Friday, August 30, 2013

Plagiocephaly

Sharing all of your personal life for someone to read is sometimes hard. I’ve always been open about our infertility journey. I knew at times that people wouldn’t agree to what we were doing, or even how I viewed things. Although most of our feedback was positive thoughts, prayers & support, we did receive somenegative comments along the way. For the most part, I was always able to look past the negative. However those comments were about ME…it’s easy to look beyond and ignore harsh statements when they are about you. But what if they are about your baby?

That’s where I am now. I’ve gone back and forth about sharing this information,should I or should I not? What if people talk about him or make rude comments…I can handle someone talking about me, but I don’t think I will be able to if someone talks about my child. (honestly I don’t think anyone will, but I do know from experience there are very opinionated people out there, and when you put your information out there for the world to read you have to accept that not everyone will agree with your choices…again, we’ve always received so much love from everyone with very little negative feedback-but we know it ‘could’ happen…and that’s where I, as any parent, just want to protect my child from any harm.)

So with that said—

Miles has Plagiocephaly. There are three types of Plagiocephaly-Miles’s has the brachycephaly type, where the back of his head is flat and he’ll most likely have to wear a ‘band’ (which is a baby helmet). Miles had a small flat spot when he was born due to how he was sitting in the womb, which gradually got worse while he slept through the night (he wouldn’t sleep on his side or with his head turned-he loves sleeping with his face straight up and hands behind his head)….we didn’t notice just how bad the flatness was until he started losing his hair.



A baby’s skull is so soft and malleable until the sutures fuse around two years of age. For this reason, any external forces, whether during the pregnancy or in the infant’s daily life, can contribute to the head shape. The good news is that the shape can be redirected into a normal head shape using a Band. If untreated he could have a flatter head than normal, he could be at a great risk for ear infections and this could affect his vision later on down the road.

When I heard that he will most likely have to wear a band I cried…a lot!! It took me a couple days to realize MY BABY IS FINE. This does NOT affect his brain by any means. When someone tells you something about your child it’s devastating…and of course the first thing I could think of was his brain and his life. I wasn’t very educated on Plagiocephaly and what all it entailed. I knew the importance of tummy time and rotating your baby, but never knew the details or even thought about the possibility of having Plagiocephaly. This was never mentioned to us, and honestly in the baby books (all the baby books) I’ve read there wasn’t a big topic on it. I’ve carried a lot of guilt; I’ve always put Miles on his stomach supervised for tummy time even though he hates every minute of it, but did I do it enough? Should I have rotated him more than I did? Was this something I could have prevented or fixed? It took a lot of convincing from his doctor and a lot of researching for me to realize I could nothave prevented this—and even though I know in my heart this is NOT ‘our fault’ I am still for some reason carrying guilt. This is just the shape his skull wanted to grow—would it be as bad as it is if SIDS didn’t recommend back sleeping, probably not, but when you look at the bigger picture I CAN fix his head, I can’t bring him back to life. Would I change anything…NO!

One of the hardest parts of all of this was accepting that we as parents didn’t do anything wrong, that he IS ok, and that unfortunately there are going to be opinionated judgmental people out there who will stare and will make comments(although he is just a baby and I don’t understand how anyone could—we are aware this could happen). This band willnot hurt him, yes there is a small percentage of babies with bands that have reactions or get a rash from it, but it’s nothing serious-- most babies don’t even know they have it on…and there is a chance he might NOT have to have it at all—however we are fairly certain he will.

We will go to see a specialist at Cranial Technologies soon to get him scanned and to access the severity of his skull—they will let us know if he has to even have a band or if this will fix on it’s on with time—if he does which type of band will he have and how long will he have to wear it for. 

We are beyond grateful nothing is ‘seriously’ wrong with our son, this is fixable. But any kind of bump in the path is hard—especially when you are uneducated-the unknown can be scary! But just like anything else we have gone through-we will get through this. We have a perfectly healthy baby boy who willpossibly be rockin’ an adorable little band soon. :)

Monday, August 26, 2013

Worry

 

I remember when I was trying to conceive, I worried about every little thing. Would the shots hurt? Would the meds work? What if this doesn’t work? Will I always be the ‘infertile friend’? Will my husband be disappointed in me if I can never conceive? How much money is all of this going to cost? The worrying never stopped….I told myself if and when I would get pregnant I wouldn’t be one of ‘those pregnant woman’ who worried the whole time. WRONG! There’s no way to stop it, and esp. after you’ve had a miscarriage.

stress-worry-woman-text-white-23159798

Once I was pregnant I worried about spotting, I worried and prayed every time I used the restroom (yes I was that girl sitting on the toilet in pure fear…), Would I make it past the point when we had our 1st miscarriage? Would I make it past the first trimester? second and third….? Is he healthy? He kicked me funny? Is he ok? He hasn’t kicked me enough today? Will my blood pressure spike to high? What if he’s born to early? Am I being still enough on bed rest? The worrying doesn’t end…

Surely when you have the child it ends right?!

NOPE!! Not at all…in fact I think it gets worse! I think the whole first week of his life I just stared at him all night, yes a lot of it was in awe that after 7 years HE WAS HERE, but I was so scared that if I turned my head or blinked he would spit up, what if he stopped breathing, what if he coo’ed wrong, was that a cough I heard? He’s had the hiccups too long, was that a sneeze I heard? Is he eating enough? Is he eating to much? Am I being the best mom I can be? Does his poop look ok (yes again I’m that woman who always wants to know what her sons poop looks like…don’t judge!).

I could go on and on…the worrying doesn’t end. It’s a blessed feeling to be able to worry about the things I DO get to worry about NOW. But let me just say I understand why women age faster then men. I understand how children can make you have more gray hairs than you had before. I’ve just accepted the fact that I will worry about my family till the day the good Lord calls me home. That’s what mommy’s do right?  :)

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Good Morning

What keeps your going when your baby pulls an all nighter? What do you start your day off with? 

Me...an advocare spark (and coffee comes later...yes I do both-don't judge me). :)

What about you? 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

hobby

IMG_6560

Welcome to my new hobby :)

IMG_6574

Zach got me my cannon camera last December, and I love taking pictures and editing them. I would love one day to be good enough to possibly start a little side job. I ‘m no where near that yet-but it’s nice to have goals—and I hobby that’s this fun. 

IMG_6610

IMG_6615

IMG_6619

IMG_6632

IMG_6646

IMG_6652

IMG_6657

IMG_6668

Sorry for the picture overload, I couldn’t just pick one to post…I had too many favorites this time :)

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

4 months old

IMG_6694

Yesterday marked 4 months that we have been so blessed to be able to be this little boys mommy & daddy! It seems to be going by too quickly. I love watching how he changes daily though. His little personality is really starting to bloom. His laugh is so contagious, and his smile melts our hearts.  Here is a couple of his 4 month stats…

He weighs: 18lb (yes he’s a big boy!!)

His length: 24.5inches long

He eats: 6oz every 3-4 hours, and we will be adding cereal to the mix soon.

He loves: to smile, laugh, bath time, he adores Mickey Mouse, sitting up, being outside, he loves to talk and he loves to stand up!

He isn’t a fan of: tummy time-but is improving since being at daycare.

Whats been happening this month: He’s been eating his hands like crazy, loves his hands period! :) , he started actually laughing and he’s doing this more and more, he’s interacting with our pets, he can hold his teether by himself and place it in his mouth, his hair is falling out like crazy and it looks like he will be a bald baby-esp. on the top of his head before long, he can pull his binky out of his mouth but hasn’t figured out how to get it back in, he is almost to the point where he can hold his own bottle. We pulled out his Johnny Jumper and he loves it!

IMG_6718 

IMG_6700

IMG_6739

HAPPY 4 MONTHS LITTLE LOVE BUG! We love you more than you will ever know!

Friday, August 16, 2013

SYDNEY-Bumps Along The Way


MEET SYDNEY

www.southernnewlywed22.blogspot.com


Sydney sent me an email asking if I would share my story. This was my first time writing my Success Story for someone, so blessed to be able to share it with everyone. There were times I wondered if I would be able to write this, GOD IS GREAT!!!


Here a little teaser from Sydney herself:

"Hey new friends!! Your gal Tiffany is guest posting over on my part of blog land today at www.southernnewlywed22.blogspot.com . I was born and raised in the South and enjoy the simple things in life and never take anything for granted. I am all about my family, sweet tea (in a Mason jar), and adventure. On my Blog, I talk about daily life and the bumps that go along with it, my journey with infertility and the loss of our miracle baby, and a few recipes thrown into the mix. I would love to have y'all stop by and say hello!"

Head over to her blog to read MY story, check out HER story and all the amazing recipes she post as well as her other post! Such a FUN BLOG

Friday, August 9, 2013

Why not?

Coffee in the afternoon in a Christmas Mug? Why not?! Yes I broke my own rules by using anything holiday related before 'its time'...but it's the first mug I could grab! My little boy is teething (yes I thought its too early as well-but I have an almost 4 month old boy who decided he's ready for some teethies!!) I've told him to slow down but he doesn't quite listen-we just switched to size 3 diapers also after peeing through his size 2...I held out as long as I could but decided after getting peed on 4 times today it's time!! 

So-it's been a 'need coffee all day' kinda day for me! Who cares if its in a Christmas mug? 

Just keeping it real :)

Friday, August 2, 2013

Memory

I find the remote, my phone and so many other misc. items in the fridge that do not belong there. If you asked me something I said five minutes ago I honestly wouldn’t remember. I often walk into the laundry room to find that I left the washer lid up and my clothes are just sitting in water. I misplace things like crazy. I walk into the other room and stand there because I don’t know why I went in there….I often walk in circles wondering what on earth I’m trying to accomplish. WHERE DID MY MEMORY GO?

How is it when you have a child it just disappears? I can remember everything I need to regarding him, but don’t tell me to remind you of something…I won’t remember.

I went to the grocery store with my father in law the other day—as we were walking in he said ‘remind me to get…’. Oh boy is he relying on the wrong person! As we were wrapping up our shopping and heading to the checkout I did have a sense that I was forgetting something….I asked him ‘was I supposed to remind you of something’ (I’M SURPRISED I REMEMBERED THAT MUCH)…I couldn’t remember for the life of me what exactly I was supposed to remind him though.

I can officially say ‘I’VE LOST MY MIND’ …. I thought pregnancy brain was bad…when you have a child it gets much much worse. Say goodbye to memory and hello to postie notes (that’s the only way I remember).




The Pifer Family
<div class="grab-button" margin: 0 auto;"> <a href="http://thepiferfamily.blogspot.com/" rel="nofollow"> <img src="http://i909.photobucket.com/albums/ac293/munchkin_land_designs/PiferFamiliy/PiferFamilyNewButton1.png" alt="The Pifer Family"> </a> </div>

Designed by:

Munchkin Land Designs
 
Designed by Munchkin Land Designs • Copyright 2013 • All Rights Reserved