Change of Pace

Lately in our household it has been a whirlwind of things…..Gavin had another surgery a few weeks back.  This time it was to remove his ear tubes, take out part of his adenoid, and balloon/clean out his sinuses.  He recovered quickly.  Honestly, other than the waking up from the anesthesia part I would have never known the kid had surgery.  He was begging to go to my parents house by early the next day…..Of course……I think he would move in there if we let him.  Riley has been dealing with ear infections and upper respiratory crap since December.  Then on top of a double ear infection last week she broke out in the worst case of hand-foot-mouth disease that I’ve ever seen.  She was pitiful…..Everyone is on the mend now though.  Thankfully!

 

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately how I could continue writing this blog without Gavin having as much medical stuff all the time.  I have decided that I am going to convert it to periodically having his medical stuff, but to include our daily/weekly/monthly adventures that we all have together as a family.  Kind of like a journal for him to read once he is older.  So until next time…….much love and happiness to you all.

A lot has changed…..

It’s been several months since I posted, but a lot has happened in our household. 

At the beginning of November 2015 we found out, unexpectedly, that we were pregnant with our second child. That’s right G was being promoted to Big Bro status! Jeremiah and I were nervous, but excited about this newest addition!! All the “what-ifs” went through my mind constantly…..I think every parent goes through that, but if I’m honest with myself I have to admit that I was just praying for a healthy baby! (Not that Gavin isn’t healthy, but the trials and tribulations he’s already had to endure, and will continue to deal with throughout his life, made me even more nervous regarding this pregnancy.) “What-if” something worse happened than a cleft…….I just couldn’t help myself…..I prayed constantly for peace, understanding, and acceptance of what would be. 

Our 20 week anatomy scan came and everything looked wonderful. The baby was not  cleft affected and no other health issues were identified. I didn’t want to know the sex of the baby, but Jeremiah said he couldn’t wait…..so we found out we were having a baby girl ☺️

We thought we were in the clear with the pregnancy and began planning the arrival our our daughter. I had left my position as a Nurse Practitioner to begin a new adventure as the Nurse Educator over the units I use to work in as a RN. The day I started my new position I woke up and realized I was bleeding. I immediately called my midwife and went in to be evaluated. At first the thought was my cervix had kind of flipped up on itself, as I wasn’t hurting, so I was released back to work. Over the next week I had several visits to the midwives related to spontaneous bleeding episodes, before they finally decided an ultrasound was needed to see if the issue of my bleeding could be identified…. they referred me to the OB group they work with. The OB thought she saw something on the ultrasound, but didn’t want to alarm us, so she sent me upstairs to the high risk group for a higher level ultrasound. This screening finally showed the culprit. I had what is called a chronic placental abruption. This is why I had been bleeding on/off over the past week and why I hadn’t really had any pain (other than the contractions I had already been having since around 15 weeks gestation). So I was taken out of work and placed on bedrest in hopes the abruption would heal itself and that baby girl would grow sufficiently. 

Fast forward several weeks and baby girl had grown well, but decided that 37 weeks gestation was long enough for her to be incubated….our birth story started off at 5:00 am on July 5th…. Gavin woke me up crying cause his “legs were hurting” (growing pains). I gave him some Advil and took him downstairs to rock. Once I opened the door to the downstairs I discovered that our two dogs, Max and Sierra, had apparently had their fill of leftover July 4th cookout grease as they had thrown up on every rug in the den 😫. I had to wake up Jeremiah to get the mess up, as I physically couldn’t get into the floor at that point in my pregnancy. (I had been hurting consistently for a few weeks, but I had hurt on/off throughout the pregnancy with contractions so I just ignored them.) I began to realize that I just didn’t “feel right” and went to the bathroom to discover that I had began bleeding again (after about a month of no bleeding). I called the OB and they suggested we go to the hospital. We had nothing ready…..so I had to pack Gavin and myself a bag as we waited on my Dad to come and pick up G so we could go to the hospital. 

Not being our first time going to triage….we parked in the regular parking deck and walked to the 6th floor (we did take the elevator). Once there they placed me on the baby monitor and began monitoring my contractions and the baby. I knew I had been having the contractions for a while, I mentioned it to the OB the week prior, but wasn’t checked as we already had a c section planned for 39 weeks, as baby girl was breech and refused to turn. (I tried everything to get her to turn!).  After a few minutes of monitoring the nurse asked if I could change into a gown….so I walked the 3 feet to the bathroom to get undressed to realize that the bleeding had went from spotting to heavy bleeding. I got dressed and Jeremiah helped me back to bed. The nurse, once realizing how heavy I was bleeding stepped out to call the doc and came back in with other nurses to help get me settled. (Being an ICU/CCU nurse for 12 years I knew that wasn’t a good sign.). Once I was in the bed I felt something pop and began hurting pretty badly. I used the hypnosis I had been practicing (the only reason why I hadn’t lost my sanity throughout this pregnancy with the constant contractions I had had) and pulled back the sheets to realize I was literally sitting in a pool of blood and my water had broken. The next thing I know I was moved to the preop OB area and the OB and anesthesia was there to check me. My breech baby girl had decided she was ready for her debut, as her feet were literally hanging out of my cervix (hence the pop and pain I had felt). So I was taken to the OR and prepped for an urgent C section. Miss Riley Grey made her debut before 9:00 am (we didn’t arrive at the hospital until after 8:00 am…..with me not being in preop until around 8:30 am.) so all the excitement we had just had literally lasted less than an hour…..

The doc said it was a miracle she had grown with the way the placenta looked…..and I had a huge blood clot behind it, where the initial abruption had occurred…so it was another miracle that the clot hasn’t dislodged and killed us both. All of the bleeding had happened because the placenta was detaching itself from the wall, which is also another reason why I was having so much discomfort. 

All in all, looking back on the adventures of that morning I have to say a higher power was at work. Gavin waking up at 5:00 am (which never happens) was the fire that ignited our adventures for that day.  Otherwise, I would have been asleep and at home when the heavy bleeding and water breaking occurred. If that would have happened at home I could have easily have bled to death before we got to the hospital. So Miss Riley is another miracle babe for us. After a short stay in NICU  (I guess she wanted to be like her big bro) we were able to bring her home. 

She’s almost 4 weeks now. I’m slowly healing. Never having any type of surgical procedure myself before I have to say I have a new found respect for abdominal surgery patients! Getting your abdominal muscles cut through sucks! I ended up being severely bruised because of the urgency needed to get her out so quickly. But she’s here and she’s safe! And to me that’s all that mattered ☺️
Gavin is a fantastic big brother! He just loves her so! I hope that love continues to grow as she does. 

As for Mr Gavin, he got a the “all clear” from his cleft team. We don’t have to visit them now except annually. Our next trip is next May 2017! Jeremiah and G had a solo adventure for his most recent follow up, as I was on bedrest. 😢 It was the only doc visit I’ve ever missed for him to date. I cried like a baby when I was told by my OB that I couldn’t travel because of my own health issues. But I was so relieved when he got good news ☺️
So now we are adjusting to being a family of 4. I had forgotten how tiring it is with a newborn, but I wouldn’t change a thing! 

Me and Miss Riley July 4th!

Gavin having fun shooting fireworks kn the 4th!

Jeremiah ready to go into the OR

G’s first time seeing Mommy after Riley was born

Mommy meeting Riley right after she was born!

Miss Riley on the CPAP in the NICU

G’s first time meeting his baby sister!

Busting out of the NICU

Sleepy Daddy and Sleepy Riley

G’s first time holdinfg his baby sister 😍😍

Riley keeping an eye on her Big bro as he plays in the sandbox

Gavin showing off his frog and tadpoles he’d caught

G making sure baby sister is protected at her doc visit

Bright eyed girl!

Free at last!

Well it has been quite a while since I’ve posted an update in the world of Gavin. 

First off, he had his last surgery back in May. We were suppose to have stayed in VA for up to two weeks after his surgery, however, our big boy showed us all up and we came home the day after surgery without even an overnight stay in the hospital! He amazes me with his strength and resilience. He has recovered well and was back to being the high spirited kid we all love and adore within a few days after surgery. 
Many changes have occurred in our family. I have finally graduated from FNP school and will be starting my new job next week! Also, Jeremiah left the company he has worked for over 15 years and started a new job. And Gavin has FINALLY become potty trained!!!! We have labeled 2015 the year of change within our household. 

Gavin continues with his speech therapy through the school district and we pay for private sessions.  It amazes me that our insurance will not cover his speech sessions, especially with the severity of his cleft. Thankfully our school district offers free therapy for children who need it, but he only qualified for 30 minutes per week during the school year. We decided to continue through the private lessons after his 3rd birthday, when BabyNet stopped, as we both agreed that having a lapse in therapy would only hinder him in the future. Although his speech ability has surpassed anything that I ever thought would have been possible. We are now only having issues with harder making sounds. His F’s sound like T’s most of the time, among other issues. He has been working on several other combinations of words, but all in all I would say he is doing fantastic! The therapist at the school, Fran, is wonderful with him and agreed with us that he would do better if we continued the private lessons year round. So during the summer we pay for one hour weekly sessions and during the school year we pay for 30 minute private lessons and he gets 30 minutes of group therapy through the school. It is no wonder that so many children with speech impediments have difficulties, especially when insurance will not cover the sessions. I just feel it’s not fair. And that the kids are the ones who end up suffering. Yes, I realize that he gets the therapy during the school year, but that affords him the summer to obtain bad habits with his speech. My philosophy is that learning the correct way will allow him to not develop those poor habits. So we pay……
Since this past surgery, we only have to do follow ups with VA every 6 months until he’s ready for his bone graft. I’m so glad that we have a small break from surgeries and hospital stays. It’s nice! To celebrate this new found freedom, we are living it up this week at Sunset Beach, NC. This is first family vacation we have been able to take in a while. It’s been awesome! 
So until next time, I wish you all well and much happiness. I am going to enjoy my handsome fella and play in some sand! 

   
    
   

Off to see the wizard….

Well tomorrow we venture off to the wonderful land of VA.  We are headed up for G’s bi-annual follow up with Dr. Incoing.  I am interested to see what he has to say about our little man’s progress.  I know that he has another surgery next year some time, but we aren’t sure yet exactly when that will happen. It’s still a good ways away, but I’m already dreading it.  As G gets older, he is becoming more and more aware.  He now understands what “boo boo’s” are and can tell us that he’s hurt.  I know it may be strange to you all, but it terrifies me to explain to him about his upcoming surgery.  I mean….how do you tell a (will be when he has the surgery) 3 year old that he has to have surgery and that it’s going to hurt…..how do you tell them that?  On terms that he can comprehend? I’m at a loss……even being a nurse…..I have no idea.  You have to realize that my “babies” at work are ALL over the age of 18 years, with the majority being over the age of 50.  I work in an Intensive Care Unit for adults….I don’t do children……so this is all new territory for me.  I just know that I am scared to death about it…..I know that he is in good hands (or we wouldn’t have chosen this surgical team) but still…..he’s our baby!  You parents know how it is…..they’re your baby until the day you die…..it won’t matter if it’s now with those big blue eyes looking up at me….or if it’s 20 years from now when I’m looking up at him.  He will ALWAYS be my baby!  As I type this….tears streaming down my face….I realize that regardless of what I think or feel….this day will come….and I will have to tell him something.  One day he will be older than he is now now, with larger surgeries to face….and I will have to be honest with him then to.  I’m sure that we will figure it out as a family…..we have so far 😉 But it’s just scary not knowing what lies ahead….

 

Anyways….on to what’s the here and now…..other than the trip to VA we are also going to stop by the NC zoo to hang out for a day.  We are trying to make G’s “non-surgery” trips fun family trips as well….last time we went to Great Wolfe Lodge 🙂 I am excited to take him to this zoo!  I think he will love it!  He’s been to our local one, but it’s really small.  So I think he will have a good time.  G is also fascinated by airplanes!!!  He calls the airport “me-a-port” it’s the cutest thing EVER!!!  I would think so though, as I am partial 😉 He loves playing with his toy planes and trains….and just being an all out boy!  Yesterday I was cleaning up some toys in our den….and I turn around to him picking up a millipede!  EWWWWW!!! I don’t do millipedes!!!! The interest in bugs isn’t new…..In the last few months G has started to become very intrigued by bugs in general, but it has taken him until the last few weeks to start picking them up.  A few days before the millipede incident….he had a BEE!!!!  Yes a BEE!!!!  It was a honey bee….but still!  He had let it crawl onto his finger from a flower in the back yard and was “petting” it while making a buzzzzzz sound.  As cute as it was, all I could envision was him getting stung! thankfully Mr. Bee was nice and flew away without harming my child….but still!  I had to explain to him that we don’t “pet” bees…..when we were at the zoo he tried to pick up the 5 foot community black snake…..I again had to explain to him that we don’t pick up snakes….ladies and gentleman….I think I will have a lot of “explaining” to do here in the near future.  My child is obsessed with all things creepy crawly……sigh……I guess this is part of being a Mom to a boy…..I wouldn’t trade it for anything though.  Every time he does something new….or picks up something he shouldn’t be….I think about my Mom telling the story of my brother when he was younger.  Apparently Brad (my brother) had found a lizard in the yard and brought it into the house.  My mom told him that lizards aren’t suppose to be held in the house, only outside.  A few minutes later my Mom said my brother started uncontrollably laughing…..when she asked him why he lifted up his shirt and proclaimed “because the lizard is on my belly!” He had taken her “not suppose to be held” comment and thought that she meant “not to be held in his hands”, so he put it on his belly…..boys…..considering that my parents tell me often how much G is like my older bro……I am in so much trouble…..sigh…..

 

On to therapy….He is doing excellent in speech.  We will be meeting with the school therapists in Sept to see if he qualifies to continue with speech into elementary school.  I am interested to see what they have to say…..I have mixed feelings about transitioning him into the school system.  I’ve heard positive and negative things from different parents….so we will see what judgements I may hold after the meeting.  Other than that….he is progressing very well 🙂

 

As far as school and work go….I am almost finished with grad school (6 months…but who’s counting)……I officially start my rotations in 2 weeks!  I am nervous about this new transition in my career.  When I start clinical’s G will start full time day school which is new for all of us.  I have stayed at home with him throughout the week since he was born…..I am having serious Mommy anxiety about letting him go, but I know these ladies will take excellent care of him…..it still won’t be the same though.  I guess that’s the only thing we are truly guaranteed in this life is that everything changes.  I know G will be fine…..he adjusts so well to different things (I hope that he continues to keep that attitude).  Either way…..we will see what the future brings.  Here’s to new what the future brings……..hope that you are all well.  Thanks for reading 🙂

Happy Independence Day! (in more ways than one…)

Hi everyone!  Happy July 4th!  It has been 6 months since my last post….needless to say I have fell off of the face of the planet lately with grad school…..almost finished though….only 7 more months if things go as planned 😉 So fingers crossed that it ALL works out!  Anyways….back to the world of all things Gavin 🙂

 

Gavin is celebrating his independence day being in BIG BOY UNDIES!!!  We are in full blown potty training mode in this household….being a RN by trade…peeing and pooping is part of my every day work vocabulary…..well now it has overflowed into the household.   I literally carry a portable toilet seat with us EVERYWHERE we go!  It is interesting to say the least. But he’s doing great with it….for the most part 😉  I think we will survive!

Gavin officially graduated a few months back from Occupational Therapy (OT)!  He now only has a speech therapist come once a week….soon we have to graduate from Stacy (our therapist) to either go into private pay sessions or into the school system.  I have mixed feelings about this… as I have heard bad things about the school system around here regarding speech options for kids with clefts.  Jeremiah and I have agreed to meet with them though to see if they offer anything we are interested in.  I am keeping my options open……so we will see how that goes.

Gavin is running around everywhere!  He’s even beginning to swim.  We put him into ISR swim lessons starting at 13 months….and let me tell you they were wonderful!  Granted they are time consuming at 5 days a week for 10 min sessions….but so very much worth it!  If you’re not familiar with ISR they are “survival swim lessons” which teach kids to “float” before they learn to “swim”.   Here is a link to the website: http://www.infantswim.com/  Gavin was floating completely on his own by 14 months…..and started the swim-float-swim sequence this summer.  Here in our area Brennan teaches the lessons….you can reach her on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenville-Water-Babies/333243383442868  She is wonderful!  I highly recommend Brennan if you live in our area and are looking for swim lessons!

On to the world of sippy cups with children with clefts…..I’m sure many of you that have young toddlers with clefts have had issues with finding a sippy cup they can drink out of.  I know that we could have bought a franchise in the area of sippy cup trials in this household before we finally found some he could actually drink from.  Have any of you tried drinking from a sippy cup?  It’s ridiculous how hard many of the cups are!  I can’t believe that anyone can drink out of them….no wonder they don’t leak!  Some of you may have kids where this isn’t a problem…many children with unilateral clefts can drink out of regular sippy cups; however, since G was a severe bilateral he doesn’t have the mobility of his palate as most people do.  Granted he is doing WAY better than we could have every imagined, but he does not have the typical toddler palate abilities.  He’s been using the playtex lil gripper straw cup for months. We had issues with the playtex leaking slightly….but it was all we could find he could drink out of besides a regular open cup…..and you know you don’t give a regular cup to a toddler without having a disaster! So to help me keep my sanity from not constantly cleaning up messes, we had found the playtex straw cup.  This worked out great in the beginning.  I could deal with the small amount of leaking the straw did, and he was able to drink out of it easily….then his dentist informed me that the portion of this upper jaw bone (the maxilla) that is still “free floating” was beginning to collapse inward because of him constantly drinking out of a straw.  Well……this Momma went into PANIC mode searching high and low for another style he could drink out of without causes further issues to his cleft.  After spending a small fortune at buy buy baby, babies r us, and target we found two other cups he could drink out of.  The first was the avent natural drinking cup, however, I still had issues with this leaking for him because of the way his upper portion of his mouth is made.  (I have talked with other cleft moms though, and this cup has worked great for them).  The second we tried was the munchkin click and lock sippy cup, this he can ONLY use if the valve is not inserted…and then it leaks slightly.  We tried tons of others (to many to list) before we landed on the tommee tippee explora sippy cup…..WE HAD FOUND A WINNER!!!  Finally we had a sippy cup that he could drink out of….that I did not have to remove any of the valves, squeeze to help him drink it, or worry about it leaking!  It also holds 11 oz compared to the 7 oz of the playtex cup.  What was best about this cup….IT WASN”T A STRAW!  I had finally after months of trying new sippy cups found one that he could use that was not a straw! I was ecstatic!  When did I ever think that finding a good sippy cup would make it to my list of things to be excited about….yes I am mother…..lol…It’s the little things sometimes… 😉 So to share the gathered knowledge that we have found over the last few months…below are links to the cups that we have found we can use with G.  Hopefully this will help you from spending a ton of money on the search for sippy cups for cleft kids!

Here are links to the sippy cups that we have found useful:

http://www.amazon.com/Playtex-First-Gripper-Trainer-Colors/dp/B00HUB4UE4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404520355&sr=8-1&keywords=playtex+the+first+lil+gripper   (a good ‘teaching” cup as you can squeeze the cup to help the child get the liquid)

http://www.amazon.com/Tomme-Tippee-Explora-Truly-Spill-proof/dp/B0056WJAE4/ref=sr_1_22?s=baby-products&srs=2602433011&ie=UTF8&qid=1404520514&sr=1-22&keywords=tommee+tippee+sippy+cup  (his new favorite!)

http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Click-Count-Insulated-Sippy/dp/B006V84KFQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1404522103&sr=8-6&keywords=munchkin+sippy+cups   (had to remove the valve for these to work for him)

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-AVENT-Natural-Drinking-1-Pack/dp/B006GYLL8Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1404521141&sr=1-2&keywords=avent+sippy+cup  (didn’t work for us, but has worked for other cleft moms I’ve talked to)

 

Lastly, we had followed up with his surgeon this past spring and everything looked great!  We are heading back up in August for another follow up and then we will have a better idea of when his next surgery will be.  Dr. Incoing told us last time that it will probably be the end of next summer by the way things are looking now…..so we will see.  After this next surgery we are home free for a few years until his bone graft!

Well….we hope that everyone has had a great and wonderful July 4th!  Have a safe weekend!  And thanks for reading our little blog 🙂

 

Love,

The MacD’s

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

It’s been a while since I last posted.  We are officially all settled in at the new house 🙂  Gavin loves having a playroom!  (and takes full advantage of making it a disaster!)  I am surviving grad school….one day at a time….life is a zoo around here with everything we have going on.  Especially with the holidays!  Family parties, birthday parties (I can’t believe we have a 2 year old!!!), family trips, school projects/papers due, doggies having surgery…..the list goes on and on.  We are making it though.  Gavin has been doing great!  And he’s getting so BIG!!  It makes me sad to think that our little man….is no longer a baby.

Ladies and Gentlemen….we have a toddler!  We have had one for a while now….but lately with the “terrible twos” I would say it’s fully blown toddlerhood right now.  All in all though I would say he still does pretty good.  Sure….their are some days I want to pull my hair out….but then he looks at me….with that cute little smile and I melt and forget that he’s trouble.  He knows how to work it to!  Even his school teachers talk about how he “Hams it up!”  At least I can say he’s got a personality!  I’m interested to see where it leads.  Hopefully he will keep his fun going, out going, and loving traits as he ages.  He is definitely one of the funniest kids I know.  Being mine, I know you’re probably thinking, everyone says that….but it’s not just my husband and I who think it, everyone who meets him talks about his personality.

We have another follow up coming up in March with Dr. Inciong.  This one will let us know when his next surgery will be.  I am excited for them to see him and how much he’s changed!

We finally made it to the dentist for his first trip.  We visited Dr. Mary Crockett here in our hometown and she was WONDERFUL!!!  I was terrified that G would have a bad experience and hate the dentist, however, with her fun, energetic, and loving personality, as well as her staffs, G actually cried when we LEFT the office!  What kid does that!!!  I’m hopeful that this first time experience is a repeat in future visits.  We also got a great report!  No cavities, and he’s only missing two teeth!  I honestly thought that it was more, but grateful that the others are in there…. 🙂  She also raved about how well his surgeries looked!  And she couldn’t believe the muscle tone that he had orally and the functionality of his lip.  I guess our fabulous surgeon, wonderful OTs, and speech therapist have done better jobs than I thought that had.  I mean, I knew he was doing great…..I knew he could drink out of a straw when they told us he may never…..and I knew that G has the tendency to do whatever they tell him he can’t…..even as an infant…..he’s always proven people wrong.  🙂  Needless to say…..this was one HAPPY and PROUD Momma at the dentist office as I got a good report.  It made all of the decisions that we have been making for him worth everything!

So here we are with a 2 year old!  Getting ready to make our way into 2014!  Man how the time has flown!  I remember when we started this blog….how scared Jeremiah and I were about all of the unknowns and what-ifs……but we have made it!  Here we are as a happy and healthy family and we are entering 2014 with many blessings.

So here’s to the future.  May you and your families have a blessed Holiday Season!  Who knows what 2014 is going to bring to the MacD family….but I’m sure it’s going to be amazing!

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Moving on up!

A lot has been going on in the MacD household the past few months! Gavin got cleared from his surgeon until next spring, we put our house on the market, and I got accepted into grad school. Since my last post we have gotten a contract on our current home and found our next one! We close any day now on both! We are so excited to start this new adventure, moving forward into our next home, hopefully it will be as good of a home as our current one has been. It’s bittersweet to be leaving the place where we became a family, but being a small place, we have quickly outgrown it! I think Gavin and the dogs (Max and Sierra) have known that something major is fixing to happen. Gavin hasn’t been sleeping well since July 4th…..this past weekend, he finally started sleeping through the night again, I think it’s because we finally found our next home and everything (so far) has went without a hitch. I’m sure he felt the stress from me and Jeremiah when we weren’t sure what was going to happen. We had sold our current home, but we didn’t have anywhere to move! Needless to say, it was a very stressful time. I know what you’re thinking….you can just rent. And yes, that’s what I thought at first to…..but when you have two mix breed dogs who are both over 70 lbs its hard to find a place that will take them. So needless to say I was STRESSED!!! So hopefully we will be able to close on both homes within the next week!! I’m hoping we can, so we can get settled into the new house before I start grad school Sept 3rd! Gavin is also going to start a day school a few days a week so I will have time to do homework. I think this will be good for him so he’s around other kids his age, even though it makes me sad to think that he’s not a baby anymore. 😦 He’s made that very evident, as he’s beginning to talk more and more! It’s amazing to watch your child meet new milestones.

So as we move on with our lives, we leave our old home with its fond memories and great friends to discover new wonderful family memories, and newfound friends. We have been so overly blessed with everything in our lives. Thank God for the wonderful people we have met so far on our journey. Here’s looking to the future! Yay!!!!

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Home Free!

We just had another follow up visit with Gavin’s surgeon, Dr. Inciong, a few weeks ago. We got GREAT news!!! No visits for a whole year!!! We don’t have to revisit VA until Spring 2014!! This is one happy Momma! Dr. Inciong said G looked great, even though he had fell and busted his lip just a few days prior to our visit. 😦 So if Dr. Inciong thinks he looks great even with a slightly swollen lip, I can’t imagine how well he would have thought he looked without the busted lip. 😉 Gavin did great on the trip up to VA. We stopped by to see Jeremiah’s Mom and Step-Dad Kelly on the way up….staying with them over the weekend. It was wonderful seeing them. 🙂 Our little traveler did awesome on the way back from VA, which we did in one solid drive. On a good note, when we go on vacations and such to places like the beach….that small 4 hour drive is nothing for our little man since he is use to the 8 hour drive to and from VA!

We also got more positive news once we returned home to find out that Gavin now doesn’t require the specialized OT therapy he was getting. As much as I hate to leave our OT, Lisa K., who has been with us since G was 6 months old. I am proud that my little man no longer needs the specialized therapy. Since he is “graduating” to regular OT, we now do not have to make the weekly trip into town. His new therapist, Beth, comes out to our house to see him. 🙂 Which, as much as I hate to admit it, is soooooo much easier on me and him!

Gavin is also graduating to weekly speech therapy sessions with Mrs. Stacy. Stacy has been working with our little man to help him with his development of speech. Being a bilateral cleft child will make the higher pressure sounds like “ba” “da” more difficult for him to master. After speaking with our pediatrician, Dr. Song, regarding our concerns for his speech development issues, we decided to be proactive and get him started early. My philosophy is if he learns how to speak properly in the beginning, we won’t have bad habits to break later on. That being said……Dr. Song got us into contact with a network called baby net.

I am so grateful for Dr. Song, G’s pediatrician, for getting me into contact with Baby Net. Baby Net is network who works with the parents of children who need therapies under the age of two. They cover what ever expenses that insurance will not cover, which saves the parent the co-pay amount with each visit. Now that may not seem like a big deal to you, but when you’re talking two therapies a week, at $20 a visit, that adds up quickly! Now just imagine if your child receives more therapies than that….how is a parent suppose to pay for all of a child’s needs, plus all of their therapies, and still manage to maintain a household without going broke! I’m telling you….Baby Net has been a Godsend for us!

All of that being said……it’s almost SUMMER TIME!!!! We put Gavin in ISR swim lessons earlier in the year….and I’m so very excited to say that our little man can float! He’s learning on the swimming part, and I have no doubt that by the end of the summer he will be swimming! I have full faith if he was to accidentally fall into one of the neighbors pools that he would be able to float and yell for help! It’s truly amazing watching a 17 month old float and swim! I highly recommend these type of swim lessons for your child. It did take Gavin a little longer to master some of the skills, because of him having issues creating a good seal with his mouth, but he did learn….and if my little guy can….your’s can to! It does take a lot of dedication from the parents to take the child to the sessions. They are five days a week, for 10 minutes, for about 6-8 weeks. VERY TIME CONSUMING!! But WORTH IT!

Anyways, as we venture out into our first summer without trips to VA…..I hope we can manage to have some actual FUN this year!! No looming trips….No looming surgeries! Happy Summer everyone!

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Boob juice via EPING

Wishing he was playing with the big boys!

I’ve been meaning to write this since Feb 9th…….that was the last time I felt the need to pump. I MADE IT!!!!  I surpassed my goal of pumping until G was a year old by two months!  This was not an easy task I tell you…..the older he got, the more difficult pumping became.  It was easy when he was smaller and I could pump and feed him at the same time.  As he got older, he became obsessed with my pump and all of its attachments.  He would constantly pull at the tubes and shake them up and down while I was pumping, needless to say we spilled several pumping sessions due to his curiosity (not an easy task to watch that liquid gold fall to the floor).  However, even through those mishaps,  I was able to pump enough milk to freeze 🙂  It’s now the beginning of May and my baby boy is still getting that precious boob juice!!  Looking back on all of my pumping sessions I don’t see how I managed to get anything else done!!

428 days of pumping

For the first 4 months I pumped religiously every 3 hours (night and day) for 15-30 minutes…as he got older I began to wean my night sessions to only once a night until he was around 8 months old.  After that I weaned to just pumping during the day.  I slowly weaned myself after his first birthday to allow my body to adjust without having issues of mastitis, engorgement, etc.  This was a tedious process, but well worth not having to go through the discomfort I have heard so many other moms talk about.  Being curious….I sat and calculated how much time I had spent over the last 14 months pumping.  I was shocked!!  I had spent around 670 hours over the last 14 months JUST PUMPING!!!  That’s equivalent to an ENTIRE month of my time…..and ALL I DID WAS PUMP!!!!  FOR A MONTH!!!  No wonder I felt like a moo cow…..I essentially was 😉  All that said though, it was ALL worth it!  Other than G’s surgeries, we have really been blessed to have a healthy boy.  He has only (fingers crossed) gotten sick twice during this time frame.  The first time was when he ended up in the hospital back in december for bronchitis….and right now he has a runny nose (which the doctor thinks is just allergies).

We are so very grateful for our healthy, energetic, life of the party little man.  He has brought more joy to our family, then he will ever know.  I’ll  have to update you guys on what has been going on with our little adventurer…..but that will have to be for a post solely about G.  He is a very SPECIAL little boy.  Who is loved beyond words.

Thanks for reading.  And we hope you guys have a fabulous weekend.  🙂

It’s that time again……

So we were suppose to head up to VA for Gavin’s follow up back in December….unfortunately Gavin ended up getting really sick with bronchitis and had to stay a few nights in the hospital here in Greenville, so we rescheduled with our team for January. Our follow up went great! We had a great trip up, being able to stop and see some of our good friends along the way.

It’s beginning to get easier with the traveling with G. He does a lot better in the car than he use to 🙂 I think it’s because he loves his new carseat! He has a lot more room in the Britax than he did in his infant seat. We also caved and bought an iPad that has movies and shows for him to watch on the ride. Or maybe it’s just because he’s getting older…. Either way…..something has helped…and I’m not going to complain! No screaming while in the car is always a plus! Anyways….back on topic….

G’s next surgery is now scheduled for Feb 6th. Which is literally right around the corner! We leave this coming Tuesday. As usual I am becoming a basket of nerves…..and Miah is keeping me grounded. 🙂 We have tried to keep this past week leading up to us leaving, fun. Hanging out with friends and family before the road ahead. Anything to help keep our minds off of what is to come.

I know G will be in good hands with the surgeon and his staff. It’s the recuperating part that I’m more worried about. Yes, sending him off to surgery is hard, but for some reason it’s the aftermath that follows that worries me. It’s awful to feel so helpless as your child is in pain. Not able to comprehend why he hurts. Not understanding what has happened. Maybe as he gets older and has more surgeries it will get easier…..I doubt it though. I’m sure that as he gets older and more aware it will be worse. I’m already beginning to wonder how we will address his questions. What will we say?? How should we approach the subject?? All of these things are way in the future, but something I’m already trying to understand myself.

I’m also starting to wonder how we will address the bullying that I’m sure will happen….because lets admit it…..kids can be assholes. Kids will find any and every reason to pick on someone. Whether it’s because they have a different skin color, scars, too short, too tall……ANYTHING!! I got picked on growing up for having small breasts……so much so that when I met my husband I had what I called my “boob fund” to go and purchase me some implants. Now, don’t get me wrong, if getting boobies is your thing and you are doing it for YOU then go for it! If you’re (like me) doing it to impress others or to make others see you differently then I wouldn’t suggest it. I have talked to so many women that do cosmetic surgeries for others that end up regretting it later. Fortunately for me, I met Miah at the right time in my life. 🙂 My “boob fund” went toward other more important things in my life, like vacations and putting down money on my first house. 🙂 Anyways…..enough about me…..back to G 🙂

We’ve decided that we just need to raise him to understand what’s right and wrong. To understand that sometimes people can be nasty, but that they can also be good. He needs to understand that people may have questions about his appearance or make comments about his appearance. We want him to be as prepared as he can to handle these questions and scrutiny as he can be. Hopefully, with the right guidance we can prepare him to the best of our ability, and along with preparing him, prepare ourselves for the future that may be.

I know what you’re thinking…..why am I worrying about this all so soon. It all stems from a 6 year old little girl G and I ran in to the other day at the park. Within a 30 second time frame she had introduced herself, told me about all of her animals, what school she went to, and asked about 10 different questions about why G’s face was different. I mean kids are curious and they have no filters. Lets face it, all of us parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents have been the product of our child’s/nieces/nephews/grandchildren’s embarrassments of their inability to”filter”. Kids are curious……..this is how they learn people! It’s how we all learned growing up….you asked questions didn’t you?? I’m sure somewhere along the way you have embarrassed some member of your family at some point in time, for some reason or another. 🙂 I can remember one of my uncles talking about what his grandson had done in the grocery store. The child in question had been around large trucks that beeped when they backed up earlier that day….well they were in line at the store waiting to pay when a rather large lady’s pager started going off. My little cousin starting yelling at his Grandpa…..”watch out Paw Paw that fat lady is backing up!” Now granted he was only about 2 years old when this happened, so he did not understand the meaning of “filter” nor could he comprehend why my uncle, as embarrassed as he was, grabbed the grocery cart and ran for it. I’m sure the woman in question was just as embarrassed or possibly angry for his outburst. Either way…..kids will be kids…..and for the most part until they are old enough to understand that what they say can be hurtful they just say whatever comes to mind.

I think the most important thing for us is to tell him to just be truthful with people. No matter how young or old. If they ask him about his scars…I think that an honest answer about his cleft will be the best route to take. Many people do not know what a cleft is…..So maybe, just maybe if he answers them honestly and openly about it they will accept him for who he is…and look beyond his scars. On the other hand….most scars fade over time, so by the time that he is grown you may not really be able to see them. Only time will tell 🙂

As I watch him grow and develop his personality I don’t think we will have a problem with him being comfortable with himself. He’s quite the little character, always doing stuff to make us laugh. He loves to laugh! I hope that he doesn’t lose that as he grows up, as many of us do. Laughter is after all, the best medicine 🙂

But for now…..I will put aside all of my fears and worries of what is to come and focus on the here and now 🙂 For now we will love of our little man with every passing breath that we take. To let him know that he is our hearts. We love our little man more than words can describe. So here’s to the future!