Noah's Story
Noah was born at 23 weeks 6 days due to placental abruption. He was 1lb 6oz and 11.5in long.
I was put in touch with Kristin Moan by my mother in law, who worked with Kristin's mom. It was an instant relief to know someone who had gone through everything we were experiencing.
20 days after Noah was born we received a Mr Potato Head along with the preemie book. It was exciting to have something to look forward to each month and a wonderful way to show everyone just how small our son was. Even more exciting was watching Mr Potato Head shrink each month as Noah grew.
I took pics every month until Noah turned 1 now we do them every 6 months. The shrinking potato head is a constant wonderful reminder of how far we have come.
Noah suffered from grade 3/4 brain bleeds and major hydrocephalus. We had 3 taps to relieve pressure before he had a vp shunt placed at 4 months of age. He had a PDA ligation, lazer eye surgery, kidney failure 5 times, another eye surgery and countless blood transfusions.
We stayed in the NICU at Sunrise Children's Hospital for 158 days. Lol 5 months. We live an hour and a half away from the hospital so we spent the first couple months living at the Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas. Noah was extremely critical for the first fiew months so it made it much easier only being 10 minutes from the hospital. We grew homesick after a fiew months and moved back home and started driving back and forth almost every day.
Noah is now a healthy happy 2 years old. His MRI's have shown 100% of the damage that was in his brain is now gone. His ventricles were crushed by the pressure so he continues to use his shunt. His pituitary was not working and we came home on several meds and steroids. As of a test we had done a week ago his pituitary is now working 100% on its own and he no longer requires any of these meds. We continue to drive into Vegas twice a week for Occupational and Physical therapy. He is behind but continuing to do everything going in order. We are now crawling on hands and knees and so close to walking. He is chatty, funny and lights up everyone he comes in contact with.
He continues to amaze us everyday and reminds us that miracles happen.
We are so proud and honored to have been the first recipient's of the Mr. Potato Head Project! We love you all so much!
