5 years ago!!

5 years ago, today...what a day it was!
Ramiro made his grand entrance into this world! And things have never been the same since!


Here's the history:(and by the way, yes, that's Ramiro sleeping with his at the time favorite sleeping attire...goggles tightly strapped to his head, stickers on his skin and his "lovie" blanket made of satin!!)

Before getting pregnant with Ramiro, I had just recently lost a baby (we call Baby Jaydan) in my second trimester. It was a very difficult time and one of crazy emotions, as you could imagine. So finding out that I was pregnant again had its own set of uncertainties and fears. In the second month, we discovered that this road was not going to be easy either. I had Placenta Previa and was put on modified bed rest. We were moving soon (into our current house) and things were stressful with selling our then house, and trying to get details finalized to be in this house. Around month 4, things began to quickly change for sweet Ramiro. His kidneys were no longer producing fluid (which makes the amniotic fluid) and therefore this pregnancy got very complicated. When a baby has very little amniotic fluid, they don't move much (can cause physical development issues), they many of times go into fetal distress (he did) and most of them develop lung issues b/c there is nothing to inhale while in utero. You must have amniotic fluid for a smooth delivery as well. Oh and not to mention, you need at least one good kidney to survive in this life!! All of these issues became my focus for the next many months. If you are familiar with Angie and Todd Smiths story, you will know that these complications are what took the life of their precious baby girl, Audrey. Ramiro was one of the luck ones and I count my blessings!!

I was on complete bed rest. I had tests done every week, labor and delivery became my home away from home. We watched Ramiro via ultrasound in utero barely move to stimuli and rarely saw his lungs inhale. I went into labor twice and both times had to start the series of shots. I then had to take the steroid shots for Ramiro's lungs to quickly grow being that it was apparent that he was coming early and he physically wasn't ready yet! It was a scary time and I constantly worried b/c I really felt no baby movement.

They had decided to induce me, for they wanted a "controlled" delivery so they could be prepared for problems. Deliveries with no fluid can get serious very quickly as the baby can get stuck. And we weren't sure of his lung/kidney functions and how they were going to do once born. But he was in distress and had been far too long. So the day was scheduled.


Around midnight, of the morning/day of induction...I began to hemorrhage here at home and was suddenly in a lot of pain, I was delivering. Thankfully, my mother was here to watch after Dakota and Dan rushed me to the hospital. Ramiro was almost born in the front seat of our Honda as Dan frantically drove through every stop sign and red light (did I mention that the hospital is 45 minutes away??). But thankfully, I delivered moments after getting into the hospital. I think Dan lost a few years!! I remember asking for my epidural an hour after he had been born!! It was quite the delivery process I must say, and one none of us would want to try again!! So much for "controlled" delivery. But that's Ramiro for ya'!!
Ramiro over all was ok. He broke his left collar bone (which caused damage to the left arm Brachial plexus nerve) and his respiration's were very low, so they put him in the "special needs" nursery for a day...he did great and we came home the next day!! Complete blessing!!

Ramiro's life had just started and now he had many things he had to overcome. He "failed to thrive" for the first 6-7 weeks and wasn't at his birth weight until 7 weeks old (6 lbs). He spent the next 13 months in Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy for his head, neck and arm that muscularly didn't develop well (called Torticollis), plus the broken collar bone had its issues. They taught him to hold his head up, use his arms, crawl and walk. It was sometimes a very tough ordeal for him and us...we had to stretch his head and arms many times a day and poor Ramiro would scream like we were pulling his head off!
At 13 months old, I knew there were more issues that were creeping up. Things weren't right, he was not acting appropriate, so we began testing for Neurological disorders. Our pediatrician was concerned we were looking at a diagnosis of Autism. But at such a young age, it was tough to get enough information from him for this diagnosis. He was behind in his cognitive skills, so he had therapy for that. He needed speech, so we got therapy for that too!! We learned to sign in order to communicate with him!! That was a huge relief for us to finally at 2 years old be able interact with him and understand simple things like that he was wanting a drink!! Thank You Erica!! You were a huge part of this process!! Those early years for Ramiro were very tough. He was very frustrated and had "self destructive" melt downs hourly!!
To make a long story....well, long...Ramiro is not Autistic. At 3 1/2, huge progress began to take place. I believe that the Lord really worked out some things here for him. He began to interact better, he was communicating wonderfully and things really made a turn, this time for the best! Of course, I must say that I think we had the best therapists that one could ever want!! Tracey(PT/OT), Tasha (Cognitive dev.), Erika (speech), Dana (OT/sensory therapy), Rebecca (horse therapy) were his main gals!!

As it turns out, Ramiro has a Sensory Integration Dysfunction and ADHD. Most Autistic children also have this SI Dysfunction so you may be familiar with the complications they have with stimulation, textures, food and anything that is unfamiliar or unexpected!! Ramiro craves motion, vibrations and music! Therefore, he was riding his bicycle WITHOUT training wheels at 2 1/2. His mission in life is to do everything the fastest! He "plays" the piano...and I mean "plays"!! And would spend hours doing so if we would let him. Its the only thing I have seen him sit and do for this amount of time. It's really amazing!!
Ramiro is in a special program at the elementary school that has been wonderful...he should be able to mainstream into Kindergarten next year!! I'm praying that goes well!! He is doing fantastic and today he is excited to have cupcakes for his birthday at school...of course his will have no icing on it, but hey who likes that stuff anyways??!!

You may be wondering why I have shared all this (and believe it or not, I have left out some things due to trying to keep this shorter). The reason is this...I am totally in love this child (as I am with all of my babies!!)! I am so proud of what Ramiro has overcome. His personality has worked in his favor. Ramiro is a fighter. It's just who he is...his drive to work hard and do things the best has served to be a blessing for him. He doesn't give up and eventually he will "conquer" the situation. I have carried this child, worried that he wouldn't make it. Watched him scream "his head off" in PT, week after week! Sat in front of physicians who told me things I didn't want to hear, that he was falling farther and farther behind. I have watched him bury his face in dirt and beat his head against our tile floor in frustration, Ive almost joined him on a few occasions. I have seen him learn to sign...which is too funny when he would be sitting in time out signing "no no no" b/c he was very mad! And I am thrilled to now watch Ramiro play with friends, function in a classroom, say most anything that comes to mind (ahem...did we teach him all that??) and have a very normal life now. Occasionally we will have some issues, but we will take it! This is by far a different child than we had 2 years ago!!
I must say this too...I remember having moments in which I wondered what Ramiro's life would be like. Would he be able to be out in public without melt downs or shrieking fits?? Would he be able to play normally with other kids? Would other people ever stop looking at us when things weren't "going well"?? Would he be able to understand that God loves him?? Would he be able to pray, asking Jesus into his heart??
One day last week, Ramiro was sent to bed for some time out (he still does need those). I walked by his room a few minutes later and heard him singing...and this is what I heard, "Jesus loves me this I know, for his Bible tells me so, little one's to Him belong, He is weak but I am strong". Now, I know he's got some things confused here!! I need to help him understand that he may have big muscles, but "God" is strong, not weak!! But, it was music to my ears. I knew in that moment that Ramiro will come to know the love of the Lord. I know he will understand who God is, and why he needs Him.








This may be a boring blog post for most of you and this pic is sooo not in focus...I'm sorry. But for those of you who know Ramiro, most of you didn't know him back in these early days. And therefore, you have no idea what God has done in this childs life...that's too why I wanted to share these things. But I also want Ramiro to one day see this and know that his mother absolutely loves and adores him. I want him to understand what awesome things he did before he was ever 5!! Even though these early days were very difficult, I wouldn't trade them for anything. I'd do it all over again in a heart beat!! I can't hardly see the screen anymore b/c I'm overwhelmed with tears of love and joy for my precious child. Ramiro lives life in a big way! He sees to it that he misses nothing and experiences everything...good and bad! That's how it goes when you have absolutely no fear, no concept of "maybe this might not be a good idea". You end up experiencing ALL that life has to over!! (Hence, the missing front tooth!)

My dear child, I don't know what the future holds for you. I don't know what struggles will come, what other challenges you may have to face. Life is sometimes that way. But I do know that God clearly has a big plan for you, for He has brought you through so much in 5 years. You have been wonderfully made, perfect for His plan! I consider it a privilege to walk this journey with you and to be your mother!! I wouldn't have it any other way!! You are the best Ramiro I could ever have hoped for!! You have brought laughter and joy into my life in ways I could have never imagined!! I love you as big as the ocean AND sky!! Happy 5th Birthday, silly goose!!


(this picture is of Ramiro last night at 10pm...he was unable to sleep b/c he couldn't stop giggling about turning 5 today!! I, for once, didn't mind...I wanted to love on those dimples for as long as I could!!)