Happy Birthday Jeremiah!

Jeremiah had his first birthday on April 16th. He is doing great and developing well at his adjusted age of 10 months. He was born 10 weeks early with a grade 4 brain bleed on his left side making him high-risk for cerebral palsy, blindness and deafness. He has surpassed all of our expectations showing no signs of these concerns. He does have increased muscle tone on his left side and as a result has some difficulty using his right arm, hand, leg and foot. He is determined to crawl and will do so any day now. Barbara, his Physical Therapist through First Steps, works with him every week and is always amazed at his progress. She told us the other day, “I have worked with 0-3 yr olds for 10 years and have never seen a baby more bonded to his parents than Jeremiah is to you two”

Jeremiah also works weekly with Melissa, his Occupational Therapist through Children’s Mercy Hospital. She is working on his feeding. He was fed through a G-tube in his stomach for the first 8 months and since December has been using a bottle. He was just promoted to Pediasure and is also being spoon-fed baby food every day - his favorite is sweet potatoes.

Each day we are reminded of how blessed we are to have him and are grateful that the Lord moved our hearts to take the risk - an option we had originally decided against. Our love for him grows with each smile, giggle, tear and diaper change.