Meet Judson!

Well....first of all I'd like to say that I am not a blogger and have never done this before! I am not a good writer, and I'm not even creative....but I wanted to create this blog for a few reasons: 

1.  I wanted to remember all the details that surround Judsons birth, diagnosis, surgery, and recovery. I want to remember it so that I can later tell him exactly what he went through, and what we felt during this time. I also want to give the Lord glory for every detail!

2. To keep all our family and friends updated on his condition and the surgery process without bombarding our social media pages with information overload! 

3. To possibly help someone else down the road, who might be facing the same diagnosis and journey! To give them hope, to give them reality, and to show them what our Lord is able to accomplish through the storms in our lives!!

So....with all that being said....
MEET JUDSON LEE HILL

 

He was born on December 30th, 2016...along with his twin brother, Jackson! 

It was right around my birthday, in May of 2016 that we found out we were expecting again! We were ecstatic! I'll never forget, I was at a Ladies conference, and something that I normally would not get emotional about made me cry!! My best friend looked at me and said.....are u pregnant?? And I said...I'm really not sure! But sure enough, not long after that,we got confirmation that I was! That same friend,from the moment i found out I was expecting,said....it's twins!! I did not believe it...and would not believe it!! There's no way I could handle twins!! So we made our OB apt and on the way to the office that day, i looked at Josh and said.....What if it really was twins...would you be excited? We both thought for a second and both started smailing very big....OF COURSE WE WOULD BE EXCITED!!! There we were....in the room....Madelyn and Marlee were with us....ultrasound lady comes in and starts the scan....as she looks around, she is silent.....I say, please let me know everything is okay before I tell my girls what they are looking at....silence....very scared mama...finally the words that took our breath away....well I'm gonna say something that might shock you ALL....it's twins!!!! There's really no words to describe that feeling,but a sweet nurse grabbed my phone and snapped a picture that captured the emotion in that instant!!

To say we were excited was an understatement! I thought I was 8 weeks, however they were only measuring a little over 6...we also didn't hear the heartbeats on this visit, so I was worried. I spent the next 3 weeks in deep prayer,asking the Lord to please keep my babies safe and let them grow. That next visit was the scariest day....I had read about "vanishing twin", I had read about all kinds of scary stuff...and I didn't know what to expect on the ultrasound.  When she started the scan we immediately saw 2 babies and our hearts were so relieved and we could not thank the Lord enough for these miracles!!!

Pregnancy announcement!!

Next big news......GENDER REVEAL....2 BOYS!!! Boys?? What was i gonna do with boys? I have 2 girls... our home has tons of dresses and bows, lots of baby dolls and princesses castles,  what would i did with boys?! Little did I know how easily those boys STOLE this Mamas heart!!

DELIVERY DAY: 

35 weeks and 4 days.

During my 35th week, my blood pressure started getting higher and higher (I had preeclampsia with both my daughters), so my Dr decided to induce me at 10pm on 12/29. We gave the girls a bath, put their pjs on, got them into bed at my parents house, then headed to the hospital.

I was in labor throughout the night...progressing pretty slowly. I was very nervous about their delivery and was having uncontrollable shaking throughout the night. When 5am rolled around, my Dr came to make his rounds. He checked me and immediately said I was at 10cm and ready to go! We were wheeled into the OR (in case of emergency), and I started pushing at 5:25 am. Jackson Elliot was born at 5:47 (5lb7oz), and Judson Lee was born at 5:53 (5lb8oz)!! They were here and healthy!!! I was relieved and we were praising the Lord for their health and safe delivery!!!

The Lord is so good! He blessed us with 2 wonderful daughters and now he had given us two handsome sons!! We are so unworthy of these gifts from the Lord, and these children are something I do NOT take for granted. I have VERY close friends that have walked thru the valley of infertility and child loss...I have literally watched it shatter their hearts in a million pieces. So i promise you...I feel so unworthy of these precious blessings..so unworthy...and yet SO thankful. 

FIRST MENTION OF CRANIOSYNOSTOSIS:

Our journey with craniosynostosis started before our Juddy Buddy was born. On the last few ultrasounds of our babies, I could tell something just didnt look right about the shape of Judson's head.  Then after he was born, again I noticed something wasn't quite right.  The instant that my pediatrician visited us at the hospital, she sat down in a chair beside me and mentioned the word craniosynostosis! As the tears started rolling down my face, it was hard for me to listen to the rest of her words.  

The next few weeks were filled with a lot of googling!! We were scared.  We prayed...we prayed a lot for our baby. And, like HE always does, the Lord came on the scene with overwhelming peace,that only HE can give!! I was very emotionally drained the first 6 weeks of their life, in and out of the dr once or twice a week, the boys not gaining weight, trying to nurse both of them, upper GI's, swallow studies, 2 toddlers, swimming in an ocean of spit up, and an overwhelming fear of what Craniosynostosis would mean for my Juddy Buddy....for our family. 

THE DIAGNOSIS

We met with a Neurosurgeon in Chattanooga soon after the boys were born. With his examination, he was able to confirm the diagnosis of Sagittal Craniosynostosis. Our pediatrician then sent us for a CT scan. If you are reading this blog and aren't super familiar with what Craniosynostosis is....let me give you a simple version of It!

Basically there are multiple sutures in a baby's skull...these sutures are the soft spots, that allow the skull to expand as the brain grows! When a baby has Craniosynostosis, one or more of those sutures prematurely fuse together, leaving no room for the skull to expand and accommodate brain growth!  

This is a bird's eye view of a normal infant skull.  The lines represent sutures. 

This is a birds eye view of Judson's skull, you notice the absence of the middle suture. This is where the bones already fused together. 

His diagnosis was once again confirmed by the CT scan.... And we began to enter the phase of acceptance, reality of impending surgery, and so on.....

Isaiah 41:10 - Fear thou not; for I [am] with thee: be not dismayed; for I [am] thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

We began clinging more and more to the Lord

 We knew HE was the only one that could help our baby...HE was the only place we could find strength!!