Wow! It's been an eventful few months around the Gould house! Where do I even start?
I logged on here to write an update about how we are doing without Shaye, and how Isaiah is doing and I found my self reading my last blog about foster care and the need for new homes. A little humbling and a great reminder that although we are longing for children and wanting to adopt, foster care is not about us....dang, did I really write that?
So anyway, around Christmas-time we found out that Shaye would be leaving in a few months to be placed with her grandparents and that she would start having visits soon. In January they started with visits....They are nice, normal people who love her very much. She will be safe and loved. My heart still aches with missing her silly antics and her big hugs, but we are doing well. Truth be told, it was much harder for us during the two months that she was still here, but we knew that she was leaving. You really can't move on with your life while she's still in it. The past three weeks have gone fast, but it still seems like a lifetime ago. She didn't cry when she left, and just waved and said bye-bye....love that silly girl! (for those of you wondering if I'm super-woman, yes I'm crying right now)
I was really worried how Isaiah would handle her being gone. He was so obessed with her! He was always looking for her, laughing at her, and would cry when she would walk away. He's been in heaven!! Apparently being an only child suits him just fine!
He's really becoming interactive and such a happy baby! He developmentally right on target for his premie age. He's finally figured out how to eat off of spoon (I have to put in here that he eats much better for momma). He is really becoming such a momma's boy, and I'm completely ok with that! He's also my only kid who has been a snuggler :) How much more can I say about him? He's just wonderful!!
Health-wise he's doing great as well! He still breathes a little fast and occasionally has a "noisy" airway, but all of that is really improving. His lung doctor has realeased him from her care so that's a great improvement. He now only has 4 doctors to follow up with :) Hey that's down from 7!!
One huge answer to prayer that we hadn't shared with many people was his genetic testing. Back in October we received information that supposedly at least 4 of his 6 siblings had muscular dystrophy, and a 5th one was being tested. My heart hit the floor. All that I could think of was all of the kids that I had seen in the PICU who were dying from Muscular Dystrophy and I was terrified! CPS couldn't/wouldn't give us specific information regarding the type of MD the siblings had and they wouldn't put us in touch with the families that have custody of them. It was a very frustrating situation. There are many types of MD and none of the docs wanted to just send out random testing until they knew what type the siblings have. Especially since Isaiah wasn't having sypmtoms (symptoms typically don't appear until age 3-5 years) It took us several months to get an appointment with a genetics doctor to see him. God worked for us that we were able to be seen in the same hospital system that his siblings are seen in and we at least were able to obtain the sibs names from CPS so that the docs could access their records. Because of privacy laws the docs couldn't tell us much, but at least we found out that only 2 of the siblings have MD and what type they have. We were able to test Isaiah for that type and 3 weeks later (just this past week) found out that HE DOESN'T HAVE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY!!!
The word relief doesn't even begin to describe what I was feeling. I was really struggling with the possible diagnosis. Isaiah had already dealt with so much being born 11 weeks early that I felt that it just wasn't fair for him to have somethings else to deal with. God showed me alot about trusting thru this and I still haven't really completely processed this yet.
So for those of you who have been thinking that I have been acting like a hot mess, nutcase for the past few months, please see the above paragraphs and please forgive me :) Irritable and emotional doesn't begin to describe it. But hopefully I haven't been too bad :) I've had such great friends supporting us during this time and I thank you so much!! You all have been awesome thru everything and I appreciate you more than you can imagine. You know that I try to put on a good face. Some of the greatest things that I hear from them have been: I'm so sorry you are hurting, You know it's ok to be selfish and just want kids and your kids to be healthy, I love you....
Man has God blessed us!!
So onto Isaiah's case.....His next court date is April 18th. At that hearing they will either terminate the parental rights or set a new court date to terminate rights. They can't find either of his parents, so they won't be contesting it. The rest of the biological family is also not in the picture. It's a very sad situation, but that means that things look favorable for us to adopt him. After they do terminate rights there is a 90 day waiting period for family to appeal if they want, but then after that 90 days we can file for adoption!!! We are hoping to be finalized by the fall!!! I cannot wait for him to have our last name!!!!
Well, my little man is waking up now so I need to go.....
Love you all!!!!
