Taking on a Life of It's Own...

Let me start tonight with the most important part of today's blog post (an update on Mr. Colin). Our little buddy started off yesterday not doing so well. His oxygen desaturations (desats) and bradycardic episodes (bradys) were becoming more frequent (as in 20-30 episodes in just half a day or so). It was enough to make the neonatologist nervous, and he decided to order blood labs to rule out another infection or maybe give some insight if something else were brewing. Well, the good news is that his labs were all normal! We think what was going on was that our little man is an exceptional mucus-producer! As he would form these nose-boogies, the bubble CPAP wouldn't quite work as well since his airways were essentially constricted. Once they would suction out the goobers, his episodes dramatically decreased. This is good on one hand, but the little guy has to endure suction tubes being shoved down each nostril every 3 hours now. It's tough to watch, because just as you and I would cry if someone did this to us, Colin lets the world know his displeasure too with his pitiful little birdy-cries :-( Since we've seemed to figure this out, he continues to have much fewer episodes. Let's hope that's all it was.
I've decided to include in tonight's blog an explanation of how this whole blog-thing got started; what it meant initially, and what meaning it has taken on today. We've all heard the expression "taking on a life of it's own". Well, that truly applies to Colin's blog. The purpose it serves today is a blessing by itself, and we had no possible thought or vision of what it has become.
Ania and I are fortunate in that we have such an abundance of wonderful, caring friends around us. We've really been blessed in that department. Well, I mentioned when I started writing this blog that the initial intent was to provide a vehicle for me/us to keep friends and family informed without necessarily having to respond to the mountain of emails that would pile up. I had never "blogged" before, but our good friend Jen Bunich sold us on it as a time-saver and just simply a neat thing to do. And it definitely served it's purpose! But as I started to write, it became more clear to me that this will someday be a special gift to our son too. When he's old enough to read it and comprehend the emotions that went into the writings, he would see not only that his parents loved and love his every ounce, but that he had so, so many people who truly cared for and were pulling for him too. But in order to make it "real", I had to be honest with Ania's and my feelings. That meant opening up with raw emotion to explain the journey in detail, which also meant giving others a somewhat unique "pass" into some of the intimate corners of our world. Not something that in the past I would be comfortable doing, but this isn't about me or Ania necessarily. It's about Colin, and I don't have any reservation sharing our love for him with the world.
As the entries accumulate, and the days pass, we get so much feedback from people who've expressed how much they've been touched by our story. Colin's story. That you, the reader, are genuinely interested in Colin's progess. You're touched, and in turn, we're touched. This blog has really become important for so many people, but in the end, it'll still be most important to Colin. And it is you who've turned this blog into something much more than we ever would have imagined. Thank you for rooting him (and us) on, and telling your friends and co-workers about Colin's blog. The human spirit is alive and well! Thank you to all!