live well for the Lord. But yet, because I am forgiven and loved so completely, I know these promises remain for me. Let's cling to these promises together as we walk (stumble) through the uncertain valleys. To HIM be the GLORY.
SO much love...until next time. ~Erin~
