Welcome!

Welcome. I'm Amy, aka "Bug's Mom" on this blog. Bug is my son, Jake Maxwell Casden. He was born on March 26, 2008 at 8:12 AM. He weighed in at 7 lbs, 13 oz and was 20 inches long. He came out screaming and playing air guitar (see Fig.1).

Fig. 1: Jake playing air guitar

Jake's a special boy. He was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect when I was 20 weeks pregnant. A big one. Aortic stenosis evolving into hypoplastic left heart syndrome. I had an innovative (innovative = experimental) procedure done in utero to open up his heart valve. The procedure worked in preventing HLHS from fully developing and Jake from needing multiple open heart surgeries. But that's not what I'm writing about here.

Jake is now four months old. Despite the rough start, he's doing quite well. You can read all about those first three months here. This blog is all about the growing, discovering, struggling, learning and loving we're doing now. (See what Fig. 2 for what Jake looks like now).

Fig. 2: Jake Now

I hope you enjoy the many adventures of One Bad Bug and check back often to see what he's up to.