Luke at 15 months old

Lukas Scott (Luke) was born on January 9, 2007 at 12:14 pm and has been our greatest gift every moment since. Through Luke, we have seen God's faithfulness with new eyes and his generosity with new hearts. God does not promise to give us 'all things' we want, but he does give us 'all things' we need. More than any other time in our lives, Roger and I relied upon this promise and saw its fulfillment time and time again. When it was peace we needed, peace we graciously received. When it was strength we needed to face the unknown, strength we graciously received. When it was faith we needed to trust God's plan, faith we graciously received. We are singing God's praises as we reflect on His goodness to us.

Luke was born with a congenital heart defect, diagnosed at 20 weeks in utero with one ventricle instead of two. We knew even before he was born that he would face three open-heart surgeries. As of August 2007, Luke has successfully come through two of his three heart surgeries (plus a diaphragm plication surgery). One year old and two open-heart surgeries under his belt. No wonder we call him our little champion!

The morning of February 15th, Luke underwent his first surgery, where our wonderful and renowned surgeon placed a pulmonary artery band on Luke to restrict the amount of blood flow to his lungs. Luke's biggest struggle post-surgery and for the following three months was to put on weight. Before we left Children's Hospital in March, Luke had a Nasal-Gastro (NG) feeding tube put in to help with his weight gain. We began feeding him through the night through his tube and slowly but surely began to see his weight creep upwards. We were blessed with a wonderful dietician at Mary Bridge who continues to help Luke pack on the pounds! At five months old, we removed the NG feeding tube and Luke has gained weight steadily since.

Late spring and summer was a wonderful time for our family, as we felt more comfortable taking Luke out and about. At this point in between surgeries 1 and 2, it was important that we keep Luke as healthy as possible. He got to visit NBC camps and see his Daddy at his best, he played in his kiddie pool on our deck and even went swimming in a real pool in July. Even the simplest things like taking Luke to church and to dinner in a restaurant felt like such a gift.

We headed up to Children's for Luke's second surgery, the bi- directional Glenn and the Damus-Kaye-Stansel (DKS) on August 13. This operation went very well, as expected. This was a much bigger operation than the first, so Luke stayed in the Cardiac ICU for 8 days before moving to the surgical floor for another few weeks of recovery. I can't call this post complete without sharing how much we love Children's Hospital. The facility and the staff are truly second to none.

Luke has come through the 2007-2008 cold and flu and RSV season really well and we are currently 3 months in between cardiology appointments. Although his final surgery, the Fontan, is always on the back of our minds, we try and live each day simply enjoying our beautiful, happy boy.