Ryland’s Race to Recovery, 1600 7th Avenue, South (2026)

17/06/2025

Those precious little hands squeezing mine just melt me🥹

Ryland saw 3 specialists in Birmingham today, a long day is an understatement but these precious women take such good care of my boy!

Met with a sleep doctor for the very first time to address his sleep issues that have been getting worse. She’s the doctor who read his last sleep study and she is anxious to see what his next one will say. We already know he has two different kinds of sleep apnea (central and obstructive) but we’ve assumed his sleep issues were due to autism. She wants to treat physical symptoms and rule those out before we move to assuming it’s neurological. Depending how his sleep study in a few months goes we have two options to help sleep apnea get better. One is removing his tonsils and the other is a cpap machine. If we see sleep apnea has improved we’ll be putting him on medicine to help him sleep better.

Endocrinologist mentioned trialing coming off his daily medicine to treat his hypothyroidism and seeing if his thyroid can produce the hormone we’ve been helping the last 3 years with medicine. The first 3 years is when this is most needed, so she’s excited to see if his body can produce what he needs or if he’ll need to continue on medicine. All his labs for her looked normal but she’s always great to keep a close eye on him in case anything could be going on that we weren’t aware of just off basic labs.

My least favorite clinic, nephrology, because of how much they make him do every time. Labs for her were good and his kidneys are functioning at 88%, that will fluctuate. His level of chronic kidney disease is a 2, but that can also fluctuate between 1 and 2. His ultrasound and urinalysis aren’t back yet but she’s confident he can wait a year before coming back for a recheck. So that’s all good news because those precious kidneys are so important!

Please pray specifically for my boys sleep to improve. I hate seeing him so exhausted and suffering from lack of sleep. I’ve literally tried everything natural and over the counter you can name and I’m anxious to see him able to get a good nights sleep. Whatever it is that needs to happen, God knows, I pray it happens quickly and efficiently💙

20/05/2025

Happy Birthday to Ryland!!

I truly can’t believe he’s 3 years old today, time has flown by and I wish it would just slow down. He starts school in August a few days each week and my mama heart can’t believe it. I’m so very proud of him and all he continues to overcome and fight through! Thanking God every single day He allowed Ry to be here and thriving💙

14/04/2025

Ry: “hmm. Mama, you sure I gotta get more injections today?”🤔

The appointment that my boy hates but does so much good for him. Today he got more injections and some in new places to help his tone in his lower body. The last time he got Botox injections, this time they used a new drug called Dysport. Botox wore off so quick and I’m hopeful that this round of injections is exactly what he needed. Nothing breaks my mama heart more than holding him down for these. The benefit of them is such a God send and I’m praying for maximum benefit from this round!!🩵

06/03/2025

Ryland had a follow up appointment with the Genetics team at Children’s this morning. They did some very basic genetic testing last year and they brought us back for further testing. If you haven’t followed my miracle since the very beginning, the reason Ryland was born at 25 weeks is because I developed a very severe form of preeclampsia called HELLP syndrome. A quick google search of that will tell you real quick how serious and life threatening it is for mom and baby. I had wonderful doctors and received the best care at Keller and Huntsville hospital who saved me and Ryland. Fast forward to today, the genetic doctor wants to do a full genome test on me and Ryland to see a few different things. For me, why did HELLP syndrome happen to me? Am I at risk to have this happen again for any future children I may have? What genetic markers do I carry and could potentially have passed onto Ryland and could pass onto other children I may have? For Ryland, did HELLP syndrome cause any issues for him personally? Is his extensive NICU stay to blame for every medical diagnosis he has today? And several other things I won’t type out. Testing will take several months to come back and results can vary. If you feel led to pray for the results to be read properly and come back and give us answers to every question doctors have I would greatly appreciate it. This mama would love answers more than just about anything this world can offer me. My precious boy is a living breathing miracle and no test results will change God’s plans for the two of us!🩵

21/02/2025

My “buzz” loving boy had a great checkup with his ENT post op🩵

Tubes look great and he’ll be back in a year to recheck! So very grateful his surgery went so well and that his sweet ears have healed great! His sweet little personality shines everywhere we go and he was so happy to tell everyone “hi” and “bye” that went through the office! Thank you to everyone who prayed for my boy and continues to follow up on him and how he thrives. It truly means more to his mama than I can ever express!!

04/02/2025

Update: Ryland did really good and is happy to be back home and getting all the cuddles and ice cream he could want🩵

My brave boy just went back for his 5th surgery to put in tubes for his ears and take out his adenoids. This one was by far the hardest on his little mind/heart. He doesn’t understand why his mama couldn’t go with him and I’m praying there are precious nurses in that OR to calm him until he goes to sleep!

Please pray. Pray for the surgeon, nurses, anesthesiologist, and OR staff helping. Pray for a quick and easy recovery. As always, pray for great outcomes from the surgery. This one is much needed for those precious ears and I’m praying taking out his adenoids helps with his sleep apnea issues. Thank you for praying for Ryland🩵

14/01/2025

Update:

A lot to post about so I’m going to keep this as short and sweet as I can.

Ryland’s blood pressure numbers for 2 weeks at home were fantastic so this means he does not have blood pressure issues but he does still have the chronic kidney disease.

Ryland was tested and diagnosed with Autism in late December. He is “Level 1, Requiring Support for Deficits in Social Communication and Level 2, Requiring Substantial Support for Restricted and Repetitive Patterns of Behaviors and Interests. Without Accompanying Intellectual Impairment and With Accompanying Language Impairment”. I’ve went back and forth about do I share specifics about his diagnosis or do I not. Thinking back to his very first heartbreaking, crucial, and extremely difficult days in the NICU I shared EVERYTHING. I typed as I was having things explained to me. So many of you have been with our boy since the very beginning and I feel it’s only fair to continue to bring you along on HIS journey. This diagnosis did not come as a surprise to us and now we continue to give him the support and extra help he needs to help him thrive best!

Ryland will age out of EI when he turns 3 in May, I can’t believe it’s even time to talk about this. He will then immediately transfer into the school system for their 3 year Pre-K in August. This will be so good for him and I’m praying for a great meeting with the school system later this month to discuss his needs, IEP, therapies, etc. With school coming sooner than later, it’s been decided that Ryland will need a wheelchair to get around while he is at school. Realistically it’s best since Ryland can’t walk by himself YET. This wheelchair will be strictly school use and is in no way a permanent thing. We will teach him how to get around in it for the time being until his sweet little legs are strong enough and equipped to get him where he wants to go safely!

A quick Cerebral Palsy update to go along with helping his legs; He met with his rehab medicine doctor today and we discussed issues with tightness and extreme muscle tone in his right leg and hips. The next step for treatment is Botox and Ryland got his very first few injections today to help with this. She’s also recommended bracing his right foot at night to help with aiding his tightness on that side. I’m hopeful this is the fix he’s needed for a LONG time!

That’s a lot, I know. Please just pray for a few things. Pray for the Botox to work well and for his ability to walk properly, do physical therapy easier, etc will only get better from it. Pray for the night bracing/wheelchair training to go smoothly. Ry doesn’t do well with new things, now we know why, so extra positive thoughts will be needed to help him get past the newness of these things. Pray for a good meeting with Brooks school system and for us as his parents. We all just want what’s best for Ryland and we won’t settle for less than that! I’m biased, but I have the absolute smartest, most kind, and brave boy there ever was. He has overcome and continues to do so well in everything! No new diagnosis or plan of action will ever change who God created Ryland to be!! Thank you, as always, for following and praying💙

17/12/2024

Update: My grinch loving boy needed a picture in front of the grinch tree with his stuffed grinch. He’s beyond exhausted and rightfully so💚🥹

Ryland’s very first Nephrology visit was today. He did bloodwork, a renal ultrasound, and an echo all before we saw the doctor. We have this visit because Ryland’s blood pressure has been consistently high in every clinic lately. Kidneys are super important and we needed to get this checked out. We had a hard time getting a good ultrasound or blood pressure results because he was so upset and moving too much.

The doctor read everything done today and has diagnosed Ryland with chronic kidney disease. This is very common in premature babies, if I’ve said that once I’ve said it 100 times. His renal ultrasound showed his right kidney was much smaller than the left one. This could be because he was moving too much and the results aren’t accurate, or worse case scenario it means it’s not functioning. The echo was to check for kidney failure getting to his heart, there were no signs of that praise God which is a good indicator of no kidney failure. Once he was asleep and still his blood pressure was very good so I’m hopeful he just doesn’t do well taking it at doctor’s offices.

We will be monitoring his blood pressure at home for the next two weeks and sending those results to his doctor. They don’t know if he has hypertension or not just yet, the blood pressure results will tell them more. He has a follow up appointment for June, she assured me nothing would need to be done any sooner and he was perfectly fine to wait on more tests.

My brain immediately goes to worse case scenario, but I’m confident my boys okay and we now know to keep his kidneys extra safe. Staying away from certain medicines, keeping him super hydrated especially when he’s sick, and more tests later is all things he needs and are easily done.

Please pray. Pray for good blood pressures, pray he’s not agitated when we take them so we get accurate results. Pray for his team to take those blood pressure results and do what’s best for Ryland and take that next step whatever it is. Pray this is easily managed and not another issue he deals with.

I feel like every few months we get a new diagnosis and I hated to close out 2024 adding chronic kidney disease to his long list of medical things. However, I serve and trust a God who goes before my baby in all things!! Thank you for praying💙

18/11/2024

Update:

I’ve had so many people reach out to me wanting to know the results from the sleep study Ryland had done. To be blunt and to the point, they weren’t good. Ryland still has very bad central sleep apnea, we knew this from previous sleep studies. Essentially his brain isn’t sending signals to his lungs to breathe and he had several episodes of not breathing over the course of the study. He also now has obstructive sleep apnea, which is why we’ve noticed him snoring at night now.

We have a plan moving forward, now that neurosurgery has signed off that nothing about this means his shunt has malfunctioned, what an answered prayer! His pulmonologist and team will be reviewing the study and come up with a plan to address the central sleep apnea. More than likely a sleep study will be repeated soon. As far as the obstructive sleep apnea is concerned, Ryland already has an ENT appointment scheduled in December to get his ear tube surgery. When we meet with ENT they will look at Rylands tonsils and adenoids to see if either are enlarged and need to be removed to help with the obstructive sleep apnea.

Please pray for Ry. These weren’t things I want him to be dealing with, but much like everything else it all goes back to his premature birth. Pray for the ENT to make the right decision about possibly doing an addition to his tube surgery to remove the tonsils and adenoids. Pray for the pulmonology team to have a good plan for addressing Ryland’s central sleep apnea and keeping him safe while he sleeps. Pray for peace of mind for our family! To know that even when he’s peacefully sleeping his body is struggling is such a heartbreaking reality💙

15/11/2024

As you’re going to bed tonight, squeeze in some prayers for my boy!

This is his 3rd sleep study and they really don’t get easier. Ryland doesn’t usually do well at all, tonight has already proven that and he’s just now went to sleep. The lady doing his leads/wrapping had to take breaks so he could have a minute to calm down. My sweet polite little boy would say “thank you” after every screaming fit before she would put on a new lead. My mama heart breaks every single time he has to go through something like this. It’s just not fair at all.

Pray for a restful night. Pray for no more screaming. Pray for good results from this study and the blood work/X-rays were knocking out while we’re here tomorrow. I just love being this miracles mama and person he can look up at after a horrible hour of being messed with and say “I got you?” “Mama’s got you baby”💙

03/10/2024

Update:

Ryland met with the UAB Newborn Follow Up Clinic this morning. If you’ve followed his page long enough, you’ll know this appointment is a big deal because they check his health across the board and it’s a bunch of people looking at the big picture of his health.

The dietician was very pleased with his growth and has actually asked us to cut back on one of his pediasure he gets a day, this is a BIG DEAL! He’s needed two a day for so long to get him to where he is today growth wise and he’s doing so well he can lose one.

He was evaluated by a child psychologist today for the first time. She observed his cognitive, expressive/receptive language skills, gross motor skills, etc. Ryland scored the highest on his expressive language, he’s talking at a 22 month old level!!! Yall, I hope you get how awesome that is for him! He’s NEVER scored that close to his actual age on anything! He has the best speech therapist around and we love how she’s helped Ryland with his speech! All other scores were lower than average but it’s expected since he was born so early and does NOT define my boy! She did mention the indicators being there for autism. We’re hoping to get him into a testing center in the next few months to finally see where he falls on the spectrum!

Audiologist checked his hearing and it was noticeable that he’s got some fluid buildup that should be fixed in a few weeks when he gets his tubes placed in his ears. We will recheck hearing after his tube placement surgery!

The most concerning issue from this appointment… Ryland’s blood pressure was high. It’s been a little high before, but this time it was too high for comfort. Preemies are at risk for kidney disease. It shows up around 2 years of age and will show no signs of issue at discharge from the NICU or really anytime after until the 2 year mark. So, Ryland will be having his kidney levels checked next week with labs and is being referred to the Nephrology clinic at Children’s, yay for another clinic to add to his list!

He also GRADUATED this newborn follow up clinic and will now be seen at the toddler clinic in the same building!!

It’s a lot, trust me I’m still processing. Pray specifically for a few things.

1. His tube placement surgery on October 18. This is his first surgery locally, however it is far from the worst surgery he’s ever had. Our sweet boy is no stranger to the operating room. Please pray for a successful surgery and for improved hearing and less ear infections, he can’t seem to quit getting those awful things!
2. Pray for his blood work being drawn and nephrologist that will see him for the first time to check his kidneys. That’s such a scary thing to hear, the kidneys are SO important! Pray for all good news to come and for his anxious mama to remember God is before us in ALL things!!
3. Pray for a quick wait to get him tested for autism. We’ve been waiting so long to get this diagnosis and move forward with how best to help him! Our sweet boy is beautiful and special in every way, this will be no exception. My mama heart needs answers sooner rather than later!!💙💙💙

Ryland’s Race to Recovery

17/06/2025

20/05/2025

14/04/2025

06/03/2025

21/02/2025

04/02/2025

14/01/2025

17/12/2024

18/11/2024

15/11/2024

03/10/2024

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