Some weeks are hard to put into words.
If you follow on facebook and instagram, you know it's been a big week around here.
It's been something that we've known was coming for three and a half years now. We've known an exact date for two months now, but the day finally rolled around and our best friends/neighbors four year old son Gabe had his third open heart surgery on Friday.
This past week, I've been pretty emotional about it and honestly, trying to figure out my roll/place in this all...which has obviously resulted into a quiet blog. In fact, I have been so emotional about it, by Thursday I was ready for Nicole to tell me to just not come on Friday. Thankfully, I got myself together when it was go time.
Tonight though, I'm happy to report that we're now on the other side of surgery and hopefully through the worst of it all. Gabe still has a rough next couple of days, but he is so far making a great recovery and amazing us every step of the way.
He's our own little superhero!
Nicole has done an awesome job of documenting his surgery for other parents who may be possibly going through the same thing (crazy as it sounds, there were two babies in icu yesterday who were just born with the same heart issues as Gabe). So if you're not already following and would like to learn more about their story, you can find her blog here.
Here are detailed post about the surgery...
Pre-op
Fontan Surgery~1
Fontan Surgery~2
Fontan Surgery~3
Inside the ICU
Half a heart, twice the fight
Obviously, Gabe's surgery has been the only thing on my mind for the past week. Along with that, I've been thinking a lot about my place/roll in all this. It's not my story, but one I am apart of and have been for years now. Though they cannot by any means be compared to what Nicole and Andrew have been going through, I've had my own emotions/thoughts about watching Gabe go through all this. All day I've been jotting them down in a different post that I want to share another day. Think of it as "open heart surgery from a best friends view" kinda thing.
It's one thing to have a friend ask you to be apart of one of the happiest days of their life.....it's another thing to have them ask you to be apart of one of the hardest days of their life.
Can I just say that it's way more of an honor to be apart of the later.
And speaking of Nicole and Andrew....
I cannot tell you enough just how amazing these two have been these past two days. Nicole has been pretty honest in her feelings of whether or not they had what it took to make it through this whole deal. Which I think is a totally natural thing as a parent. Watching them yesterday and talking to her all day today, I am so proud to call them friends. They have been amazing and so strong for Gabe. As blessed as they are to call him son, he is just as blessed to call them mom and dad.
I know I posted it on facebook last night, but yesterday was a long and emotional one. It was also one of those that puts things in perspective. Being a visitor in Cardiac ICU last night held such a range of emotions. It was such elation to sit there and see our boy doing so well after such a major surgery. We were celebrating his stats, numbers we had never seen pre surgery, while we were surrounded by parents who were in tears over their babies. Some of those babies who would never make it out of the hospital.
As a parent, I can't even begin to imagine. Needless to say, I walked away feeling humbled and thanking God for my two healthy girls. If it wasn't ten o'clock at night and the fact their Nana had probably just spent an hour trying to get them both asleep, I would have driven right over and hugged them for the rest of the night.
Thankfully, tonight I got to do just that. I tucked my big girl into bed and hugged her a little tighter tonight. I got to rock my baby girl to sleep and gently kissed her face probably a hundred times before putting her in her crib. Yeah, some days are rough, but I am so grateful for the both of them and today even more grateful for their health.
It's been something that we've known was coming for three and a half years now. We've known an exact date for two months now, but the day finally rolled around and our best friends/neighbors four year old son Gabe had his third open heart surgery on Friday.
This past week, I've been pretty emotional about it and honestly, trying to figure out my roll/place in this all...which has obviously resulted into a quiet blog. In fact, I have been so emotional about it, by Thursday I was ready for Nicole to tell me to just not come on Friday. Thankfully, I got myself together when it was go time.
Tonight though, I'm happy to report that we're now on the other side of surgery and hopefully through the worst of it all. Gabe still has a rough next couple of days, but he is so far making a great recovery and amazing us every step of the way.
He's our own little superhero!
Nicole has done an awesome job of documenting his surgery for other parents who may be possibly going through the same thing (crazy as it sounds, there were two babies in icu yesterday who were just born with the same heart issues as Gabe). So if you're not already following and would like to learn more about their story, you can find her blog here.
Here are detailed post about the surgery...
Pre-op
Fontan Surgery~1
Fontan Surgery~2
Fontan Surgery~3
Inside the ICU
Half a heart, twice the fight
Obviously, Gabe's surgery has been the only thing on my mind for the past week. Along with that, I've been thinking a lot about my place/roll in all this. It's not my story, but one I am apart of and have been for years now. Though they cannot by any means be compared to what Nicole and Andrew have been going through, I've had my own emotions/thoughts about watching Gabe go through all this. All day I've been jotting them down in a different post that I want to share another day. Think of it as "open heart surgery from a best friends view" kinda thing.
It's one thing to have a friend ask you to be apart of one of the happiest days of their life.....it's another thing to have them ask you to be apart of one of the hardest days of their life.
Can I just say that it's way more of an honor to be apart of the later.
And speaking of Nicole and Andrew....
I cannot tell you enough just how amazing these two have been these past two days. Nicole has been pretty honest in her feelings of whether or not they had what it took to make it through this whole deal. Which I think is a totally natural thing as a parent. Watching them yesterday and talking to her all day today, I am so proud to call them friends. They have been amazing and so strong for Gabe. As blessed as they are to call him son, he is just as blessed to call them mom and dad.
I know I posted it on facebook last night, but yesterday was a long and emotional one. It was also one of those that puts things in perspective. Being a visitor in Cardiac ICU last night held such a range of emotions. It was such elation to sit there and see our boy doing so well after such a major surgery. We were celebrating his stats, numbers we had never seen pre surgery, while we were surrounded by parents who were in tears over their babies. Some of those babies who would never make it out of the hospital.
As a parent, I can't even begin to imagine. Needless to say, I walked away feeling humbled and thanking God for my two healthy girls. If it wasn't ten o'clock at night and the fact their Nana had probably just spent an hour trying to get them both asleep, I would have driven right over and hugged them for the rest of the night.
Thankfully, tonight I got to do just that. I tucked my big girl into bed and hugged her a little tighter tonight. I got to rock my baby girl to sleep and gently kissed her face probably a hundred times before putting her in her crib. Yeah, some days are rough, but I am so grateful for the both of them and today even more grateful for their health.
(All photos have been stolen out of love from Nicole's blog or facebook)
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