Happy 5th Birthday Colby!

March 25, 2008 is a day that Jason and I will never forget...the day of our 20 week ultrasound.  The excitement of hearing that we were having another boy was quickly changed into a fear that I have never experienced in my entire life.  My OB walked into the room with tears in her eyes,  and I knew something was very wrong.  She explained that our baby's heart did not develop correctly.  She sent us immediately over to an office that specializes in reading ultrasounds, and what we were told there will always haunt me.  Our baby boy has a severe congenital heart defect, was in heart failure, and could possibly die before or shortly after birth. That was the only information they gave us that day, or at least that is the only thing I can remember from that visit.  They scheduled us an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist at Vanderbilt for two days later and sent us home.  Jason and I left that appointment completely heart broken.  We had no idea how we would get through the next two days.  

After a lot of prayer and a lot of crying, we went to meet with the cardiologist, Dr. Liske.  He did a fetal echo and confirmed the diagnosis...tricuspid atresia, hypoplastic right heart syndrome, a large VSD, and bilateral SVCs.  He agreed that our baby would have a tough start in life facing 3 open heart surgeries before 3 years old, but he said something that Jason and I both desperately  needed to hear.  He told us that our baby boy had a great "chance" of living to be an old, grey haired man.  He also gave us a statistic that stuck with us...the survival rate to 5 years of age for babies with this type of defect is 85%.  Colby Chance has officially made it into that 85% by celebrating his 5th birthday on August 4th!  We are so incredibly thankful for this little guy and thankful that God has trusted us to be his parents.  

We celebrated Colby's big day with a family lunch at our house.  Colby and Brody have been blessed with 4 awesome cousins, and we were so happy that they could all be here to help us celebrate.

No party would be complete without karaoke and a dance party!!  Colby is never afraid to perform!

Happy Birthday sweet boy!  Your love for life, your toughness, and your happiness in all circumstances is truly inspiring.  You are our little miracle, and we thank God daily for you!