Ben is in Port. St. Joe with his Nina this week enjoying some super awesome times with her each day and at her church's VBS each evening. Jeff and I have enjoyed the quiet around the house, but I have missed Ben something fierce. I don't think I had realized how much having him around to love on and to care for and entertain had kept me from getting in my own head too much.
Today has been rough for me. I have been on the phone quite a bit scheduling appointments to meet my doctors in Atlanta (an OB and a Maternal Fetal Medicine doc [MFM]) who will provide my care in Atlanta and deliver Madison when the time comes. I also scheduled an appointment for Jeff and I to see a pediatric neurosurgeon for the first time on that same day. This will be the doc that will perform Madi's initial surgery on the defect in her back after she is born and will also provide follow-up care throughout her childhood and adolescence. After he reviews my ultrasounds and reports for our MFM in Albany, we will learn from him more about what we can expect for Madison after she is born.
So we will spend all day, July 2nd, in ATL going to doctors appointments. I suppose this is a routine we might become accustomed to once we have little Madi to care for.
I also called the insurance company today because, of course, their website indicated that our ped. neurosurgeon was not covered under our policy. Thankfully, upon calling, I learned that he is, indeed, covered as an in-network provider, but I was stressing for a while on that one. I imagine that I will eventually build up a thick skin or some kind immunity to these anxieties...if you know me I am not much for being an anxious person...but those defenses are not yet in place.
All in all, I am ready for this day to be over and I am MORE than ready for my Ben Bear to be back home. He is my best medicine right now. :-)
Thursday, June 12, 2014
Thursday, June 05, 2014
it's a GIRL!! ...and other surprises
We found out several weeks ago that our little baby is a GIRL! Her name will be Virginia Madison (after her Greatmother and her Nina) and we will call her Madison or Madi. :-)
Ben really wants to have a little sister - he has been talking about it A LOT - so we are super thrilled that he is getting one! I can't believe that I will have to learn to deal with hair(!) and girl drama (which my sis-in-law tells me begins in infancy!). I bet Jeff is going to turn out to be the world's best pony tail maker or something crazy. :-) We are so thrilled to meet her sweet self in the fall - to count her fingers and toes, to see how much hair she is born with, what color her eye are, and all those other wonderful new baby things we get to experience again. She is going to rock our world, that is for sure!
On top of learning that Madi is, indeed, a Madi, we have also recently learned that she has Spina Bifida. This is a serious, incurable, but manageable condition. We were completely taken aback to receive this diagnosis for our girl, but we know that our God was not....and Madi won't be either. This birth defect and the toll that it may take on her body will be a part of her, but it will not define her.
So, while we have cried and grieved for the "normal" life we had expected for her and for our family since getting this diagnosis on May 22, we know that God has bigger plans for her (and for us) than we had ever imagined.
My pregnancy has been such a breeze thus far, and that has been a blessing. We ask that you pray for me and for Madi over the next several months - that my pregnancy continues smoothly and that we learn more and get as prepared as possible for little Madison's arrival. We're excited and nervous, like all expectant parents would be, with just a little extra anxiety of the unknown thrown in to the mix. But like I said before, Madison is going to be more (much more!) than her Spina Bifida and we cannot wait to see what all God has in store for her. :-)
Ben really wants to have a little sister - he has been talking about it A LOT - so we are super thrilled that he is getting one! I can't believe that I will have to learn to deal with hair(!) and girl drama (which my sis-in-law tells me begins in infancy!). I bet Jeff is going to turn out to be the world's best pony tail maker or something crazy. :-) We are so thrilled to meet her sweet self in the fall - to count her fingers and toes, to see how much hair she is born with, what color her eye are, and all those other wonderful new baby things we get to experience again. She is going to rock our world, that is for sure!
On top of learning that Madi is, indeed, a Madi, we have also recently learned that she has Spina Bifida. This is a serious, incurable, but manageable condition. We were completely taken aback to receive this diagnosis for our girl, but we know that our God was not....and Madi won't be either. This birth defect and the toll that it may take on her body will be a part of her, but it will not define her.
So, while we have cried and grieved for the "normal" life we had expected for her and for our family since getting this diagnosis on May 22, we know that God has bigger plans for her (and for us) than we had ever imagined.
My pregnancy has been such a breeze thus far, and that has been a blessing. We ask that you pray for me and for Madi over the next several months - that my pregnancy continues smoothly and that we learn more and get as prepared as possible for little Madison's arrival. We're excited and nervous, like all expectant parents would be, with just a little extra anxiety of the unknown thrown in to the mix. But like I said before, Madison is going to be more (much more!) than her Spina Bifida and we cannot wait to see what all God has in store for her. :-)
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