'One'ders of His Love

It's hard to believe that it's been 1 year since I set eyes on the most perfect pair of feet I have ever seen.  Yes, I said feet. After Owen's traumatic delivery the doctors vigilantly worked to keep Owen with us.  From across the room and in between doctors all I could see were his tiny feet. ...and for any of you that know me-  I'm not a fan of feet. : ) But during the moments post c-section delivery, I have never prayed harder for anything in my life. I just prayed to keep Owen and those perfect little feet with our family. There are times when life is measured by the breaths you take and in the number of chest compressions before a cry. It's especially true when you are waiting for a single breath from the tiny life you are waiting to meet. I can't begin to describe the deafening silence of the minutes we were waiting and praying for a single breath or noise to creep out of Owen's little body. It was pure agony and then in a crescendo of emotion... we heard a single screech. I knew no matter what the outcome, God made him perfect just the way he was and we couldn't take for granted the moments were were given. It wasn't until Owen was stabilized that they wheeled him over on a little gurney and with my left arm stretched out we held hands. It was then, that I knew God had answered my prayer and that the road might be long, but Owen Albert Fox would stay with us.  I had never been so certain of anything in my life- Owen would fight.  A few short moments later, as I laid helpless on the operating table,  he was whisked away by the Lifelink helicopter crew and it would be 24 hours until I saw him again and 4 days until I would get to hold him for the first time.

Owen -2 days old

Shelby left shortly after the helicopter did. One of us needed to be with Owen and I wasn't able to be discharged immediatly following surgery. St. Paul was where Shelby needed to be.  I would be fine. That night when everybody left and I needed to rest- all that I had was a copy of Owen's footprints. It tore me apart... I didn't even have a picture of my sweet boy and he was 200 miles away fighting without me. I stared at that slip of paper with his footprints until I fell asleep and knew all I could do is work on healing so I could be with him. The next morning under strict orders from my doctor I was dischared 22 hours after my c-section in the care of the best grandparent ever to go and be with Owen.

I'll never forget that moment, when I first really got to see Owen in the NICU in St. Paul. He was all cleaned up, electrodes and IV lines hooked up to ever limb of his body, a little tube going in his mouth to feed him and he was all snuggled in a blanket in his isolet pod. Despite not knowing about his cleft lip and palate prior to birth his appearance didn't scare me. I could see how beautiful he was, just as God made him. I knew that God would guide the hands of the doctors to finish his work and put the pieces back together. Owen's personality shone right through his appearance -a mild mannered fighter with beautiful expressive eyes. All the days he spent in the NICU he rarely cried or put up a fuss... he just kept fighting. He was the Little Engine That Could. He somehow knew and understood that we were doing all we could to help him. We stayed with him as many days as we could- just being close to him, contemplating his eye color (still not clearly defined), chatting with the nurses and doing the small Mommy and Daddy duties that we could for him. We drove back and forth from home (where Ashton and Kiera were with Grandma & Papa) to St. Paul to be with Owen. It took the better part of the first two weeks to get his endocrine situation sorted out and then the last two recovering from pneumonia that he got while in the NICU. And finally after a month our little fighter made it home!

Owen's NICU Room

His first year has been a big one for him. He's had 4 surgeries: g-tube, eyes, lip & palate. After 6 months we were able to successfully wean him off of his feeding tube- he learned to eat with bottles.... and then after his palate surgery- he re-learned to eat again with bottles and real FOOD! His button g-tube is still in place (they want us to have not use it for 5 months before removing it), but we are well on our way to having it removed!!! His eyes are looking better than ever and we just keep getting better news at each optical appointment. His complex endocrine needs are on a schedule and his daily medications are allowing his body to grow and thrive! I am constantly checking and re-checking to see that he got his medicine- we are all to aware that his daily medicines are what keeps him home with us and out of the hospital. While gross motor wise he is lagging, we are encouraged by the constant progress he makes. His huge smile and glittering eyes are just as much him as the scar on his lip.

While we know our journey is not yet close to done, we are happy to say it's not. A single breath out of sync in the operating room last year could have changed the outcome of Owen's birth entirely. Today, despite the challenges we've faced as a family, I'm grateful to have had this year with Owen in it...  I couldn't picture our family without him.   Happy Birthday Owen! 



Owen's BIG Smile





Best Sister EVER!



Best Brother EVER!



Merry Christmas

Owen's First Christmas





Thank you to all who have touched our lives in 2010 and who have sent prayers our way. We are eternally grateful to our family and friends that have extended their helping hands and hearts to get us where we are today.

 God Bless You!

Love & Hugs Always, Sarah & Shelby Fox Family

Our 2010 Christmas Letter

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Family & Friends!

We hope 2010 has brought many blessings to you and your family! 2010 has been a very busy and trying year for us, however despite the many challenges we have been very fortunate to have the generous support of our family and friends to help carry us into 2011. On December 29, 2009 we welcomed Owen Albert Fox into our family. Owen’s arrival came with many unexpected complications- including cleft lip and cleft palate as well as hypopituitaryism (non-functioning pituitary gland). He spent one month in the NICU in St. Paul and has had four surgeries in 2010. Despite the hurdles he has faced in his first year he is full of smiles and a loving personality! With the help of a great medical team, daily medications and many prayers Owen is growing and thriving. As we near Owen’s first birthday we can’t believe how fast the first year has gone! We are very thankful for all of the well wishes and prayers that helped us get here!

Ashton Othmar (who shares the same pituitary condition as Owen- in a lesser degree) is nearly four years old and is working hard on his independence! His mobility has been challenged by his pituitary condition, but he works very hard at home and in physical therapy to gain the strength and stability so he may soon be 100% independent. Ashton is very smart and loves to acting silly, playing and singing to music, and fishing. He enjoyed many days at the lake this year and loves to catch fish!! -he’s also very good at it! We look forward to Ashton starting pre-school in the fall of 2011!

Kiera Elizabeth just turned two and is as sweet as honey! She can melt your heart with her little smile, but she knows how to use it! She loves to color and play all day long and almost all things girly!! She is incredibly independent, but is almost always willing to help her brothers and share without asking. She’s our little helper and shadow… she’s always watching and learning. She loves to be outside exploring and playing with her Daddy or her best friend (Dixie our dog!).

Shelby continues to work at Nexen and enjoys time with the kids and getting outdoors! I am fortunate enough to stay at home with our kids full time. In my free time (ha ha!) I am still coordinating the marketing for Adventures and very much appreciate the flexibility and convenience of my home office as my designated workplace! Our children are our life and continue to fill it up with lots of laughter and love. Owen and Ashton’s medical needs filled up many of our weeks with physical therapy appointments, trips to St. Paul and Rochester. We are very lucky to have family so close who are so willing to pitch in and help out often while we are on the road with the boys or when Shelby and I just need a break. We enjoyed some free time this year in-between medical appointments and surgeries to sneak in a few family fishing days, day trips to the park or lake and a full family camping trip! I chronicle our day-to-day adventures with pictures and dialog on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/sarahjfox and on our family blog www.foxfivenews.blogspot.com -we invite you all to ‘friend’ us or check out our blog!

We wish you all a Merry Christmas & Blessed 2011!
Love & Hugs,
Sarah, Shelby, Ashton, Kiera & Owen Fox

Good Morning, Good Night...

I was on the road again today with Owen for appointments. Thank goodness the roads were mostly clear and dry! God bless the road crews that work around the clock to get our beautiful Wisconsin winters off the roadways! As I was driving I noticed that since April I've put 10,000 miles on my mini-van... it has been well worth getting labeled as a 'Mini-van Mom' for all of these trips... I have to say, I would love to drive a sportier vehicle, but it's just not practical for us at the moment. At this particular moment I'm more about practicality than style in regards to my choice of vehicle. The spacious interior makes it easy to get the kids in/out and it's actually quite comfortable for the longer drives back and forth to the Twin Cities and Rochester.

Owen had his eyes checked in Stillwater and a heart ultrasound in Minneapolis- both appointments went spectacular! Dr. Schloff (Owen's eye doctor) is seeing measurable improvements in his eye crossing since surgery. We have been alternating patching his eyes in attempt to strengthen the outer eye muscles to avoid a second surgery. While a second surgery is not out of the picture just yet- things are improving without surgical intervention at this time. Since we have seen some nice improvements we are going to push a little harder and patch for 3 to 6 hours a day for the next three weeks and have another check-up on the 22nd of December. We'll go from there...

After the appointment in Stillwater we jetted over to Children's in Minneapolis to see Owens cardiologist. We would normally see her in St. Paul, but her schedule is quite busy and it just worked out that we could see her while we were in the area on the same day as his eye appointment. The Children's Hospital- Minneapolis is a beautiful facility with a nice cafeteria (where we had lunch), but the neighborhood it's located in is kind of shady.... ick! We definitely prefer St. Paul for that reason! When we hopped in the elevator to go to Owen's appointment there was a Mom and super cute little girl about Kiera's age getting in as well. I asked her if she could push the number 5 for me and you could just see how excited she was to push another button! Her mom helped her and when the little girl looked back to smile at me- you could see, her smile was just like Owen's. She had a little scar from her nose to her lip. I just smiled back and told her how pretty her smile was and it looked a lot like Owen's. Her Mom just smiled a polite smile to me- then I turned Owen (who was smiling like always) so he could see the duo. Then the Mom smiled bigger- she knew just what I meant by 'having a smile like Owen's'.   We chatted for a few minutes outside of the elevator :) They were from Northern Minnesota for check-ups as well. It was kind of nice to chat for a quick few minutes and relate to each other.

Owen had a 30 minute heart ultrasound before our visit with the doctor. He had to be very still for all of it- and he was! He drank his bottle and then with the help of one of the nurses we kept him playful and still at the same time! After a quick break in the office Owen's cardiologist reviewed his ultrasound and was excited to report the small hole in Owen's heart has finally spontaneously closed!!!  ....must be from all of the love you all send him! You just filled that little hole right up! :) We were also very happy to learn that the valve that gave the cardiologist some concern in the past is working very well and is a non-issue right now. With all of the good news the cardiologist told us to have a great day and see her in a COUPLE YEARS!!  AMEN! One less specialist visit on our calendars for awhile!

I also want to mention- since my last post we have been able to start giving Owen some toast & crackers! He LOVES it!! He can't get enough of feeding himself! ....he has also started to sit on the floor semi-independantly and has been getting to his knees and rocking for a few seconds at a time! -The AMAZING OWEN!

It was a really great day! Owen was so cheerful to everyone and his doctors... and we got all GOOD NEWS today! And to top it off the kids were really good tonight and we got a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Fox... I guess that's enough for now- Time for bed!

We hope you had a good day too! Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Hugs & Love, Sarah & Shelby Fox