Happy Birthday Pokemon Boy

Eight years ago, all the fireworks on the 4th of July were just to announce that Pokemon Boy would be born the next morning.

I remember when they handed me my little swaddled football, I couldn't believe I was finally seeing this little face. Nine months of wondering what he would look like. Tons of ultrasounds to make sure everything was ok showed us a very distinctive little nose. And here it was in the flesh. Just like in the ultrasounds. Too stinkin' adorable.

I remember feeling weird calling him by his name. Don't know why. So for a few days, I just called him "Baby". But with a capital B. I would hold him and smell the top of his head. I would hold him and and not want to send him back to the nursery. I was terrified they'd mix him up with someone else's baby. Or someone would take him. Fortunately, God erased that fear over the next few years.

He was tiny and a miracle. I wasn't supposed to be able to get pregnant. And if I did, I wouldn't carry full term. Those doctor's didn't count on God or my acupuncturist. We found out, in utero, that he had renal reflux - a condition allowing the urine to shoot back up into the kidneys. Untreated, it causes kidney damage and possibly failure. But God made sure we knew about it before he was born. The doctors warned us that this can get serious pretty quick. Or they can outgrow it. I had the same thing as an infant and lost one kidney. I doubted he'd outgrow it. Kidney issues can stunt your growth. Again, the doctors didn't count on God or my acupuncturist.

Over the next three years, Pokemon Boy thrived. He grew normally in the 75th percentile - so a smidge above average. His kidneys kept amazing the doctors. Just before his 3rd birthday, we saw a tiny bit of kidney damage in one of the tests so we had the corrective surgery done. We just happened to have one of the top pediatric urologists in the country assigned to Pokemon Boy. Yah...just "happened", eh? The surgery was successful and Pokemon Boy recovered quickly. He was off daily antibiotics by the age of four.

The kidney issues are done and gone. His diagnosis with Tourette's Syndrome in 2006 seemed so awful at the time. Visions of the worst end of the spectrum filled our heads. Even I didn't count on what God would do at that time. Pokemon Boy's Tourette's has been so mild. God has blessed him with a very keen awareness and control over his body. We are still praying for a full healing from Tourette's. Might sound crazy. But I'm resting in faith and also on what God has already done there.

Pokemon Boy is funny. He is so sensitive and loving. He is smart to the point of brilliance. He has a very strong faith in God and turns to prayer when scared. I love that most of all. He is a worrier. He wants things his way. He has big dreams of being a teacher or composer. He loves Pokemon, Ben 10, space exploration, numbers, and Calvin & Hobbes. Family is immensely important to him. He is handling the dumb divorce with grace and maturity that can only be from God. He still thinks I'm beautiful.

July 4th is always cool. This year I was very aware of my freedom. But July 5th will always eclipse that for me. It's the day I became a mom. It's the day God showed me I had no clue how deep love could be.

Thank you God for making me the mom of these two wonderful boys.

*Sadly I have no pictures. My camera died. I'll have some pix from his party this coming weekend.