Boston Strong

Whew, our first full day in Boston - check! It was informative, adventurous and tiring! Magnus wasn't too thrilled with the whole waking up early thing and showed it!

We walked to the hospital bright and early and stopped at Au Bon Pain where Mags devoured a carrot cake muffin (note to self, add that to his list of his edible foods). I thought I knew where I was going for Cardiology Pre-Op but I was so wrong, ha! A fellow heart mom told me to follow the yellow path or so I thought in my head, the yellow brick road. Well, apparently I would never have made it to Oz because I didn't do well following the yellow signs in the hospital. After two wrong stops, we finally ended up in the right place and still on time too!

It was a flurry of vitals, bloodwork, EKG, chest xray, and meeting several team members. Most importantly, we met Magnus's cardiologist, Dr. Marx. What an absolutely wonderful man! I'm in awe of his brilliance and thoroughly enjoyed talking with him. He took his time and spoke with us at length. He even drew Magnus a picture on his magnadoodle. Mags was exhausted by this point and fell asleep in my arms as we continued to discuss options and how our days ahead should play out. He made it clear that although Magnus is a strong candidate, he isn't a shoo-in for a bi-ventricular repair. This means he could have two fully functioning ventricles like a normal heart. They won't know until all of the procedures are completed tomorrow. It was hard to hear that but I know they will do what's best for him and we accept whatever that may be. He will most likely stay overnight tomorrow since he is so young and having a long sedation (possibly 6-7 hours). I hope I remember to grab our toiletries tomorrow morning as a fumble around in an early morning stupor! He is one of the first patients at 6:45am-yikes!

I've mentioned that I belong to an incredible group of heart moms who just rock in this world. Their care and concern for each of us is second to none. Recently, a precious little heart warrior just home from China earned her angel wings here in Boston. She touched so many of us and I wanted to honor her by making a shirt for Magnus to wear. We pray for sweet Eisley and her family often and hope we brought a smile to their faces as Magnus rocked his special shirt.

Doesn't matter where, I'm still dancing!

We finished at 12:30pm and returned to our Dragon Chinese restaurant. It was if the same women hadn't seen Magnus the day before - they made as big of a deal about him as yesterday. Such a ladies man which helped score us some extra scoops of chicken teriyaki! Work it little man, work it! We both napped and agreed to take another adventurous walk. I'm pretty sure Mags said he was missing Target :) so we set out to find the one just 15 minutes away. We bought some essentials - a Boston shirt, gummy bears and Pepsi for Mommy and suckers for Magsy Moo. We covered all the bases!

The statue, Dancing Man - so appropriate!

Ah, home! :)

We stopped at a Bread Co on our way back which is one of our favorites. Little did I know that it began to pour while we ate. I didn't have a choice to wait it out because I didn't want to be stuck out so far in the dark. We high-tailed it with me running the 1-2 miles back. Last year, I would've laughed at that distance. Today, I almost passed out! Sadly, I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow...wah wah wah.

The girls are doing great and we're Skyping them all the time. Tonight, Anya and Grammy are at their last show at The Fox Theatre, The Sound of Music. Hope they're belting out "Rain Drops on Roses" and "Doe a Deer" for me!

I'd like to send out a special thank you to all of the generous families from our church who have signed up to provide dinners to our family. Our dear family friend sent out the request and we have dinners provided for the next month!!! We humbly thank each and every one of you for your thoughtfulness and care for our family. It means more than you know!

So tomorrow is even bigger than today. We will get immediate answers about the functionality and anatomy of Magnus's heart. I am nervous and worried but very hopeful that there won't be any surprises for his future care. Lots of extra prayers as we got ready for bed tonight!

Thank you for all of your texts, FB messages and calls. We love you and feel the love and prayers you are sending our way!

Alright little man, let's see what's going on in that little broken heart of yours! As Mike said to us as we left, "Boston Strong"!!

Ready Or Not

Boston, we have arrived! Make way everyone, we're here to fix a little, broken heart!

We started the day out early as we stumbled out of bed at 5am for a 8:15am flight. Anya has the most impressive and accurate internal alarm clock so she was there to see us off with Mike.

I was able to keep my tears at bay through our goodbyes but choked up as I yelled "I love you" one last time while pulling out of the driveway. I have a lot of tears that I've been holding back but I feel they will be streaming soon.

We picked up Grammy on the way to the airport so she could drop us off and take the car to work. There's nothing like getting a last hug from your mom!

The security line was super duper long so we only made it to our gate with 10 minutes to spare. Like I need any more unnecessary stress on this trip! We had just enough time to get the classic "look out the window at the plane" pic.

I wasn't too concerned for our flight since Magnus had just rocked a 14 hour flight home from China. He did great until the last 15 minutes. He was D-O-N-E and let it be known to everyone! The man next to him had slept the whole flight so Mags must have figured it was time to get him up!

We hustled off the plane, picked up our two large suitcases (totally struggled with those, two carry ons and a stroller even with a cart). Hey, I had to pack very light for China. This time, I decided to pack everything we may possibly need and the kitchen sink to be sure! :) I used Uber for the first time which was fascinating and successful. Score one for Mommy!  After a quick 15 minute ride, we found the patient house that will be our home for awhile. We settled in and decided to go on a walking adventure. It was drizzling but we managed not to melt! The hospital is several blocks away so we were able to see exactly where we need to go tomorrow since our first appointment is at 7:30am. On our way back, we stopped to eat at a food court and chose the Chinese restaurant, of course! The women working there went nuts over Magnus and spoke a million miles a minute to him. He smiled, flirted (shocker!) and answered back once. They called him lucky and I nicely corrected them that I am the lucky one.

We returned to our home away from home, took a nap and played in the play room for a bit. To our delight, we met two other China heart families. We chatted and then headed for a hot shower. We were ready for snuggle time but not before Mags got down to some more Pippi Longstocking (just like in China!). I have a video but it's not posting so I'll try again later.

As I lay here in Boston, half of my heart is in Troy with our girls and Mike. They're doing great without me though, playing ball and making this mama proud!

Tomorrow is a big day and we're ready! Let's do this!!

All our love,

Dana and Her Little Warrior

Our Missing Piece

Helllllllllooooooo! Believe it or not, we are alive and doing well! It may have seemed as if we dropped off the face of our fine planet but we're baaaack! :) The time has come to resurrect our blog which was originally intended to update family and friends during our wild ride to Magnus in China.  We were shocked and taken aback by the interest from all of you!  We didn't realize how many people were following our journey, or as we like to call it, our red thread to Magnus.  Now, don't get us wrong...we're no professional bloggers but we have quite a group of dedicated followers.  It must be because Mags is so darn cute! :)

Our life as a proud family of SIX has been pure chaos since we've been home but we wouldn't have it any other way!  Since Magnus has attached to us quickly, we have been able to do a lot of family activities in the 3 months we have been home. We've discovered that he loves the park, especially the teeter totter and slide. He loves playing in our backyard where he jumps all day long on the trampoline. He would choose to read books with anyone who is willing to sit for hours on end and also loves coloring and puzzles. He is "all boy" as we suspected early on and likes playing with cars and trucks. And he still loves music, more than anything! We couldn't stop him from dancing if we tried. It's so crazy to see his little body hear a couple notes of music and rhythmically start moving. It's in his blood! We love it and expect him to become a full blown rock star and buy us a private island! :) He is obsessed with shoes. Yep, he fits in perfectly and challenges Eliza's "diva" status in the family! He is a little sponge and is learning new words every day and has recently started putting 2 words together. He says "please" and "thank you" all the time and we continue to believe he is a genius! And yes, he would still eat noodles and only noodles if we let him but is slowly and hesitantly trying more and more foods.

Pizza with chopsticks...what?!

He and Daddy are two peas in a pod and have the magnet relationship one sweet adoptive father told Mike would happen. He adores his sisters and follows them everywhere. They are the absolute best big sisters in the entire world. They have returned to their activities and are loving American life again. Luckily, the honeymoon period isn't over and they still swoon over Mags every minute of the day. And as for me, I have the most adorable shadow who showers me with countless kisses...even more so than before, if possible! Pure love!!

We are now besties with the staff at our beloved pediatrician's office and with several departments at St. Louis Children's Hospital. Magnus has charmed 87 doctors and nurses and counting...jk! He has had giardia, an ear infection, a couple of colds, and sedation at the hospital for 2 crowns (his teeth had never been brushed in China). Of all that we have going on, can you believe that 2 massive stainless crowns in his mouth made this mama cry?! Nonsense!

So, I'm sure you're wondering about his heart, right?? Well, some may be surprised to hear this since quite a bit has changed since our last post...we are headed to Boston on May 3rd. Why Boston?? Because Boston Children's Hospital has the #1 cardiac surgery program in the nation, and probably in the world. Our son, who means the world to us, will have a world class team mending his precious heart. One.of.the.hardest.decisions.we.have.ever.had.to.make! Since Magnus has multiple complicated congenital hearts defects (CHD), he requires a very complex surgical repair. We have always known about his conditions so nothing came as a surprise to us. After a lot of research, many discussions and some tears, we knew without a doubt that Magnus's heart has the best chance to be fully functioning at Boston Children's. So that is where we will go and literally put his life in their hands. We will then return to his cardiologist at St. Louis Children's who we adore.

Our very own Dr. Heart Throb!

Magnus and I will fly out on Tuesday, May 3rd. On Wednesday, we will meet his medical teams, have a chest xray, bloodwork, etc. On Thursday, he will have a sedated MRI, cath, and ECHO. He will be admitted, stay one night and be discharged on Friday. On Saturday, Mike will fly out to meet us and we will have 2 days to explore Boston. And then the most dreaded and anticipated day of Monday, May 9th will be Magnus's surgery day. I shouldn't be dreading it as I am because it will be Day 1 of the rest of his life with a fully functioning heart. But as you know, I am as honest as I can be and I am dreading it with every bone in my body. I am not fearful, I have faith in the Lord and fully trust Mags's medical team. But if I could skip over this part and the couple days following, I would. I am fortunate to belong to an outstanding group of China heart mamas who have practically held my hand and guided me through this process. I have relied heavily on them and cannot sing their praises enough. They have provided so much information and given me real expectations of how Magnus's surgery and hospital stay should go.

Because our children have the absolute BEST grandmothers in the entire world, they will be lovingly taken care of by them while we are away. This is what made our decision so hard. We have only been away from these girly girls together twice for less than a week -  New York and Curacao. I don't know who's going to be more stoic but I would say not to bet any money on me. I will rely heavily on seeing their beautiful faces on Skype multiple times a day!

Please pray for Magnus's surgeon, team of doctors and nurses. Please pray for Anya, Eliza and Juliette that they don't miss their mommy, daddy and Magnus too terribly. Please pray for our moms as they take care of our sweet girls. I humbly ask for your prayers over Mike and myself. We felt the power of your prayer in China! There's no way we found the strength and courage on our own. It was all from our Lord and you! We felt your love and ask for it again! And above all else, please pray that Magnus feels God's healing hand and that his guardian angel never leaves his side.

Our Magsy Moo has fit his piece into our family puzzle perfectly. We didn't realize we were missing such an important piece until he became ours forever! To Boston we go!!