The Past 3 Months

Its hard for me to believe that Noah was 3 months old as of last Saturday. I never really believed the saying "they grow up fast"...but now I most certainly do! The past three months has needless to say been an adventure.

First, the arrival was Noah we thought was NEVER going to come...since I was a week over due. Every trip to the doctor I couldn't wait for the news that I was "making progress"...well too bad I never got that news! At my last doctors visit on Monday, Jauary 18th we scheduled my C-section for Saturday, January 23rd! Whoo-hoo! We knew when we were going to FINALLY see this little guy!

So, C-section was on the schedule for 9:30...we had to arrive at the hospital 2 hours early, so 7:30 we were there....along with my mom and dad (who actually beat us there) followed by Eric's mom and dad...and some other family. Big ordeal here people..first grandchild/great grandchild is about to be born! Turns out the hospital was short staffed, so my surgery was post- poned. I was pretty calm throughout all the prepping that they had to do to me(minus the IV in the hand...that hurt pretty freaking bad). They wheel me back to the "C-section" room and make Eric wait outside while they give me the spinal....then the nerves kick in. As they roll me in it's FREEZING, for one thing...and all I see are nurses counting out all their surgical tools. Cool. Then nurse that's going to do my spinal comes in, and it actually didn't hurt one bit. But it was a very weird feeling. Being able to feel pressure, but not actually "feel" stuff is just odd. So..to make a LONG story short, Noah James Molyneaux was born at 10:28 weighing in at 8 pounds 8 ounces and 21 and 1/2 inches long! Since I got sick while they were patching me back up I didn't get to see him right away. I was in my room for "recovery" for about an hour...then I finally got to hold my sweet little boy.

Noah was born with what they call bilateral club feet.(Clubfoot is a congenital deformity of the foot that occurs in about 150,000-200,000 babies each year worldwide. Clubfoot results from the abnormal development of the muscles, tendons, and bones in the foot while the fetus is forming during pregnancy. While researchers have been unable to pinppoint the exact cause of clubfoot, both genetic and environmental factors are thought to play a role.) Knowing nothing about this...Eric and I just took things in stride. The pediatrician told us that an orthopedic doctor would be in the next day to take a look at him. Next day, we meet the doctor and he explains everything to us...that Noah would have to have casts put on his feet, but he would be as good as new! Wait..I'm sorry...casts on my child's feet? OK??? So, poor Noah got plaster casts on his feet that came up to his knee and circumcised all in the same day :( My mom immediately got on the Internet and started researching club feet and how its treated. We had to go weekly to an orthopedic doctor to get his cast changed. Not only did we have to do that, but we had to soak them off the night before...not fun for anyone involved. He had about 3 weeks of half casts (up to his knees) then they started with full casts (all the way up to his diaper). To make an even longer story short...when Noah was 8 weeks, we ended up switching doctors and going to see Dr. Frick and CMC Levine Children's Hospital. Basically we started all over again with the castings, because the doctor in Statesville didn't exactly know the "treatment process". Dr. Frick actually studied the "Ponsetti Method"(http://www.ponseti.info/v1/) of correction for club foot. He is an AMAZING doctor and great with Noah. I can't praise him enough.

On Monday, Noah had a procedure done called an "Achilles tendon release" which..sounds and looks a lot more horrific than it actually was. It was done in his office, with Eric and I sitting right there. I won't even go into the description of what how it was done. Bascially with his club foot, it made his achilles tendon really tight, to the point where he couldn't stretch it... they do this procedure to stretch it out, so he wouldn't get what they call "rocker bottom foot". So...May 10th, Noah will be totally DONE with casts!!! Yippee!! Then he will have to wear the "Dennis Brown Bar" for 3 months 23-7 (he can have them off for an hour for a bath) and then 3 years of just at night.

Trying to sum up the last 3 months was harder than I thought, but I actually could have been a lot more detailed with some things.

I started back to work on March 23rd and Cindy (Eric's mom) has been keeping him. We are very thankful and lucky to have her and my mom to lean on for babysitting. It saves a lot of money when your child doesn't have to go to daycare. Not to mention all the sickness that goes around.

Life is good :) Not to say it hasn't been challening, but we are blessed to be a family now!