bethysmalls

Felix is currently recovering nicely from surgery. This was his second and focused on his right hand and right foot, specifically fingers 2, 3 & 4 and toes 1 and 3.  Wee baby Felix chose the week preceding to figure out forward motion and has continued since his operation using his new full arm cast as a sort of peg leg. Already, we have taken a trip to CHOP’s Emergency Department to have his cast replaced once just 3 days after it was put on. He just wriggled right out of it.

Remember when your baby started becoming impossible to control/keep on his back during diaper changes? And when he suddenly couldn’t bear to have you leave his immediate vicinity? And when it became intolerable for him to be confined to any sort of seat for longer than 5 minutes? Felix has reached all of these phases since coming home from the hospital. And as I mentioned before, he has a new accessory which makes all of that just a little more nerve wracking.

When Bruno was a baby, he was in the, “Don’t leave my side!” phase almost immediately so I guess I should be thankful that Felix made it 9 months before separation anxiety set in.

I had to work on Saturday which I was initially dreading but when I got there and was BY. MY. SELF… I was secretly exhilarated. I go back again tomorrow and for the first time I’m looking forward to it. I love you, Felix, but I won’t miss you punching me in the head with your cast tomorrow.

Every once in a while, in an attempt to better understand what happened to Felix, I google his situation. “Amniotic bands and cleft” I typed in a couple of nights ago. I came across an article I hadn’t read before on widesmiles.org.

“Constriction Band Syndrome is, in fact, the result of a pre-birth accident. It happens when, for some reason or another, there is a rupture in the amniotic sac during pregnancy. The Amniotic sac then falls away. Most often, under those circumstances, the fetus will spontaneously abort and the pregnancy ends in miscarriage. However, there are cases in which, against all odds, the fetus continues to develop without the protection of the amniotic sac.“

I had always known we were lucky. His injuries, for lack of a better word, are not that severe. He will likely have almost unrestricted use of his hands and his lip is looking better every day. But until I read that, it never really hit me how lucky we are that Felix is with us. “…against all odds,” it says. The whole pregnancy was an odds breaker, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but I was. None of the many, many, many (many,many!) doctors I spoke to in the few days after Felix was born mentioned it to me, that Felix is an uber-miracle. Almost 8 months later, I’m finally fully aware of how insanely amazing he is. And I already thought he was pretty insanely amazing.

The best part about this discovery is that, for the first time since my 20 week ultrasound, I’m not angry about what happened. And I don’t feel sorry for Felix or for myself. Overwhelming gratitude and awe.

On my way upstairs to take a very sleepy and cranky baby to bed, I bumped into a picture frame that has been hanging in the same spot for at least a couple of years. Because I am a both very graceful and a brilliant decorator, this is not the first time I’ve bumped into this picture frame. It is however the first time it fell off the wall, down the steps leaving a trail of broken glass and tiny shards.

Because my 3 year old is smart and understands simple instructions I said to him, “Don’t go near the steps, please. Stay where you are.” I thought about adding, “If you need to pee, just go.” but decided not to put ideas in his head. He said, “Okay.” So I proceeded to change the baby’s diaper and prepare him for a nap. And then I hear my 3 year old say, “I’m bringing this up.” He was on the steps holding the empty frame and standing right next to two big pieces of glass. I kinda freaked and shouted, “I told you not to go near the steps!” To which he responded by screaming and STOMPING HIS FEET ON THE STEPS.

I put the baby in the crib and came downstairs to find that, miraculously, his feet were not shredded to bits but had one tiny scratch. By the time I got back upstairs, baby was… unhappy. The boy was sitting on the couch with more, shall we say, firm instructions to NOT MOVE, and I was able to finish putting the baby to bed and clean up the steps.

Hopeful that that is the most exciting 15 minutes of my day.

Updated: 2/25

Sandra Fluke testimony

Elizabeth Banks blog post

Sarah Fister Gale -Rh

Anatomy of an Unsafe Abortion

I’ll update as I come across more reasons that Rick Santorum has no idea what he’s talking about. Surely Catholics/Christians don’t want babies to die, desperate women to bleed out or illnesses to go untreated resulting in severe health complications. I think leave women’s health to women and their doctors, Senator. You’re laughably unqualified to even have an opinion.

I left Felix’s room last night at 6:25 and he hadn’t even made a peep yet when I went to check on him at 6:50 this morning.
Bruno left the dinner table at 7:25 and said he was sleepy. He was down for the night at 7:45. He didn’t wake up until he had to pee at 6:45.

What’s happening? Should I be scared? Should I take them to the doctor?

These are the cupcakes I made for him to take to school. They are Pumba, just in case my incredible cake decorating abilities are blinding you.

Happy birthday to my (baby) boy.

From,
bethysmalls

xoxo

He’s singing, “animals, animals, animals are scary.”
The book he’s reading? Everyone Poops.

I took this picture to send to the surgical nurse. I wanted her to look at his seam for me. Everything is fine. And now this is one of my favorite photos of him.