Cooper, our newest addition, was born with a series of medical needs that Chris and I were not prepared for in any way shape or form. We are looking at a long journey ahead of us as we navigate these new challenges. Cooper is receiving care at a hospital 45 minutes away from us and as you can imagine the costs associated with the travel back and forth and Chris having to take off of work to do training classes with me to learn how to care for Cooper once we bring him home has presented a financial strain as well. Here is a little bit about his story.

Now that I have had time to process everything that has been thrown at us the past week I am in a head space to talk about what we are going through as a family.

Firstly my birth experience was less than ideal, it was honestly traumatic and scary and I’m so grateful that I have such a strong support system.

Cooper was transferred to 2 different hospitals within 6 hours of birth, we were told he has a condition called VACTERL association, which is honestly just a label because it can have so many different variations. For Cooper it meant the following.

• He only has 1 kidney.

• He has multiple heart defects (we are monitoring closely and the possibility of open heart surgery is very probable)

• He was born without an anal opening ( he had his first of a series of procedures to deal with this at just 1 day old)

• He has multiple spinal abnormalities (we won’t know if these will cause issues until later on)

• He was born with an extra rib

• He was born with pneumonia (we are on the last day of treatment)

• He is being watched closely for lung issues due to fluid aspiration during birth presumptively

All of this being said we have a long journey ahead of us, but we are so thankful for each day that he has been making improvements. Thank you for all of your support during this time and we appreciate everyone who has called and checked on us.

we do not expect anything but our hospital social worker suggested we make this to help with the costs we will be having over the next several months.