There is an undeniable specialness attached to a baby’s first birthday.
Even more so for Mia Taylor Wilson of Manchester, who celebrated her first birthday Sunday with a party at Dietz’s Landing in New Franklin.
It was a rather low-key production as first birthday parties go these days.
Yes, the two Winnie the Pooh birthday cakes were artfully done and the food choices were nonstop.
But clearly at the heart of this celebration was Wendy and Bobby Wilson’s baby girl.
No cooing about her first steps; she hasn’t had them yet.
Rather, it was all about Mia’s daunting journey and the first birthday that almost wasn’t and the way her family pulled together, sacrificed in extraordinary ways and just never gave up on Mia.
Mia spent over 11 months of her life at the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor before finally being discharged just days ago.
Talk about climbing the rough side of the mountain.
That’s one way of describing what the Wilsons have been through since Mia was born (five weeks early) on Feb. 19, 2011, with only three heart chambers where there should be four.
Mia — who was whisked away almost immediately to the cardiac intensive care unit at Mott Children’s Hospital — has already undergone two open-heart surgeries with another one scheduled before she turns 2; a Nissen wrap, a complicated stomach/esophagus procedure; and a G-tube for feeding (all of her food is received that way).
She arrived at her party decked out in a beautiful brown and pink dress with coordinating pink ruffled socks and tethered to an IV pole that contained the medicine that keeps her alive.
“She’s on 18 different medications 40 times a day,” Bobby Wilson said. That includes breathing applications to keep her lungs open, diuretics and more.
Mia — who suffers from congestive heart failure, among other things — also wears two hearing aids when she’s not playfully pulling them out. Her dad said the family will be going back to Mott Children’s Hospital later this month to investigate the possibility of cochlear implants.
The Wilson family — Mom and Dad and their other daughters, 15-year-old Nina; 4-year-old AnnaMay and 2-year-old Ella — lived for the better part of those 11 months in one room at the Ronald McDonald House close to where Mia was hospitalized in Ann Arbor.
Talk about pulling together and sacrificing everything for the greater good.
Even during their darkest hours — trust me, there were too many times to count regarding Mia’s fragile condition — the Wilsons always felt blessed that they didn’t have to be separated. Mom, who had been home schooling before Mia was born, continued to do so in the tight-but-ever-so-friendly quarters at Ronald McDonald House. And Dad sold half interest in his business to be there every step of the way.
“I can never say enough good things about Ronald McDonald House,” Wendy Wilson said.
She said families are asked to pay a minimum of $10 a night, while the closest discount hotel would have charged $55 a night. At the hotel rate, they would have had to shell out at least $18,000 for 340 nights.
“Aside from the money, there were always people from the community preparing meals,” Wendy said. “And there was a sand box and playground.’’
Testimony to how dear Ronald McDonald House has been to her family was this recent entry in Wendy’s blog:
“All in all, things really are settling down. One thing that happened the first night we were home that was sad was that our 2-year-old Ella was crying her eyes out in bed. Our kids always lay down and just go to bed, so we couldn’t figure what was wrong. We finally got her to calm down enough to say, ‘I want to leave!’
“It broke my heart that she was scared in her own home. We had been gone so long that she didn’t remember it here and she wanted to go back to Ronnie’s [Ronald McDonald House]. She has since settled in and is sleeping just fine.”
The Wilsons, like Ella and the other girls, have developed lifelong friends there.
“Other parents we could be excited with when we had a good day and cry with when we didn’t,” Wendy reminisced.
During the time Mia was at Mott, the Wilsons grew close to 15 families who lost children.
They continue to hold them in prayer.
“We’re just so thrilled she’s home,” Wendy said of Mia, rejoicing in the blessing. “She had seven different discharge dates before.”
Mom and Dad had purchased what they called the perfect dress for the big event. Each time, they took the dress back to exchange it for a larger size when they got a new date.
“I must have known there was a reason not to take the tags off,” Wendy said.
In December, once it looked like Mia really was going home, the Wilsons found out “the dress” was not available in a 12-month size. “Well, you know the rest of the story,” Wendy said. “She finally did wear the dress home and only one button was not secured. … It was a long wait, but the dress waited patiently and watched over her bed even when I had to say, ‘Goodbye,’ to her each evening for 340 nights.”
So, Sunday — with all of the grandparents, Peggy and Frank Weaver, Joann and Rick Seibel, and Ken Wilson, and scores of other relatives, friends and prayer warriors from Akron’s First Presbyterian Church — there was much to be thankful for.
No presents, Wendy Wilson urged in the invitation, adding, “Instead, look at it this way. Your presence is her present!”
“It was a long time coming. Sometimes we never thought it was going to happen,” Bobby Wilson said.
“But it’s here,” he added, his words bathed in joy.
‘‘It’s just one day at a time. We plan to enjoy it as much as possible.”
Also on hand for the celebration was a family — Elizabeth and Daniel Pothen and their daughters, 8-year-old Hannah and 5-year-old Divya of Ann Arbor— the Wilsons had come to know and love.
“We met them at our church — Knox Presbyterian [in Ann Arbor] — where they would attend,” Elizabeth Pothen said. “We would baby-sit for them.”
Clearly, it wasn’t the number of miles the Pothens traveled to be with their friends.
All they were measuring this day were the smiles on all of the faces of the folks who love and were celebrating Mia’s incredible journey.
Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or emailed at jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.