Be a LIFESAVER Donate Blood

We have experienced so much love, support, and prayers of friends and family. Even people we have never personally met. There are so many things that I never thought we would have to do such as figure out everyone's blood type.We did this for donations for MJ in case he will need a blood transfusion. So this past week we have been pricking away at the family members lol. We narrowed it down to MJ's "GG" Gorgeous Grandma (Gina), Aunt (Raimi), and Great Grandfather (Jim). All the family was so great in volunteering their blood including family that lives in other states calling and asking if they need to drive to FL. We are grateful to have such a great family and all the love and prayers from all that have contacted us! Thank you<3

Our Journey so far...

Our craniosynostosis journey so far has been such a learning experience. It is such a hard decision to make between witch surgeon you think is best to operate on your baby. I do have advice for anyone that thinks their baby might have craniosynostosis get it checked out the earlier the better. We didn’t know anything about this so we have been researching and learning along the way. We trust that with prayer and research we are making the best decisions for little MJ. Our journey of doctors first started with a plastic surgeon in Ft. Lauderdale. We originally scheduled the surgery with him for March and sought out other opinions Raimi (my sister) found our doctor in Orlando Dr.Maugans. It was really confusing at first because both doctors had such different ways of performing the surgery the first doctor used screws to hold the scull in place and wanted to wait till MJ was 8months and Dr. Maugans didn’t use any screws and wanted to do the surgery at 6months. In the end we felt that Dr. Maugans approach was the best for MJ . To break down what the doctor will be doing is he will make an incision from ear to ear in a zig zag form this is for the hair so the scar wont be as noticeable. They will cut and remove a strip of bone from his scull where the soft spot has closed up. They will also make slits along the backsides and front sides of his scull to allow the brain to expand. The human body and God are so amazing that the doctor said the scull will shape its self almost instantly around the brain and then grow as it normally does. His soft spot will be closed as normal at 12months. Here are some photos that we have taken to capture our journey so far. Some of the pictures are from the ultrasound on his head, doctors visits and the CT scan he had done. He was such an angel and slept through the whole scan.

Please Pray for MJ

Please pray for MJ. He has gone through a lot of testing in the last couple of weeks and it was confirmed that he has sagittal craniosynostosis. This means that the soft spot on his head has closed too early. We have sought out different opinions and found a great neurosurgeon. MJ will have surgery at Nemours children's hospital in Orlando on February 3rd. Please pray for MJ, his doctor, and our family. He is such an amazing lil guy and has changed our lives we don't know what we ever did without him. We know that God can still perform a miracle. "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." Isaiah 41:10
#prayformj #mj #merrittjames #craniokids #craniocarebears #craniosynostosis #sagittalcraniosynostosis