Happy Birthday Evan!!

Today is my youngest son's 9th birthday!! Every year on my children's birthday i have always made a big deal and go all out for them. Not like over the top parties or lavish gifts, just simple traditions that we share together. We go eat breakfast together where ever they want to go. Dalton just wants to run to McDonald's and Evan prefers the local diner here called Peggy's. Greasy but country cooking! This morning when Evan woke up he came in my room and climbed into bed with me and at 6:30 this morning, we shared our birthday talk. This is when the boys want to here all about the day or night they were born. Evan's birth was special to me in many ways. The pregnancy was a challenge and the delivery was a nightmare! We tried for almost 5 years to have our first child and spent a lot of time with fertility doctors and taking lots of fertility medicine to conceive, with Evan.... he just showed up! I found out i was having him three weeks to the day after my grandfather died. He didn't want Dalton to be an only child and he got his wish. The pregnancy almost killed me physically but at the same time, saved my life! I went into labor with him the first time when i was only 25 weeks along. The doctor told me that if he was born then, he wouldn't survive! I was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks and put on bed rest for the next 3 weeks. I was taken medicine around the clock to keep contractions to a minimum. At 28 weeks, i was 5 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. Evan was coming. I remember the nicu nurse coming in that evening that i went back to the hospital and telling me that my baby would be born very sick and could possibly die! I told her that i believed different and that God had given me this baby for a reason and i was going to leave it in his hands. She actually laughed at me and said " that's crazy!!" By the next morning my contractions had stopped and the very next day i went home to be with Dalton that wasn't even 2 yet! Those next few weeks were crazy!!! Evan was born at 32 weeks and weighed a whopping 6lbs 9oz. He was enormous to be so early! He would've been 15 pounds if i would have carried him to term!! ha ha. The delivery was a breeze! Since i had carried him so low, 2 pushes and he was out. He was beautiful. You can hear everyone cheering but that was the only sound! Evan never cried! He just laid there in my arms turning blue! He was not breathing. It took 4 minutes for him to come around! That was the worst silence of my life. Evan is now a healthy boy who is full of energy!! I said early that his birth saved my life and it did. Two days after Evan's birth i started having trouble catching my breath and gaining weight. I had gained 35 pounds in 2 weeks by the time i was admitted to the hospital. I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. If i wouldn't have had Evan i would have died, but having him almost killed me. He is truly my miracle! Both of my boys are the greatest gift! I can't remember my life before them. As i laid there this morning telling Evan about him spraying the nurses and hating his first bath, i watched him smile and listened to him laugh and thought that this moment will never come again and i am so grateful to be here everyday to share this with my kids. Happy Birthday to my little man. I love you more than words can express. Today was also the day that Dalton went to see the nerve doctor about his arm. Even though we were excited about celebrating we are sad with the news that we received from the doctor. Dalton's arm is in bad shape. He has been casted again for another 4 weeks. April 1 we will go back for more tests and will know more then. He will have to take it easy for a while and hopefully he will be healed and the arm will be normal again. Please lift him up in prayer. This is a serious situation for a child to be faced with. We have some big decisions to make on how we will treat this injury. The nerve damage cannot be fixed and will only get worst with time. If the cast does not help the problem, we will be faced with several surgeries. I believe that when you pray, you call someone by name and they will be healed. Miracles happen everyday! Just look at my family. Thanks for all of the birthday wishes and the prayers that are going out!! God Bless!