What is "normal" anyway?

When we found out we were expecting, our lives changed forever. It was something we never knew we were missing, and we couldn't have been happier.

We read the baby books week by week, began planning our future with our new child - what will it be like?

We started planning the nursery - bought furniture, learned about the MILLION & ONE things babies "need" in 2010.

Then at 19 weeks - we found out 1) we were having a boy! 2) he had CDH. Well, we were told loads of other awful things, but that's since fallen off our diagnosis and why dwell on it?

At that point, our "normal pregnancy" was forever changed.

Helpless isn't even the word for it...but we picked ourselves up (with the help of many prayers and support from family and friends) and decided we weren't giving up on our son. He was given to us for a reason...and we were going to fight for him with everything we had!

Over the course of the last 20 weeks, we have been through numerous specialists and monitoring procedures (MRI, ECHOs, Ultrasounds, Non-Stress Tests (NSTs), BioPhysical Profile (BPP)) as well as a tour of the NICU. We have learned a LOT - including how to read ultrasounds, NST traces, and become experts on finding his heartbeat! We've accepted this as our "normal"....and thankfully so did our bosses and professors, because we've had weekly appointments since!

We have also become involved with the CDH support campaign, CHERUBS - attended a walk in March 2010, participated in a photo shoot as expectant CDH parents for awareness posters, and are currently voting everyday in the Facebook contest for APX alarm where the group is currently 1st place to win $100,000! Even more importantly, we have been embraced by a wonderful community of people who understand what our "normal" is.

As we head towards our due date - July 21st(!), our son, Oz is looking really great (even according to the Drs who are "conservative" at best)! Through all of this, he's been a trooper, a stubborn one at times, but a trooper! Our surgeon told us the most important thing was to make sure Mom stayed healthy and Oz was happy to go full term...and here we are, healthy and happy!

What we know: He has LCDH (left sided), his stomach is in his chest, and pushing against his heart - makes the left side slightly smaller. He has both lungs and lung tissue, and has been practicing breathing already (hiccups, using amniotic fluid). And when he's born, we have a lot of monitoring and assessing to go through to make sure his lungs and heart are working. Then when he's stable, he'll have his repair surgery.

Has this been easy? No - but we've learned a lot about ourselves, and found strength and faith we didn't know we had.

Even though this is our "normal"... that doesn't mean we stopped our planning and dreams for Oz: We have a color crazy nursery that we "designed" the theme for ourselves and handcrafted much of the decor, we have more baby gear and stuff than we can fit into our house, can't wait to get him home and start showing Oz the world (including LOTS of zoos and aquariums!), and still read the week by week baby growth books/websites.

Does it make some people uncomfortable? You bet, but that's their problem, not ours. The majority of our friends and family have been nothing but POSITIVE influences, and rallied around us from day one with love, prayers and support and faith...and we don't have time for people who feel otherwise.

We love Oz more than we thought possible we could love someone...and would NOT change or trade him for anything. He is NOT a burden, he is our child, he is a BLESSING. He is an amazing, strong boy who has defied the odds already!!