Alexis's Heart

Last week was a whirlwind like I have never experienced before. Actually, it started last Friday. Last Friday, May 31, Jason and I went to the doctor to have the second ultrasound done on baby girl (Alexis). We had to go back because the ultrasound technician was unable to get a good picture of her spine the first time around. They were running ahead of schedule so I was called back before Jason was even there. A different technician than the time before (but who I have seen several times during my two pregnancies) started the ultrasound and was telling me what we were looking at as we went along. She said Alexis's head was the right size, she was still a girl, etc. But then, she started taking a lot of pictures of her heart. I couldn't remember what was normal, but she got very quiet while doing it. All of a sudden she flips the lights in and says, "I need to take this picture to the doctor, then I am going to take you to MFM." I was very confused and asked what MFM was. She said, "It is just over there. I will be right back." And off she went. Jason walked in the room while she was still talking to the doctor so I quickly updated him on what little information I had. She came back in the room and said, "Are you ready to walk across the hall to MFM?" So I wiped all the ultrasound gel off my belly and off we went. Apparently MFM stands for Maternal Fetal Monitoring... She walked us into an office and told the woman at the desk, "This patient needs an appointment first thing Monday morning for a heart anatomy scan." and she walked out of the room. The receptionist set us up with an appointment for 8am on Monday and said, "see you then!" Both Jason and I were so confused about what was going on because nobody had told us anything! We then asked the receptionist what was going on. She was surprised that the tech hadn't told us anything but said, "If nobody told you anything then it is probably not a big deal. If it was a big deal I think she would have mentioned something. It is probably just a small thing she found that she wants us to take a closer look at. I wouldn't worry about it." Then she sent us on our way. We were in complete shock as we walked back to our cars and we didn't even know what to think! Not only that, but we had the whole weekend to speculate and try to figure out what might possibly be wrong. I refused to do any research because I didn't want to freak myself out unnecessarily, but Jason decided to look up a few things. Monday morning, after a tough weekend, we were back at MFM for the ultrasound. After about 40 minutes, 10 of those focused on the heart alone, the ultrasound technician said she was going to take the pictures to the doctor and he would be in to talk to us in a few minutes. When Dr. Rayburn came in, he introduced himself and asked the technician to show us the picture that had her the most concerned. What she pulled up was a picture of Baby Alexis' heart, showing the 4 chambers. Dr. Rayburn explained that the left side of her heart, the side that pumps blood to the body, was underdeveloped. He didn't give us a name for the condition although he said he would be willing to speculate if we wanted him to. He then said he wanted us to go see a cardiologist because they have better machines and can take better pictures of the baby's heart. He also mentioned that there was a possibility we would need to deliver her out of state, but that was not necessarily a requirement. He kept reiterating that the next step was to see the cardiologist. Jason said, "Can you please give us a real-deal assessment of this? It is a big deal, isn't it? Since it is the side of the heart that pumps blood to the body..." and Dr. Rayburn said, "Yes, this is very serious. It is not the most underdeveloped I have ever seen, but it is still significant." So, the technician took us to the receptionist and has us schedule an appointment with another of the doctors at MFM, an appointment with a genetic counselor, and then to another person to schedule an appointment with the cardiologist at a different hospital. That appointment wasn't able to be made at that moment, but she said she would call me once she had something set up. Jason and I walked out of there in complete shock. We didn't know what to say or to do, other than to cry and pray while hugging in the parking lot. We eventually had to go our separate ways, Jason to work and me to pick up Levi. We both made a lot of tearful phone calls while still in the parking lot and were basically devastated. I didn't even know what the condition might be called or if there were surgeries that could be done to help fix it. I just knew that my little girl was very sick and would require either a miracle or immediate help once she was born. Over the next few days we cried, prayed, and talked to all of our family members. We also started to research. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) the only condition that ever came up when we typed in "underdeveloped left side of the heart" was Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. We started to look into HLHS much more and realized it was a VERY SERIOUS condition that will kill the baby if not addressed immediately after birth. We could not be 100% sure that this was her diagnosis until we went back to the cardiologist on Thursday, but we were becoming more and more convinced that had to be it. We were hoping for another diagnosis but wanted to be prepared if that was, in fact, her diagnosis. Thursday morning came and after an echocardiogram that took about 45 minutes, the doctor confirmed she has HLHS. He then took us to a conference room on the other side of where we were, and told us to get comfortable while he went and made a few copies for us. He explained to us the surgical procedures Alexis would go through and how things would progress once she was born. He said HLHS is not treated in any hospitals in New Mexico, so normally patients are sent to Denver. He said we could basically choose where we wanted to go, if we had any family in other big cities. We told him we would look into it and see what we thought. He told us as soon as she is born she will have to go on a medication to keep a valve open that normally closes once babies are born (within a few hours or days it is completely closed). This valve allows the oxygenated blood and the deoxygenated blood to mix in the heart, sending a diluted mixture to the body and to the lungs. Once the valve closes, the left side would be responsible for sending the oxygenated blood to the body and her's would not be strong enough to perform that function. A few days after she is born, she will have to have surgery that allowed the blood to continue mixing in her heart, and the right side of her heart would send the blood to her lungs and the rest of her body. This is an open heart surgery and she will have to be hospitalized for at least two weeks, probably more, provided God doesn't heal her before then. Between 2-6 months of age, she will have to have another surgery that allows the blood from her upper body to go straight to her lungs, rather than mixing in her heart first. At 2-3 years old, she will have the third surgery that does the same thing for the blood from her lower body. They basically have to rewire the heart so the right side pumps all of the oxygenated blood to the body, and the deoxygenated blood bypasses the heart completely to go straight to the lungs to get oxygen. Once we knew here diagnosis, we were devastated, because we knew that this was one of the very worst congenital heart defects a child could be born with. There is only a 75% chance she will live until her second surgery, and even then she is not out of the woods. We are also encouraged because we know God already has His hand on her, and He is going to do great things with her life. He allowed us to detect her defect before she was born (if she had cooperated with the first ultrasound, we never would have found it because the first technician didn't notice anything wrong) and he has given us a ton of people who are praying for us and supporting us. We are praying for healing. We believe God will work a miracle in this situation, either through healing her before she is even born, or through the doctors and surgeons after she is born. We have a lot of hard decisions to make now, but I will leave that for another time. I plan to write regularly to make sure everyone stays updated on her condition. I don't know what the next step is, specifically, but I will just keep praying that God shows us what to do and where to go from here. I am confident He will do that for us! Thank you for the prayers. Until next time...

Big Brother

Yep, that's right, Levi is going to be a big brother! He should have a little sibling in the middle of September, or so. At first I was a little frustrated about the timing, but then I realized it was the perfect excuse to take a year off from teaching to focus on my family and my Premier Designs business. I knew when I started Premier that I wanted to eventually try it out as my only income, and I am confident that I will be able to replace my teaching income with it once I do a few more home shows per month! Also, I can take a little time off with that and not have to worry about clearing it with anyone or having a schedule for coming back to work, I just decide when I want to start having shows again and work from home in the meantime. We are really looking forward to our newest little addition and can't wait to find out if Levi will have a little brother or a little sister. I'm thinking sister at this point because I have been so much sicker and had so many more symptoms than when I was pregnant with Levi, but I know every pregnancy is different, regardless of the sex of the baby. We would be happy with either a boy or a girl!

Potty Training

So, we have taken the GIANT leap into potty training. Here's how that happened... A colleague of mine has a little boy exactly 1 week younger than Levi. She said she was going to attempt the 3-day potty training method based on a book her friend had emailed her. I asked to see the book and really liked what it said. Until I tried it. Holy guacamole it was difficult! The woman claims that 22 months old is the perfect age for potty training because they are old enough to communicate need but not old enough to have developed any bad habits. So, we went for it over spring break. I gave myself 5 days because I was skeptical. Yeah, it didn't work. Then, on top of it, we are still going to try to potty train him but daycare doesn't seem to be taking it very seriously. The first day I picked him up he was in a pull-up. The second day he was in a diaper! How am I supposed to instill that he needs to tell us when he has to go if he is wearing a diaper that soaks up everything that might indicate to him that he has to go?!?! So, Jason had a serious talk with daycare today about how we really want to see how he does at daycare for a few days to decide whether he is truly not ready or if he just needs a ton of consistency. We will see how it went when I pick him up today!! He is hilarious because he definitely prefers standing to sitting (such a boy!) and he does NOT want to stop playing to do something silly like go to the bathroom. Sigh. In other news, we have purchased a 5th wheel camper! We got a truck a few months ago in the hopes that we would eventually be able to get a camper. I told Jason that I didn't forsee going to the lake with a toddler while sleeping in a tent. It just wasn't going to happen. So, we scoured Craigslist and found one we just couldn't pass up. It should be delivered to our house tomorrow if all goes according to plan! Yay! Ok, that is most of the news for now. I will write another post here shortly with some more exciting news, but I didn't want to cram everything into one post. Until then!

Catching up

So much for me getting better at posting, huh? Things have been crazy at work since it is time for report cards and parent/teacher conferences. Also, my Premier business is starting to pick up again, which doesn't leave much time for other things. We have managed to have some family time the last few weekends, but that might be a circumstance that is hard to come by in the next few weeks because of my crazy hectic schedule. Let's just say that I'm really looking forward to spring break! But let's be fair, what teacher isn't? Levi has been sick recently, too, on top of everything else. He had croup last weekend and then got a cold, which he is finally getting over. His sleep patterns seem to be back to normal, which is nice, too. Other than that we have just been plugging along! I have taken a more active role in leadership with Premier in our area, which has been fun but tiring. I have qualified for the leadership trip that will take place this summer at Disney World, but we haven't decided if we are going to go or not. Levi is still so young that he probably won't remember anything or really enjoy it, for that matter. But on the other hand why would we turn down a ridiculously discounted vacation to Disney World no matter how old Levi is? Like I said, we haven't decided yet. Jason is training to become a member of the volunteer fire department in the little town we live in. My dad is already trained and my brother is becoming trained in the same class Jason is in. Small towns are fun! I'm not exactly looking forward to the calls that will start coming in the middle of the night, but I suppose I will have to get used to it! I know he is anxious to actually get started, so I'm excited for him. Ok, I just got home from training and I'm exhausted, so time to go to bed. I wish you a wonderful night and a blessed day tomorrow.

Back on the saddle

So, it's been quite a while now since I have done this. I got out of the habit because school consumed my life for a while. But, hopefully I can get back at it because it is semi-therapeutic to write thoughts down. So, here goes: Work is stressful. Nobody tells you about this part of being a teacher when you are in college. Many parents expect you to "fix" their child's behavior while you are with him/her during the 6.5 hours they are at school, regardless of what their lives are like the other 17.5 hours of the day. The world revolves around you when you are in second grade, too, by the way, especially when you are an only child. 12 of my 19 students are only children, or have siblings so much older or so much younger that they might as well be only children. Talk about an interesting dynamic! I'm not sure that I could do this for much longer if I didn't know that the end was coming. Starting in May, I will be taking some time off from working as a teacher to stay home with Levi and just be mommy for a while. I simply cannot believe that my child is 20 months old. He amazes me. He can count to 10 and sings many songs. His vocabulary is astounding and he learns new words every day. He is bossy, funny, and loving. I enjoy every day I get to spend with him, although he can sometimes be clingy, grumpy, and fussy. Most days, only mom will do. I love those days and loathe those days. He is the light of my life, but it is exhausting not being able to get anything done. I guess I should get used to it, though, since I'll be a full-time mom starting in May! My Premier Jewelry business is going so well that I am going to get to take some time off of teaching to just be mom for a while, at least a few months. Thankfully I have an amazing family who all are supportive of this decision and know that we will make it work. (Plus, my mom is my best customer and she would be heart-broken if I didn't sell Premier anymore!) I love getting to build relationships and serve women, eat goodies and play in jewelry, and make a full-time income just working part-time hours! Thank you, God, for bringing Premier into my life! Not only for the income, but for the awesome friends I have made through it and will continue to make. So I know that wasn't anything super exciting or mind-blowing, but I am trying to ease my way back into this. Wish me luck!

Long over-due update

So, I know it has been way too long since I have updated. Hopefully I can remember everything that has happened... The end of our summer was uneventful. Jason and I went to Dallas in the middle of July for the Premier national rally. It was a weekend away for just the two of us, although there was no time to do any sight-seeing because of the jam-packed schedule the Rally had. We went to a super fancy dinner, called the Red Dress Gala, and had a blast! We got to get all dressed up and go to the fanciest party I have ever seen, much less been to. There was a live band and tons of dancing. So much fun!

After we got back there were 2 weeks before I had to go back to work to get my classroom ready. Levi and I hung out while Jason was at work, and we went to the mountains a couple of times. School started in mid-August and I've had a pretty rough start. All of my students seem really young, except for a handfull, and I'm having a hard time getting them to conform to the class expectations and the school rules. As hard as it is for me to admit, I don't enjoy teaching this year at all. I'm actually counting down the days until May for when I know I will be able to take a year off. Because my Premier business is going so well I will be able to replace my income for that year, then reevaluate what is going on in our lives and make a plan for whether or not I can permanently resign my teaching position or if I will have to go back. This year is going to be busy to make sure that I can keep the Premier business going while I still teach. It's not easy but Jason is on board and we will make it work! Levi started walking the Friday before school started. It is so cute but he is definitely not my baby anymore. He is also talking up a storm. His most recent development is telling us what comes next when we sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "empty" when he dumps out a cup in the bath. He seems so smart (said every parent ever) and we truly enjoy watching him grow and develop. He loves being outside more than anywhere else in the world and often has fits if we don't take him outside the moment he wants to go. He has 10 teeth now, including 2 top molars, and is currently sick with a cold. He is a pretty good sleeper, although we are still working on getting rid of that morning nap. He still uses a pacifier but we are starting the transition to some other kind of "lovey" to replace it. He now sleeps with two stuffed animals and we are hoping that he attaches to one so when we take the paci away it isn't so traumatic for him. We shall see! Jordan, my nephew, started kindergarten in August and LOVES it. He is such a big boy and I can't believe he is already in school. He is such a smart boy and it's fun watching him in this new stage of his life. He is excited about having a new little sister although he admitted he really wanted a brother because he already has a sister, lol. Shelby doesn't quite understand that a new baby is coming, but she is growing and learning like crazy! She says Spanish words like "pinata" and "abuela" like a native speaker and it is so fun to hear her in her super squeaky voice. She has the curliest hair I have ever seen and she is Levi's favorite person in this whole world. It is going to be very interesting to see how they grow up together.

Lauren and Will's Wedding Ok, I think those are the major updates for now. My sister is due with baby Aubern Josephine Bassett on October 14, although she seems pretty sure she will be induced at least a little bit early. Praying for a healthy and easy delivery for her!

Lake Powell 2012

We just got back from a week at Lake Powell in Utah. We rented a houseboat and, including the kiddos, there were 18 people on this houseboat for a week. It was so much fun and I LOVE this vacation! Levi did so great while we were there, especially considering he was teething and had terrible diaper rash because of it. He is such a trooper! He really enjoyed playing in the water and even swam with me a few times. Most of the week was spent eating, playing games, and swimming. Talk about relaxing! I didn't think about school at all (gotta love summer!) and I only thought about Premier a little bit while I was in cell phone range. However, most of the week we were out or range and it was so nice to not worry about emails, phone calls, texts, etc. The hardest part of the vacation was not getting enough sleep because of the crazy heat. It was at least 100 degrees every day we were there. The lows were in the 70s. I love hot weather, except for when sleeping is involved. It was not miserable, though, and I'm so glad we went so that Levi could experience his parents' favorite vacation. Who knows when we will get to do it again, but this past week was definitely a good one!