Our Boston Marathon

Outside of these walls, people are lining the streets to run The Boston Marathon today. Many have been training and preparing for this day for months and cannot wait to cross that finish line with the satisfaction that all of their hard work paid off.

Within these walls, we are running our own marathon. We have trained for this since October 19th. We have run up hills and had happy moments with every mile marker we have passed. Today, for us, is our water break during our run. You know when you think you cant run any longer and the quick drink of water you get puts you back in the mindset of moving towards the finish line? Thats what we get today. The Dr. has given us permission to take Riley home for the week before her surgery!

For those of you who have been following this blog, you know why the analogy above makes sense. Riley went for a study last week to make sure her esophagus and stomach were connected properly and to test for refluxing. She did well. All connections are good. The one thing that did happen after the study is that she threw up the barium contrast they used...6 hours later. Basically Riley's stomach is not emptying out and she is spitting up anything that goes into it. She is now definitely having the Nissen surgery and it has been moved up to the 27th.

When we received the news, I asked the doctor if there was any chance of bringing her home the week before surgery. Long story short, babies in Rileys condition are generally not sent home at this point. There is a small group of parents that they trust to handle this release, and we are one of them! It really makes me feel like living out here for 11 weeks now (8 of them with Riley) has been truly worth every minute!

Even though it is only for a week, we get to bring our little girl home and get the "water break" that we need before running the rest of our marathon!

We hope you all have a wonderful week!

Sandy, Brian, Chase and Riley

Sent from my iPhone