Author: Lauren

Happy Christmas!

Posted on by Lauren

We had a great time with family for Christmas. It was fun to watch Atreyu open presents.
Here are some pictures. Some with the old lame camera and some with our awesome new amazing camera.

Christmas with Nana

Checking out the presents at Grandma and Grandpa’s

He could care less about the present he wanted the plastic or box it came in
playing with his new toys

So in one week we will know if this new little guy is ready to join the outside world. Monday Jan 3rd we will be driving down to Grand Rapids to test to see if his lungs are developed enough. Then if they are my c-section will be on the 4th. On the 5th he will have his surgery to close the opening in his back. If he is not ready then we will deliver a week later.

We will love as much prayer as you want to bring. These are major surgeries for both of us. Prayer for safety, quick healing and for the doctors. Also pray that while we are in the hospital the doctors are able to find things, through the test the perform and observation, that will help the new little guy out.  I would love to be in and out of there fast but I also know that if we are there for a while it will be what he needs, so the doctors can help him heal.
I have my moments of stress but I feel like we are ready. The freezer is full of dinner and cookies so the family wont starve. Atreyu is ready to be a big brother (even though he doesn’t know it yet) and I think we will survive having two boys 13 months apart. We still don’t have a name but I am sure we will figure it out once we see him.

I will update next Monday once we find out for sure if he is ready.

Atreyu is 1!

Posted on by Lauren

Well it happened. Atreyu turned 1, 21 lbs and 31 inches tall. It has been a great year and I am amazed at how he has grown. Watching every little stage has been so much fun and I can’t wait to see what he becomes.

Here he is over the year.


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He had a great Birthday (I think so…I had fun). We gave him his present this morning. He loved that it had blinking lights.


Spent the day playing and getting ready for his party tonight.

Atreyu’s homemade birthday cake
Enjoying cake with friends and family
Opening presents
playing with his new frog
Looking forward to the next year and for Atreyu to be a big brother in 3 weeks!

Only because you asked…

Posted on by Lauren

So I am writing this because I know if I had a friend in our situation I would want to know. A lot of people have been asking what we need for the baby and during our time in the hospital. So here it is.

-Size 1 and 2 diapers. Until we have a better understanding of how his bladder and bowels will work I will use disposable diapers instead of the cloth diapers that we have.

-Sleep and play 0-3 month/newborn outfits with snaps instead of zippers. It will be easier on the scar from the closure surgery, and if he has wires hooked up to him in the NICU they can just come through the snaps.

Thankfully since we are having another boy we already have a lot of the baby stuff that we need.

-For the hospital it would be nice to have a few gift cards for some restaurants in Grand Rapids. Even just a $5 gift card for Subway, Jimmy John’s or Chipotle will really help us out.

-We will be able to store some food where we will be staying, so snack type foods or even Meijer gift cards would be great to stock up a little.

-The doctors let us know that we will have lots of follow-up appointments in Grand Rapids the first few months, just to go down to GR is a tank of gas which really adds up, so gas gift cards would really help.
Or if you want to help us with gas with out giving us a gift card, right now BP is doing a promotion until March that if you fill up over 8 gallons and take you receipt in after filling up you can receive a scratch card code. Once we collect 5 codes we can get a $10 BP gift card. The more codes we get the more gift cards we can receive for free!

Life will be crazy in January and all these things will add up for us but who ever can help will be such a blessing for us. Feel free to e-mail me if you have an questions, [email protected]

Note to self: God is in control

Posted on by Lauren

Last week we were reminded of how much God is in control, even in all the little things. On Tuesday we had an appointment with Spectrum to see the NICU and talk with the Neonatologist.
We knew something was wrong with our car because of all the noise it was making, but we prayed and hope it would be alright. Well right outside of Grand Rapids the noise was getting worse and the car started shaking. Dave pulled off the road and checked the tire (which he could easily shake back and forth). He knew that our wheel baring was bad and if we were going to get home we had to have it fixed. Dave drove on the sholder up a mile to the next exit while I was looking on his Iphone for a mechanic near by, but the ones we were finding were to far away for the car to make.
(Here is where God does his cool stuff…) Once we pull off the exit there is a mechanic, and they can fix our car that day! And someone from the shop was heading down to Grand Rapids and could give us a ride to the hospital! (Good timing) Not exactly how we wanted to get there but hey it works.

We met with the social worker at the hospital, who was so helpful to us. She was able to answer so many questions and put my mind at ease about all the little things we (mostly I) was worried about. We also met with one of the Neonatologist who would be caring for this guy when he gets here, again he was great and able to answer more questions and explain a lot of what would happen once he is here. We toured the NICU, and found out we can have 4 visitors at a time, which is great for those who want to meet this guy right away.

Once we were done with our appointment we were planning on having dinner with Emily and Nate and Leigh and Andy, a couple of families whose boys have Spina Bifida. So thankfully Emily was able to pick us up, and make us a wonderful dinner (which I think I need to start making because Dave really enjoyed it) and then her husband Nate was able to drive us back to our car, which was now fixed. We were so thankful for their help and hospitality.

On our way home we were talking about how God’s timing was in our whole day. Everything worked out, not the way we would have wanted but we know it was God telling us that he is in control and everything does not go the way we want it to, but the way He wants it and that “…all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Roman 8:28)

Today we got the results from the amnio, and surprise his chromosomes are normal.

He loves his sunglasses, even at night

  
Also today Atreyu was really cute, I love that he can make me smile when I have been up since 4am because I can’t sleep. He is getting so good at walking. I can’t believe he will be 1 next week and in 4 weeks his brother will more than likely be here!

January 4th!

Posted on by Lauren
Profile of the face at 31 weeks

We had another u/s today. The baby looks good and we got some good pictures. We got a good look at his face, it was pretty amazing. We were even able to see his hair!

Part of the spine,
 the knob on the left is the
open part of the spine.

We had the amnio today also. It’s not that I am against them, it just seemed that we didn’t need one, so why go through with the procedure? We ended up doing it, and of course this active little guy didn’t want it either and kept moving around. So it was like getting 3 amnios (it’s not so fun being a pin cushion), and we still didn’t get quite enough fluid, so the results will take longer. The Doctor let me know if I happen to deliver now he might have a few nicks on him! It is just getting ridiculous, I am just glad it is over. Since everything looks fine I don’t have to have anymore appointments with him until the C-section.

I finally was able to ask my questions. Mainly when were we expecting to deliver this guy? He was like “oh didn’t we tell you that you are scheduled Jan 4th?” uh no thanks for keeping me on the same page. So it looks like we are heading to Grand Rapids on January 3rd to see if his lungs are developed and if they are we will have the C-section on the 4th.

On Tuesday (Nov 30th) we drive down to Grand Rapids to talk with the Surgeon, Neonatologist and Social Worker. It will be nice to have a better idea of what is going on in less than 6 weeks!