Happy Easter!

It has been awhile since we have given a Caden update and we thought it was due. Caden had a GREAT cardiology appointment 2 weeks ago! All of his vitals are stable, his weight and height, although quite small, are on the curve. His Echo was even better than his last one in December. The big concern with his last echo was the potential closing of his ASD (the hole in between his 2 atria which was one of his heart defects). This ASD has to stay open and is important because it allows for oxygenated and deoxygenated blood to mix so that he can adequately oxygenate. When we went in December the pressure inside of his atria had increased which means that his ASD could be trying to close, which would require a heart catheterization to fix; not an open-heart surgery, but still another procedure under anesthesia non the less. Fortunately, his echo the other week was very stable and it even showed a decrease in pressure in his atria! Obviously, there are lots of other things to monitor with his heart defects, but his cardiologist was VERY happy with his progress and said we don't have to come back for 4 months! The plan currently for Caden is to get him to 4 years old and do his next open-heart surgery which will connect his IVC (vessel that brings deoxygenated blood back to the heart from the body) directly to his pulmonary artery, essentially bypassing the right side of his heart. We are hoping that he won't need any other procedures before then, but this is why we see cardiology so often!

Caden has been crawling for awhile now and is SO close to walking. All he wants to do is keep up with his big brother and do everything that Luke does! He is the happiest baby and is just so fun. He loves pretty much all food he can get his hands on and LOVES his milk. We're still working on talking, but hopefully he isn't too far off!

After Caden turned 1, we knew that it would be a blessing but also difficult to look back on where we were a year ago. We spent Easter last year in the hospital; Caden had just gotten put back into CACU after a short stay in CICU. Seeing Caden grow is like watching a miracle from God every single day! He is our reminder that nothing is too big for God. We cherished spending Easter with our family and being able to be at church all together. 

Thank you to all of our friends and family that continue to keep Caden in your prayers!