Help for Christian!

I know many of you have been following baby Christian's story, and for that I thank you. He is making amazing progress, and I know that is partly because of all the positive healing thoughts coming his way. Well, you know I'm not generally the type to ask, but Christian needs a bit more than that right now. He needs funds.

Christian will soon be starting Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments, which have been proven to help children with brain injury to recover at least some function. They are truly amazing, and right now, are Christian's best hope for walking, talking, and playing again. Of course these treatments are expensive, costing about $100 per session. They are not covered by insurance.

It is also possible for Christian to receive at-home treatments in between visits to the official HBOT center, but he needs a special chamber to do that, of course. Amazingly, one of the August moms found one on craigslist for $4000. After sharing Christian's story with the owner, she agreed to part with the chamber for $2500. Now, that's a spectacular deal, but it's still out of reach for Christian's family right now.

This is where you come in. If 250 people donated as little as $10 each, it would be paid for! If 100 people donated $25, we'd have it! I KNOW we can do this. Please, if you can spare anything, it will be put to good use. After we have enough for the at-home HBOT chamber, the remainder of donations will go toward the HBOT Center treatments.

Like I said, I don't normally ask for much. But Christian needs your help. Please keep him in your thoughts, as always. But please also consider donating to help him get this much-needed piece of equipment. THANK YOU! The link to Chip In is on the right!

If you want to read about Christian's Journey check out his mom's blog. Today she wrote a very sweet and true post about our online mommy group, where I know Christian and his family from, which she called Internet Aunties. It very succinctly explains how close we are and what this group has meant to each of us, and obviously especially to her right now. I invite you to read the comments at the bottom from the other August Mamas to truly get a feel for how many of us there are and how close we have become as a group. :)

Hope for Christian

Hope by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.


It has taken me a week to post about this as I was waiting to see Christian's progress and also to give myself some time to process. The news about Christian weighed on me (and still does) heavier than I would have expected for someone I have never met. Christian, an 11 month old the same age as Jaxon from my August Online Mommy Group, nearly drowned a week ago and has been fighting hard in the hospital to get back to health. It was a tragic accident. Just looking at my super busy and tremendously curious baby, I can easily see any number of "accidents" happening in the blink of an eye. It is so sad that one actually had to happen to Christian. I have spent the last week checking in on Facebook and my mommy group several times a day to check for updates on his progress and to see how his mommy, Shauna, is doing. Recently she started a blog about Christian's journey to getting well and that has been such a nice resource to have for those wanting to know how both mommy and baby are doing. Like baby Maggie, who left us far to early, Christian reminds me how fragile life is and how amazing my little man is. What a blessing it is to have the chance to be a mother. To know that kind of love. Incidents like this make you slow down and evaluate all of the "things" that seemed to bother you. It is too bad we have such a hard time doing this daily without a significant reminder. I just think of Christian and I hold Jaxon a little tighter and longer, and feel a tremendous weight for Shauna who just wants to do the same to her son.

Shauna and Christian need all the positive vibes and support they can get coming their way. Check out Shauna's blog and pray/hope for Christian to go home with his family soon the happy and healthy little guy he was before. Hope is an amazing thing.

Hope is the thing with feathers...

Remembering Baby Maggie

Up until today I have been unable to write about this. Just the mere thought of it was enough to bring me to tears. However, today was the funeral so I thought I should finally have the ability to blog about it without crying. Maybe...

I am a member of an online pregnancy/mommy group. I have been since before I was pregnant with Jaxon. Once I got my BFP (that is Big Frickin' Positive for those of you not in on the Fertility Acronyms) and figured out my due date (August 24th, 2008), I joined a board of other mommies due in August. We have been through a lot together including miscarriages of our members as our pregnancies went on, NICU stays for our little ones who came early (August babies still nonetheless), and all of the births of our babies (Jaxon on 08/11/08). We continued on as August 2008 Moms sharing our milestones, questions, and advice. To this day I check here several times a day. We even have local meet ups around the globe. Our members live around the world and we meet up with those who live in our area or while we are on vacation elsewhere. I was fortunate enough to meet up with two NW moms from my group a couple of months ago in Olympia.

Anyway...this group of women is like a family to me. They are my support and community. You can view many of their blogs in my blog list. We are really very close, especially for an online community. I don't know how I would have made it through my pregnancy and/or my first 9 months with Jaxon without their daily support. This is just a little background to help you understand why this is so hard.

On Tuesday, one of our members, Kelli, found her 8.5 month old daughter Maggie tangled up in her blankets in her crib not breathing. It was a tragic and random occurrence. The news to our board was devastating. What can you say? What can you do? There are no words. Just tears. I have spent the last few days in a somber mood analyzing everything I do as a parent. I have cried in Drew's arms and worried about Jaxon more. I have hugged and kissed my baby boy so much more than I already do. I cuddle him for a little longer in the middle of the night when he wakes in pain from teething. No parent should ever outlive their child. What Kelli and her family (husband Ryan and 5 year old Piper) are going through I cannot begin to imagine. They are in my daily, no hourly, thoughts and prayers. Today must have been so difficult. It just breaks my heart to think about it.

This blog is in honor of Maggie, one of our August 2008 babies. May her family find peace after this tragic accident.

Maggie's Obituary