We have some good news on Gus! It's so nice to actually have good news. His well baby check-up showed that he has gained a pound and a half in the past month. Thank you for all of your prayers. He is still in the less than 3% for his age but we will take any growth that we can get. He also grew a 1/2 of a centimeter. He has a new scar on his chest from the lung biopsy. The Down Syndrome world calls these battle scars, so Gus has his first. If we find heart surgery will help him in the future he might have more battle scars to come. He is attempting to creep which is exciting. He is now at a 6 month gross motor development stage and a 9 month social development stage. So all in all for going through a lung biopsy and a short stay in the hospital he had a good month.
He is feeling our prayers! Please continue to pray for the process, we have our last home study visit a week from Friday; pray that he keeps growing; pray that North and South Korea keep some form of peace right now; and finally pray for patience for Jason and I we want to meet our little boy so badly.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Lung Biopsy
Not a lot of new news on little Gus at this time. We are still going through the homestudy process. Our caseworker, Belinda is fantastic and has helped us through so much already. We will meet with her again on Friday for more homestudy stuff. We did get a short medical report on Gus' lung biopsy. It didn't have a lot of information but is says that he has Interestital Lung Disease. I am not fully sure what that means. After researching it online I am still somewhat confused. It can be caused from several different things my guess is that Gus has this as a result of the pulmonary hypertension/heart defect. It has different severities and the report did not specify how severe Gus' case is. It can go as far as having scarring in the lungs. This is not something that can be cured but it can be helped with medication. Right now he is on a steroid to help. Maybe the steroid will help our little guy grow too. I am hoping to still get some more in depth information but I am not sure if that will happen. Please continue to pray that he stays healthy, grows, and that Bethany and South Korea will have a clear sense of what is best for him. Thanks for your prayers!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
1st homestudy meeting
We started our homestudy officially yesterday. The meeting went really well. It was nice to go over some more detail information. We still don't have a time line and we are still trying to find a time to meet with some different people at Bethany to talk about their concerns with Gus' health. We asked for some more detailed information on his recent lung biopsy so hopefully we will be getting that soon. All around it was a good meeting and gave Jason and I a lot to think and pray about again. Continue to pray that their will be clear cut answers for little Gus and what is best for him.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Latest Korea Dr. Report
First of all thank you all so much for your prayers and comments. It means a lot to us to have so much support. We got a report from Korea today. Every month we get a doctor check-up report. Little Gus has gained two ounces and one cm in length. He has not picked up any new skills but he is at a 5 month gross motor development, 6 month fine motor development and 8 month social development. All that to say he is a happy little boy. He did go the hospital on April 15 for a lung bioposy but we have not seen the results of the biopsy, they are checking for lung disease. Thanks for the support.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Thought I better do this
So, after having been going through the adoption process for our little Gus for over three months now I thought hmmm maybe I should blog about it. That way when people want an update they can check the blog. Sometimes things change quickly and sometimes things are really slow.
So here is the background that has brought us to where we are now three months later. In late January, early February Jason and I felt a tug on our hearts to pursue adoption of a little one with Down Syndrome. We had always talked about this but after a worship service at Providence we felt God telling us to look now. So I contacted Bethany Chirsitian Services. I told them that we were interested in adopting a child with down syndrome between the ages of birth and two and that we did not care gender or if the child was from the US or international. Well they were sending me pictures of all these kiddos with down syndrome by the end of the day.
Jason and I started going through profiles on kids, filling out our initial application and making friends quickly with Stephanie the intake person at Bethany, whom we love. Within about a month we kept feeling a tug to look back at the picture and profile of a little boy who was 11 months old from Korea. We asked for more information on him and then we asked about Korea's three year marriage requirement. Stephanie checked on many things for us and called back a few days later with wonderful news. Korea was willing to waive the three year marriage requirement because he had Down Syndrome, they were also going to reduce the country fees.
And so our journey began. We decided at that point not to give him an American name because there was still so much more to do. So our next step was to fill out the massive long 32 essay question long application with several other sources of inf0rmation on us. This was a very good experience as it gave Jason and I a chance to talk some things through and think more about what it will look like when we are parents.
Soon after making the decision to pursue Gus we had a doctor at spectrum look at all of his paperwork to give us some more information on his heart condition and pulmonary hypertension. While at work one day I received a phone call from Sarah a case worker at Bethany. She explained Dr, Lacina's report to me. The report brought tears to my eyes as I was informed that little Gus was much sicker than we first thought. His heart defect and pulmonary hypertension put him at risk for a shortened life span, frequent pneumonia, and lack of strength and energy.
With this news Jason and I went to our knees. We prayed and cried and prayed some more. We decided to take our time listening to God about whether we should continue to pursue Gus, who we already felt a strong attachment to or look for a different child. During this time our families were a strong support as they prayed with us, brought out great questions to ask Bethany and other doctors. We also had a lot of support from friends who were also praying and giving us names of pediatricians we could talk to.
Well after about two weeks of praying Jason and I both got an overwhelming sense from God that we were supposed to continue to process of pursuing the adoption of Gus. On the same day we received a brand new picture of Gus . We know that God is with us through this and will guide our every step. Our prayer has been and continues to be that we will continue to go forward until a door is completely closed.
So now that we had made a decision we decided we needed to have a name for this little one that had already touched our lives so much. So on a wonderful spring walk at Hippie Tower with Morgan running free we talked names. We decided that he needed a name that meant strength with all of his health problems. We also decided he needed a name that was four or less letters to write (teacher coming out in me). So Augustus it was, and we will call him Gus. Three days later we celebrated Gus' first birthday with a small cake, a sign, a card and stuffed elephant. We look forward to the day when Gus will see the pictures of us celebrating his birthday even though he was half way around the world.
So where are we now, well Gus already has a pedicatrician, Dr. Shook who is wonderful. He also has a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Lacina who has been great at telling us the facts and giving us best and worst case scenarios. We are starting our homestudy with Bethany on Wednesday. And Gus, is happily waiting for his Mommy and Daddy to come get him.
I will do my best to keep this updated with what is new. Biggest prayer concerns right now: 1) that Gus stays healthy, no swine flu or any other yucky stuff. 2) that homestudy goes well. 3) that Gus gains weight, our 14 lb little peanut needs to grow.
So here is the background that has brought us to where we are now three months later. In late January, early February Jason and I felt a tug on our hearts to pursue adoption of a little one with Down Syndrome. We had always talked about this but after a worship service at Providence we felt God telling us to look now. So I contacted Bethany Chirsitian Services. I told them that we were interested in adopting a child with down syndrome between the ages of birth and two and that we did not care gender or if the child was from the US or international. Well they were sending me pictures of all these kiddos with down syndrome by the end of the day.
Jason and I started going through profiles on kids, filling out our initial application and making friends quickly with Stephanie the intake person at Bethany, whom we love. Within about a month we kept feeling a tug to look back at the picture and profile of a little boy who was 11 months old from Korea. We asked for more information on him and then we asked about Korea's three year marriage requirement. Stephanie checked on many things for us and called back a few days later with wonderful news. Korea was willing to waive the three year marriage requirement because he had Down Syndrome, they were also going to reduce the country fees.
And so our journey began. We decided at that point not to give him an American name because there was still so much more to do. So our next step was to fill out the massive long 32 essay question long application with several other sources of inf0rmation on us. This was a very good experience as it gave Jason and I a chance to talk some things through and think more about what it will look like when we are parents.
Soon after making the decision to pursue Gus we had a doctor at spectrum look at all of his paperwork to give us some more information on his heart condition and pulmonary hypertension. While at work one day I received a phone call from Sarah a case worker at Bethany. She explained Dr, Lacina's report to me. The report brought tears to my eyes as I was informed that little Gus was much sicker than we first thought. His heart defect and pulmonary hypertension put him at risk for a shortened life span, frequent pneumonia, and lack of strength and energy.
With this news Jason and I went to our knees. We prayed and cried and prayed some more. We decided to take our time listening to God about whether we should continue to pursue Gus, who we already felt a strong attachment to or look for a different child. During this time our families were a strong support as they prayed with us, brought out great questions to ask Bethany and other doctors. We also had a lot of support from friends who were also praying and giving us names of pediatricians we could talk to.
Well after about two weeks of praying Jason and I both got an overwhelming sense from God that we were supposed to continue to process of pursuing the adoption of Gus. On the same day we received a brand new picture of Gus . We know that God is with us through this and will guide our every step. Our prayer has been and continues to be that we will continue to go forward until a door is completely closed.
So now that we had made a decision we decided we needed to have a name for this little one that had already touched our lives so much. So on a wonderful spring walk at Hippie Tower with Morgan running free we talked names. We decided that he needed a name that meant strength with all of his health problems. We also decided he needed a name that was four or less letters to write (teacher coming out in me). So Augustus it was, and we will call him Gus. Three days later we celebrated Gus' first birthday with a small cake, a sign, a card and stuffed elephant. We look forward to the day when Gus will see the pictures of us celebrating his birthday even though he was half way around the world.
So where are we now, well Gus already has a pedicatrician, Dr. Shook who is wonderful. He also has a pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Lacina who has been great at telling us the facts and giving us best and worst case scenarios. We are starting our homestudy with Bethany on Wednesday. And Gus, is happily waiting for his Mommy and Daddy to come get him.
I will do my best to keep this updated with what is new. Biggest prayer concerns right now: 1) that Gus stays healthy, no swine flu or any other yucky stuff. 2) that homestudy goes well. 3) that Gus gains weight, our 14 lb little peanut needs to grow.
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