We've Closed a Chapter in Our Life.

It all started Tuesday night at my moms. Dakota was playing with his cars, and my brother Logan. Logan was standing in the living room, and glances at the floor. "There's his mickey," he says. And I'm thinking he doesn't have a Mickey Mouse let alone brought to moms. No... his MIC-KEY! So we packed up and jetted out of there. Went home to get the surrenge (sp) to deflate the balloon, and put it back in. Ha Ha. IT has closed up a little bit, therefore we are back in the car ( at 930PM!) headed to the ER. They didn't have his size MIC-KEY, but pu tin a foley ( tube) that was the right size for the hole.
Told Jassen about it, and he thought it was time to just leave it out. I felt the same. Dakota has had his feeding tube since November 30, 2004! So, Wednesday I called the pediatrician to talk to him about it. Today we went in, and first they weighed him. He had gained 1 lb. since last month. He now weighs 30 lbs!! Well we talked to Dr. Ransdell and he agreed that it was okay. So there in the office he took the foley out, put a bandage over the hole, and we were done. The hole has to heal itself. You may be wondering about the hole to his stomach... I too thought they would stitch up the stomach, and stitch up the skin. Nope. He will have scar tissue from the stomach that will connect to the healed hole. It will take about 2 weeks for the hole to close and heal.
We were very excited about this whole thing. Throughout the day I was fine. I was thinking "Great, this thing is gone. Finally." Tonight he got upset when I tried to take the belly picture. I asked him why he was upset, and he didn't answer. I asked if he missed his MIC-KEY and he said "yes". He has never known any different. This hit me like a ton of bricks, and I cried (as I am now), and just as I did when they took away all of his oxygen tanks and supplies. This made me realize that we have finally closed this chapter of his life, and ours. The Preemie chapter is over. Other than him still being little we have officially finished that last obstical that came with him being 9 weeks early. After 3 1/2 years, Praise the Lord!!

1. Dakota without his MIC-KEY!! Red marks from the bandage the ER put on. 2. This is what his tube looks like. We slide it in hole, and 3. We inflate the balloon that is then in his stomach to hold it in place. Hope that's not too much for you. :) Thought some would be interested.