Nathan's Surgery Update ....

I'm not going to be updating in this blog much, since my other blog is where I update this stuff, but I did want to link my readers here over to my other blog if you are interested in updates on Nathan. 

Update #1 ... Getting to the Clinic, Surgery & Up to Dinner last night....  doing SO GOOD!
Update #2 ....  After dinner ... the pain and the misery hits......  :( 

Please go read them and keep him in your thoughts and prayers, it's greatly appreciated ... 

Nathan's Haircut & Surgery Tomorrow.....

So Nathan's hair has been getting long and shaggy, it was to the point that he was pushing it out of his eyes a lot because it kept getting into them. 

(Top picture, Nathan laying down for a nap, 2nd picture, Nathan using Nana as a table and drink holder!)

So the first time that he got a hair cut we buzzed it... and frankly it made him look super sick :(  So we said we'd never do it again, but he really needed it.  We didn't cut it as short as we did the first time, but you can still see the ridges in his head and the way his head is not symmetrical because of his craniosynosis, and the hydrocephalus he had when he was 6 months ...

Here are the pictures from cutting his hair, and I think they turned out super cute.  He had to sit in a squatted position, seems to be the most "secure" feeling position when things are not "typical" ...

OMGosh MOM it is FALLING OFF!!!

Here are a couple of after pictures...  including a rare picture of him looking at the camera with a full smile!

There is a new post in MY UNIQUE FLOWERS .... about the HGH Shots so far with Nathan... so if you'd like to read that, venture over there ... click the link... whichever ...  In addition to that... TOMORROW (Monday morning) Nathan is going to have the second stage of his hypospadious surgery.   Please wish us luck in getting the surgery done (we decided to bring him on the chance that they'll do it, Nathan's had an ongoing cold for 3 weeks) ...  please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.  We'll be spending the night at the hospital, his DR wanted him obscured over night, basically he feels more comfortable.  It was fine with us, so we're spending the night tomorrow in the hospital with him, while our family holds down the fort at home with the rest of the clowns.  Very thankful to be around family.

Tomorrow is going to be H-A-R-D......

WOW..... tonight hasn't been easy either ... but tomorrow afternoon is going to be hard for both Dennis and I, and... Nathan...

Mr. Nathan got a haircut recently (I'll share those photos soon, they are already on my facebook if you are on there) ...   tonight, Daddy and I managed to get through the DVD videos that came with his Easypod device.

His what??

The device that will assist us in giving him nightly injections for Human Growth Hormone.  I have gone into the discussion here a little (in my other blog) MY UNIQUE FLOWERS: The Tale of the Human Growth Hormone ...  and I will go into it more tomorrow.  I normally don't get into a lot of the medical stuff here, but this is kinda big.  Especially for me.

When the shipment showed up with his device and supplies it hit me in the gut like a FIST ... everything escaped me, especially my composure.  I have become an emotional wreck and every time I talk about it I would have rivers of tears streaming down my cheeks. 

One of my worse fears, needles.....

Now I have to subject my child to one of my worst fears in the world, one that can be crippling to me, every single night ...  I have to manage to compose myself, stay strong, and not let my anxiety control my emotions, and not project my fears to him.  Kids are great at sensing stress and fear, and if I can push past mine, maybe he won't pick up on it....  maybe... hopefully ....

I am not looking forward to tomorrow afternoon.  After watching the boring DVD that came with the stuff, with a little kid who was OBVIOUSLY a paid actor who was more then happily putting that what had to be NEEDLE-LESS device to his little kid leg over and over ... but it was informative.  Tomorrow we have to go to the clinic (an hour away about) ... and go through our training.  Nathan will get his very first dose of HGH tomorrow at the clinic during our training.  There after he'll get it every night before bed here at home.  I'll be documenting the process in the other blog everyday. 

So, tonight Nana and Daddy had to run to the store, not only to get lithium batteries for the Easypod (and Diapers for Kaedyn!) and while Nana was there, she had to do a little spoiling!  See, she took Nathan out the other night because Noah had come home with a little robot toy from school, for doing his work, and Nathan was heartbroken that Noah wouldn't let him play with it.  So Nana took him out to try to find a little robot of his own...  and he ended up coming home with this ... 

We took it out of the package and he tried to find a button or something to push and he cried...  then he ran to Daddy's desk and got batteries, and brought them into the living room handing them to us, BEGGING us to put them in!!  Well, this particular toy, doesn't do ANYTHING ......  and it CRUSHED him..... crushed him... it was a $10 toy and Nana regretted not giving in and getting him the $45 toy that had all the bells and whistles. 

So tonight when Dennis and Nana were at Walmart, Nana fell on the spoil train and got him this one.... 

yep the $45 one with ALL the bells and whistles.  She's going to give it to him tomorrow after she gets done with work and we get home. 

He also has a bunch of character bandaids and I'm hoping to get him a nice collection of stickers (course I just realized we have a bunch of stickers for homeschooling, but they are learning stickers) ...

So I will take my camera, of course, and share the experience after I get home.

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaedyn...

Today... Mr. Kaedyn turned 2 ......   here are a couple of pictures from his exciting day!

These were HUGE marshmellows we had for a snack today, special treat....  HUGE..

His birthday cake was brought over by Cousin Ashley!  And he looooooooooved it!!

2 Years Ago My Life Changed ....

Two years ago, my family had grown by ten fingers, and ten toes.  Having 3 boys already, and pregnant with the 4th boy ...  we were excited. 

On the morning of September 9th, 2008 I spent the morning cleaning my house, trying to make sure things were in place, and trying to make sure we had everything.  We had already been into the hospital the week before when we had our second amnio of the pregnancy to determined if the baby's lungs were developed or not, and they were not.  So we were giving it an extra week and it was that day.  I was nervous.  Having contractions all day, but then again I had been having contractions for 4 months.   There were a few times I had to stop and breathe, but over all, I was ignoring them.  I was being told to sit down, I was on bedrest, and I told everyone to be quite and leave me alone.  LOL.  So it was time to go.  Leaving Cal and Noah and 16 month old Nathan at home with my Mom.  I remember fighting the tears back as we pulled away.  Nathan was not very big himself, finally getting into 6 to 9 month clothes, and here he was, about to be a big brother. 

I remember when we got to the hospital, we debated on what to take in... after all, the week before we took in the bags and pillows only to be sent home.  We'd been playing cribbage and Dennis was winning, he never wins!  He made some comment about him winning and how we'd be sent home, and sure enough...  we had been.   So we left a lot there, in the car, and Dennis said "I can always come back down and get it."   Then half way across the road infront of the hospital doors, I stopped dead in my tracks.

"Are you having a contraction?"  I looked up to find Dennis had turned around at the hospital door and asked that.

Is that the dumbest question in the world?   Well at least up there as one of them? 

I looked up at him, my face filled with shock, I mean I couldn't move, it was one of THOSE contractions.  And I said "NO, I just stopped in the middle of the road for no reason!"

When we got inside the receptionist asked me if I was having contractions, Dennis and I just kinda looked at each other and then he goes "yeah, she is" ...

Got upstairs, I was just in a mood, just a bad bad mood, the week before they had put me in a L&D room, this week they put me in the observation room, and it just made me feel like THEY THOUGHT this wasn't it.  Like they were brushing it off "oh she's just coming in again for another amnio, it was not mature last week, it won't be mature this week either" type of thing.  And I really got upset about that.  I, to this day, still have no idea why I got upset about that.   

She hooked me up to the monitor and she said, tell me when you have a contraction ... so I would.... and I was having them every 2 minutes, they were being picked up by the monitor, every 2 minutes...  so when Dr. B came in, I announced I was having contractions every 2 minutes, and he started going through his shpeel about the amnio and out of the corner of his eye he was watching the monitor ... suddenly in the middle of his speech he stops and says ... "Wow, you really are having contractions aren't you?"  LOL... yep, yep I am!  And he goes "Change of plans" and decides to check me to see if I'm dilating at all...  so he does, and sure enough, I'm 3cm dilated.  So he announces......

TODAY IS THE DAY ......

I got quickly prep'd for the c-section (since Noah's birth, his emergency c-section cutting me the classic way -up and down- I've had to have a c-section since, no choice, this was the same reason we were having the amnios, so we could do the c-section before I went into labor on my own because birth would probably go quickly.) ... and got taken back..... and the process started ...  pretty soon, we had a beautiful baby boy ... 

If you want to read more about Kaedyn's birth day ... check out this blog post:  Kaedyn's Birth & Day 1...

Kaedyn has changed over the years ...
His Birth Day ....

First Week:

First Couple Months ...

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!!!

13 Months

14 Months

15 Months

16 Months

 17 Months

 

18 Months

19 Months

20 Months

21 Months

22 Months

23 Months

And today ....... he turns TWO!!!