Little Brother's trip to Denver...

Our littlest guy has a congenital heart defect called a bicuspid aortic valve. It is the most common congenital heart defect there is. His cardiologist had been watching it closely since he was born and at our last appointment finally decided we needed to do something about it. The doctors first treatment recommendation was a balloon valvoplasty, where they go into his groin using a catheter and use a balloon to stretch the valve and make it work better. He was so good for everything at the hospital. He didn't mind too much not eating after 4 am, and even took a nap before his procedure. I held it together pretty good until he went back to the procedure room and was put out with anesthesia. My husband and I were on our way to get some food at the cafeteria and I just lost it. I know the procedure is a drop in the hat compared to other things kids were having done at Children's Hospital, but my baby was in the hands of medical people I had only just met and I was soooo scared. We stopped and sat down for a few minutes. Within 30 seconds a wonderful woman had stopped and asked to pray with us, she had no idea if we were even believers but asked if she could anyways. We said yes of course. She prayed for us and for our little guy and I immediately felt so much peace and so much better. I didn't find out much about the woman, except that her child had been in the hospital for a while a few years ago and had a heart transplant. She left as quickly as she came and I never saw her again. She was truly an angel for us that day.

The doctor said things went great and he was very pleased with the results. We will find out how things look in a couple weeks when we go to our follow up appointment with his regular cardiologist. If things are still looking good at two months out, he should be great till his teen years and not need anything done. If things are not looking good, the valve has closed again or he is having severe leakage of his valve then we are looking at a valve replacement in the near future. We are praying things look good and he will be good to go for a very long time. I really don't want to go through the hospital experience again for a very long time.

The hospital paid for us to stay at a hotel the night before his procedure, so we took him up the day before and had a great time with him. He loved being an only child for a couple days. The hotel had dinner and breakfast included and had a fun pool that daddy and our little guy had fun playing in the night before and that morning. We also visited Starbucks and Bass Pro Shop for some added distractions. We took some pictures of the time we were in Denver, so enjoy. And thank you to everyone who kept us in your prayers.

Hangin out at Starbucks

A cake-pop was a must!

Eating some dinner.

Having "black soda" like a big boy.

Playing with his new baby Rosie that he picked out at Target.

Swimming with daddy.

He got really good at kicking. At one point wanted daddy to let go of him so he could do it by himself. (Don't worry, he never let go)

Driving a boat at Bass Pro.

Trying to shoot.

Conked out on his hospital bed before getting all ready for the procedure.

He and Mommy in our crazy outfits.

Sleeping after the procedure.

His new batman bear that Grammy bought him.

Eating a Popsicle

Popsicle face...he had to lay flat and still for 3 hours after the procedure. Here we were about half way through.

He could finally get up and move some. He wanted to play with his new Star Wars guys.

Cheese!

The next morning eating his breakfast in bed. He really liked eating in bed and watching TV.

All loaded up and heading to the car.