Meet Coen.

This is Coen, he is our little ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, his daddy's strength and mommie's hero.

Coen was born on January 17, 2014 due to growth restriction, at 37 1/2 weeks via c-section, he was born with TEF/EA and imperforate anus, after birth the NICU team took him and hooked him up to monitors and started an IV and gravity tube immediately, needless to say the most horrific thing as new parents is not knowing what is going to happen, what any of it means and what to do. It was a very scary and rough time, When my husband came into the recovery room and I saw him drop to his knees in tears I couldn't help but think the worse had happened to him, but I kept it together trying to breath and get him to talk to me and tell me what was wrong because I just came out of surgery and I haven't seen our baby yet.

This is the picture I was shown to replace words from his mouth, I was so heartbroken but I knew I had to keep it together so I could speak to the doctors and figure out what was the next thing that was going to happen, The nurses came in with discharge papers for Coen so he could be transported to the nearest childrens hospital that was two hours away. Still not able to hold him atleast I got to see him and touch his little foot before they took him away. I was still in deep shock from everything and trying to rest with no warning of anything no knowledge of this even happening and I guess this is one of the scariest things of pregnancy we can't see everything that's going on inside, The doctors explained it to me as a very rare condition, No genetics involved and no way of detecting it via ultrasound either. My husband went home to take care of our pets and the next thing I know my phone is being blown up by doctors asking if they can run a PICC line and have permission to do surgery and asking about giving blood and everything, of course I agreed to everything they are the doctors they know what they are doing, but being bombarded with all these questions and you're not even there to comfort your baby I broke down and cried and it was like the pressure of everything that happened that day left my body becuase I held it all in.


Fast forward a few weeks.... Coen is better his surgery went great and We got to hold him for the first time!

It was great being able to hold your baby for the first time knowing that everything was going to be ok from now on, even tho we knew he would need more surgeries at that moment it didn't even matter. Well I ended up staying at the hospital with him and it was great I loved every moment of being with our son, even tho my husband was home and two hours away from us it was still bitter sweet, I learned a lot about his care he had a colostomy bag and I learned how to properly care for that and he also had a feeding tube they were trying to get him to his full volume of feeds before he could come home with us.

Well unfortunately he got sick, he developed NEC (necrotizing enterocolitis) which is an infection of the intestines, he was fighting for his life and was in so much pain, if we were home I don't think he would've done so good it was so bad. The doctors on staff were amazing at addressing it immediately they informed me of what could happen and I called his dad immediately and I believe it was a rainy day and he got to us in less than two hours, Coen was then intubated and was started on antibiotics immediately. His little body blew up like a balloon from the swelling it was hard too hard to see.

About a week went by, I was home at this point because it was hard fighting other parents for the sleep rooms, and a lot of them were from other states away I went home for a bit to clear my head and let me tell you staying at a hospital is not easy for anyone. But we had some family come down to visit to see us and big man and I was so eager to see him because the doctors said he was doing better, and it was an amazing sight to see, it was a big difference!

A very happy grandma and grandpa, and a very healthy looking Coen, he wasn't out of the woods yet it was another week of tests and antibiotics to make sure the infection was completely gone from his body, and I of course was still home for a bit, then they told me he was back in a private room and I could come back and stay I was so happy to be back with him, and to see his beautiful face, and daddy got to get some wonderful smiles out of him it was an amazing sight to see.

Fast forward a few more months, Coen had to have two surgeries in that time frame the NEC had damaged some of his intestines and they died off, so surgeons had to remove some of his bowel and then after that surgery he had another to release some of the bowel that strictured on him making it difficult for stuff to pass through, But he did great after that last surgery and got better and bigger and grew stronger, he got to his full volume on feedings and was able to come home to us, with a feeding tube of course, but it didn't matter he was home at last!

Since then Coen has had a couple more surgeries, in September he got his colostomy bag taken down which was a big sigh of relief it was getting a little difficult with the changings, haha, and then we found out before he left the hospital he also had a tethered cord and in december he got that released and let me tell you our kid is reseleant becuase the surgeries didn't really phase him he was up and bouncing around like nothing happened..literally. 

But that's Coen's little story so far in just a short amount of time the first year of his life, he has went through more than I have ever experienced, he has more scars then I do, he's my hero. The love of my life, and the greatest blessing we could have ever asked for.

Where Do I Start..?

How about where we first met? Those are always the interesting stories about how families come together, hehe. 

Well back in 2008-2009 yes we are high school sweethearts, we met in our cooking class, funny story his first words to me were "Hey, Is your favorite color purple...?" and I look at him like what did he just ask me? I responded back with "No it's green.." and the rest is history haha, no but seriously we became really great friends after that, but we had little clue that we liked each other until it was like ok schools out and everyone went their own way during the summer. The following year we were in foods class again with each other and all I remember was giving him a big hug and saying "I don't think I've ever missed someone so much." I know cheesy right? Well lets fast forward a bit I ended up moving in with him and his family and we moved to another state and we had our ups and downs being teenagers trying to learn how to have someone in your space and living with another family, now being a parent myself now I would never let my kids do that, but through it all we ended up stronger and learning a lot from each other and growing to love each other more and more and I think the purest love of all is the ones were you would go through hell and back for that one person and you never expect anything in return but the same love. So we finished school and moved out on our own with some really great friends, and during that time we found out we were going to be parents! We were scared, nervous, and really excited. Not knowing what we would be getting ourselves into. but we did it. moved out on our own once the lease and everything was up and during my 37th week of pregnancy I ended up having our little bundle of joy a couple of weeks early due to some unfortunate complications which is a story for another time, Our life is still beginning and we are happier than ever, as much as we have been through I would never change a thing, our story is a love that will last through the ages and our strength is something to be witnessed. 

This is our beautiful, crazy life and I'm happy to share our journey with all of you!