Isaac had an appointment with Neurology last week. It was a follow-up, checking on his progress in the time he's been home to see if there are any warning signs that would indicate mental delay or damage. Because of his severe prematurity and CMV, there is basically a long list of things he's seriously at risk for. Cerebral Palsy, mental delays, seizures, deafness, blindness, and the list goes on (and on).

Isaac passed the evaluation with flying colors. :) The doctor was quite surprised that he is doing so well. She was very happy about it, but also amazed. She was asking about Isaac's name, and she said, "I hope Toivo means something like miracle in Finnish because that's what you've got here--a miracle baby." I responded, "Yes, we certainly do," and gave Isaac a little squeeze.

As I told her that his name means hope, I couldn't help but think about all that that word means to me now. Our fledgling hope at the beginning that Isaac would be fine turned into a stronger beam of hope and then faith as time went on. Now? Somewhere during that process, hope turned to belief and belief to knowledge. There are no more doubts in my mind as to Isaac's future. I know that he will be fine--both Jaska and I have known that for some time now. Every doctor who says the same only confirms what we already feel.

There are still some things for him to overcome--he's sick right now with a basic cold that has taken a downturn and essentially ravaged his little body. He's back on steroids and we're trying to kick it with a strict regiment of tlc, meds and many fun adventures with the nasal bulb syringe. (You should see how much he hates that--it's almost funny how mad he gets at us. I'm sure his "roid rage" doesn't help it much.)

Despite these small things (and they are small), he is, and is going to be great. I saw him roll over for the first time yesterday. He's been doing it in his crib a lot (we know because he starts yelling because he can't get back the other way :) but it was the first time I actually saw him do it. I couldn't help it, I started crying.

It's one thing to believe that he will do all these things. It's another to actually watch him do it. It was too much for this mama's heart. One of the many extraordinary gifts that has come from Isaac's life and journey is the fact that I will never take anything in his life for granted.


I'm not sure what he's chewing on, but it sure looks tasty! :)