Spina Bifida Awareness: Meet Logan!

Today we meet Tiffany's little guy, Logan Blake!

Logan was born on October 17th, 2008 at 9:19 P.M. in Oklahoma City. He weighed 6 lbs, 5 ounces and was 18 inches long!  Logan was born with Spina Bifida: Myelomeningocele, Congenital Hydrocephalus, Chiari II Malformation. He has Asthma, GERD/Reflux and Hydronephrosis of the left kidney. Logan's SB level is at an L5/S1 (Lumbar 5/Sacral 1)...  It seems like it was just yesterday that he was born! It's hard to believe that we have been on this SB journey for almost 3 years now...

I remember the day that we found out Logan would be born with Spina Bifida, clearly blaming myself for it... I went over & over in my head, what it was that I did wrong, what I could have done differently?? Until one day, God spoke to me- telling me to "Be still"... I came to the realization, that sometimes these things just happen and are unavoidable. The rest of my pregnancy, I spent waiting & wondering what was ahead of us.

On the day that Logan was born, my water had broke and I went into labor two weeks before my scheduled csection date, which was on November 4th! We lived almost 3 hours from the hospital that Logan was born at. We drove the 3 hours there. (but at the time it felt like an eternity from being in so much pain!) By the time we arrived to the hospital, I had been in labor almost 16 hours and the contractions hurt so much due to back labor. By the time they took me back for my csection- I had been in labor for 18 hours and man oh man, that spinal block had never felt so nice!!

I remember my husband being able to come into the room after they had laid me down and got me all secured and about 20 minutes later, I vaguely remember hearing the words, "And, we have a baby boy!" I remember waiting in agony for what seemed like forever to hear his little cry. When I finally heard it, tears streamed down my face and I passed out! They brought my husband over to where they brought Logan and let him see Logan's open lesion and then they carefully wrapped his opening and sent him on up to the NICU...

As I was in my room, I later learned that Logan had aspirated meconium and had to receive an NCPAP due to not being able to breathe, once he arrived up to the NICU. Logan went into surgery the next day to have his lesion closed up and after a day or two, I was finally allowed to go up to the NICU to see my precious, momma's boy!! The moment I saw him, lying there on his stomach- unable to move broke my heart but at the same time, I cried tears of joy. He was here and he was alive... (Not many people know this but before Logan was born, we almost lost him due to the Hydrocephalus growing too rapidly in his brain towards the end of my pregnancy.)

Logan spent the next 24 days in the NICU. He had his shunt placed in at one week old and was on & off oxygen.

Logan was released from the hospital on November 9th!! He came home in tow with oxygen and an apnea monitor. We would spend the next 3 months with many sleepness nights for fear that the apnea monitor wouldn't alert us if something when wrong! Logan would quit breathing while he was asleep, so there were nights where I was terrified to even sleep at all...

In January 2009, Logan was officially weaned off oxygen! And from then on, our little monkey has not let anything stop him!!

Logan has had a total of 7 surgeries so far since birth... When he was about 5 months old, I had noticed that he was still breathing really rapidly. It just wasn't normal. So, I trusted my instinct and took him to our family doctor. We were referred to a Pulmonologist. It was then, that it was discovered that Logan had a paralyzed Diaphragm on his right side and would need surgery to have it fixed.

Later that year, Logan was hospitalized with Pneumonia for the first time about a month before his 1st birthday... And, then in February of 2010, he was hospitalized again for Pneumonia and it was then, that his Asthma was discovered...

Since then, the only major illnesses he has been hospitalized for are 2 kidneys infections and respiratory distress. But our little man is now striving, full of life and taking off! 

Logan Blake is now almost 3 years old and is a complete joy & light in our life!! He is sitting up, he is pushing himself up onto his hand and knees, commando crawls all over the place, rolls everywhere & is now working on his latest milestone: pushing himself up to a sitting position!! If I had known and was able to envision what life would be like as his mother, now almost 3 years later- I would not have been so scared or worried about what he would/would not do or if he'd even thrive or questioned the thought of a wheelchair, braces, catheters, meds or his needed therapies.

Logan is happy & healthy and lights up any room with his silly, little grin!! He doesn't talk, stand or even walk yet but none of that matters or is even an important factor. If I could do it all over again, I would not change a thing!

Of course, I will always worry about what is going to happen next... But, I think it's kind of code for a Special Needs to parent to always worry!

Our life is blessed. Simply put!!