Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Happy 6th Birthday, Rowan!



Here she is.  Our birthday beauty!  Miss Rowan Sue turned 6 today...a little hard to believe.    This morning as I was braiding Rowan's long blond hair, I started reminiscing about Rowan's beginnings in this life six short years ago.   The trial seemed monumental to me at the time.  My first two pregnancies and deliveries were a piece of cake in comparison, and I'd never really experienced any significant adversity that compared.  But with the benefit of 6 years of hindsight and the wisdom and experience that comes with each passing year, I realize that our trial back then still pales in comparison to some of the adversity that others in our family and circle of friends have and continue to experience.  I am grateful for the life I have, for the trials I have been given to deal with in my life, and for the things I have learned along the way.  

Today, I am extra grateful for my sweet Rowan.  I am grateful that she is spicy and determined and headstrong and beautiful and loving and funny and smart...Yes, all those things and so much more, bundled together in one perfect little six year old package.  She gives me a run for money, that's for sure, but really...I wouldn't want it any other way.  I know that the strong personality she has developed so far is all part of the package she needed to endure her early life trials.  

She is truly our miracle baby.  No question.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Rowan from this past year.  Each makes me smile every time I see it.

Fourth of July in Rocky Point.   We have so many fun memories from the beaches of Mexico.  Rowan loves Las Palomas (the resort we stay at), and she loves going down there with our awesome friends, the Ellingsons, as well as with our fun cousins.  Check out her guns in this picture.  We always marvel at what a great little body our Rowan has.   She's totally ripped!


Barrett and Rowan did make-overs one day (as they do many days), and Barrett took this picture.  It was fun to see the 25 or more pictures from this little photo shoot and laugh at all the crazy expressions!


Rowan also really loves spending time at the cabin in Pine.  Both of these pics were taken this year during our various excursions up north.  We are so looking forward to spending more time there in 2010. 


In 2008 when we started doing P90X workouts, we'd often quote the funny lines from Tony Horton's workouts.  One of our kids' favorites was, "Do you have tickets to the show?"  Reply:  "What show?"  THE GUN SHOW!  And then they flex their muscles and giggle away.  Rowan truly has the guns!

Summer 2009 in Rocky Point.  Totally accessorized for a day at the beach.  So Rowan!

Just for memory sake, I thought I'd post of few pics from Rowan's first days of life.  I often go back and look at these and marvel that she has come so far.  

Here is our Rowan, just a couple of hours old, laying in the NICU, waiting for her surgery.  Rowan was born with gastroschesis, a condition that developed within weeks of conception.  The four walls that typically grow together around the umbilical cord to form the stomach never quite closed up.   A tiny hole was left open, and soon her intestines popped out and ultimately grew on the outside of her body.  They, along with a bunch of Rowan's other organs, were floating around in the acidic environment of my uterus, unprotected as they should have been by her own skin.   When she was born, Rowan's intestines, colon, kidney, ovary, fallopian tubes, and appendix were all on the outside of her body.

You can see her intestines pretty clearly in the picture above, just laying in a pile, all stuffed inside a sterile plastic bag to keep them moistened while she waits for the doctor to arrive.  


Every time I see this picture I cry.  I didn't get to hold Rowan when she came out.  In fact, I only got to see her for about 20 seconds before she was whisked away to the NICU.  When she was just about ready to head up to surgery (at 3 hours old), and after the doctor had stitched me all back up from the C-Section, they wheeled me up to the NICU to see my tiny angel for a short minute.  I got to touch her cheek and tell her I loved her.  The look on my face says it all.  I was heartbroken to leave her, but so grateful that she was in the care of an amazing surgeon.  Dr. Kelly Miller, who, with the undeniable help of our Heavenly Father, performed a miracle that day.  




My parents, Ryan's parents, and Ryan and I all waited in my room for hours, fading in and out of sleep, before the surgeon came in around 1:30 am on December 30th, to let us know that Rowan's surgery had gone remarkably well.  They were able to get all of Rowan's organs back inside in a single surgery, a feat they were not anticipating to be able to do given the magnitude of the organs and the trauma to her body.  In our prior meetings with the NICU doctors and surgeons, they had prepared us for a multi-stage process whereby they would attach a "sack" to her abdomen area, and gradually squeeze in all the organs over a period of days, culminating with the stitching up of her tummy at week's end.  They said the trauma to her body would be similar to a woman's journey from zero to nine months pregnant in one day.  Too much to bear in most cases.  But, to their surprise, all of Rowan's organs seemed to just "fit" back inside and they felt it was safe to do the single surgery.  

We were thrilled at the good news.  I cried as the doctor told us, "It was just so strange.  So easy.  Almost too easy. "  We knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that our prayers had been heard, that the fasting and priesthood blessings gave her strength, and that our Heavenly Father was watching over Miss Rowan and all those attending to her.  We were so blessed indeed.

The two days following Rowan's surgery were tough on all of us.  She laid motionless in her tiny NICU bed, attended to 24/7 by the amazing nursing staff, while she was resting under the blanket of a medically induced paralysis.  They told us that the stress on her body from putting her organs back inside was so intense that even the mere strain of breathing would cause more pain that she could bear if she were awake.  So they had to paralyze her while her body adapted. 
 

I finally got to hold Rowan, albeit for a very short time, on January 2nd.  I was thrilled to say the least!

Rowan recovered with amazing speed, again surprising all the doctors and nurses.  I was able to start nursing on January 10th, but she had a hard time latching on.  The feedings were slow and hard for both of us, but she eventually figured out that nursing was where it's at.  After a week or so, she had it down pat and ended up nursing for a full year.  I was getting so tired of the constant pumping that I was ultra thrilled when she finally came home and could nurse full time!

Rowan only ended up having to stay in the hospital for 19 days, which was much shorter than we were planning on during the pregnancy.  They had prepared us for 6 weeks to 3 months, but each day during Rowan's recovery they continued to comment on what great progress she had made.  


Barrett and Afton never got to see or hold their baby sister in the hospital, except for one short look through the NICU window.  When she finally came home, they were so happy to meet their baby sister.  Here are our 3 girls just a few weeks after Rowan came home.
Rowan thrived at home, developing quickly, but always measuring small.  Or petite, rather.  At each of her checkups, Rowan measured in the 5th - 10th percentile for her age.  But that was just fine because she was doing so well on all the other areas of growth and development.  Perfectly healthy.


You've come a long way, baby!

Happy 6th Birthday, Rowan!  You are such a blessing to our family.  We love you with all our hearts!

2 comments:

  1. AMAZING!! I'd forgotten all of this Kelli...so glad that your Rowan is a perfectly healthy 6 year old!!! You and your girls are ALL SO DARLING!!

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  2. She is beautiful and such a miracle. I almost cried reading about it. We are truly blessed.

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