Time to Rally!

Happy New Year! It’s a big day in the Redenius house. Our little man, Sam, hit the 15 lb mark today! For those of you who do not know, Sam has a condition called Laryngomalacia which, combined with severe acid reflux, makes eating and gaining weight very difficult for him. The sooner Sam can grow and gain some weight, the sooner he can outgrow this condition. After being stuck in the 14 lb range for what seemed like an eternity, we are celebrating today!

It has been a long six months. After his first surgery, we had a very long recovery period. We thought we were in the clear, and then his throat swelled closed and the reflux returned just three weeks later. Once we got his reflux under control, he developed an upper respiratory infection that closed his throat again and made his reflux even worse. After healing from that, he got the stomach flu. It never seems to end!

Each time his health would decline again, and we would land ourselves back in the hospital, I’d find myself sitting there feeling sorry for all of us.  

Why us? Why Sam?  

I can’t count how many times I sat in tears praying to God to take away his discomfort and give it to me instead. Every time I’d sit down to feed Sam, I’d pray he’d eat more than an ounce or two, and that it wouldn’t take me an hour of fighting him to do it. I’d pray for him to just take a good nap, because if he slept well, there was a much better chance he’d eat. Jeff and I

became overactive mama and papa bears, demanding everyone use Germ-X before touching him. We didn’t take him places when he should be napping because we knew that he would only eat if he slept. I stayed home from work to be with him full time. Jeff closed the clinic to make numerous trips to Des Moines. Despite everything we did to protect him, there were times when it seemed nothing we did was helping.

After this last bout of hospital visits, though, I realized we were approaching this whole thing in the wrong way. Feeling sorry for us wasn’t what I should be doing. We are so incredibly blessed to have this little boy. How could I sit there feeling sorry for myself!? We have a beautiful baby boy, who despite being given a crappy situation, is incredibly resilient and happy. 

I made this realization after calling my parents after our last hospital visit. Every time I’d call my parents to let them know Sam wasn’t doing well again, my dad would always respond with, “Okay, Sam, it’s time to rally!” This time was no different.

I thought back to all of our struggles, and I realized that every time Sam would do as Dad said-- he would rally.

Sometimes it would take continual bouncing, singing, and comfort from me. Sometimes it would take trying a new bottle. Sometimes it would just take a good nap. Sometimes it would take weeks of patience from all of us. He would always rally, though, coming out stronger than before.

No matter how many times Sam has been knocked down by something, he always greets us and the day with a smile. Even if it has taken awhile, he has been putting on weight, growing stronger than ever.

Sam’s resiliency can be a lesson for all of us in that when something is not going as we planned, we need to put on our game face and rally. What a great lesson for the start of 2018. No matter what you are going through, a new year presents you with the opportunity to rally—to come back even stronger than before.

We hope you take advantage of the opportunity a new year presents you with. There is no better time than now to choose to rally instead of give up. Whatever you are trying to overcome, we hope you choose to do as Sam has done, and work to overcome it. You will become stronger because of it! We are here to help you in any way we can!

We hope you all had a great holiday season, and we hope you choose to make the most out of any situation you are in by working to come out of it stronger than ever!

Have a great week!

Dr. Jeff and Jenny Redenius