pray for shea

"We cannot direct the wind, but we can adjust our sails." - unknown

Our little family has been showered with so much love over the past week as we have been hit with more news at each doctor's appointment. Priorities shift and love grows. We know and feel the love and support we are surrounded by, thank you. Seamus "Shea" is quite the trooper and he has shown us daily that everything will be okay.

Our sweet Seamus is full of so much life with his coos and smiles. He was born a few days past 40 weeks, 12/17/15 with a fairly simple delivery.  Our little man squeezed his way through the birth canal, coming out with a hematoma on top of his head. At Shea's 2-month appointment, his hemotoma prompted our pediatrician (Dr. Mody) to order an ultrasound of his head and instructed us to follow up with a pediatric neurosurgeon (Dr. Muhonen). Incidentally, the ultrasound revealed hydrocephalus. He was not and still is not showing any signs or symptoms of it because the fluid simply found it's own path and took over new territory, without his head becoming enlarged. It turns out the hematoma is not a big deal and should go away in time, but the hydrocephalus must be addressed.

Shea had an MRI of his brain this morning, which of course, he was wide-eyed enjoying his experience and making the techs laugh throughout. We then followed up with Dr. Muhonen to put together a plan. So, here we go: Shea will be going for a VP shunt tomorrow morning at CHOC.  We will be in the PICU for monitoring following the surgery. This should relieve the additional pressure from his brain and drain the fluid. He will have a VP shunt in place for his lifetime, which will on average be replaced and/or revised about 10 times in his life. He will frequent the neurosurgeon's office for follow ups and MRIs from here on out, but are thankful to live a mile away from the best of the best physicians.

We ask for your ongoing prayers as we tackle this next step. We know we can handle it and be there for our little man, and that is possible because of all of you. We trust in God's plan for Shea and our role as his parents to make sure he has the best of care and great life.

Love and hugs,

Erin, Pieter and Shea