Baby Prepping

31 weeks down, hopefully only 8 more to go! I went crazy a couple weekends back nesting and such. I pulled out the baby swing, and had Lydia help me clean off all the dust. I'm glad she likes to help out and clean things. I also washed all the 0, 3 and 6 month clothing for Carter, we got a ton from family and all the white onsies that Lydia wore can totally be worn by a boy.

Side note: I learned a trick from a friend on how to get stains out of clothing. The secret: Oxiclean! I bought a huge tub at Costco, and I'm glad I did! You boil your clothes on the stove in water with a scoop of Oxiclean. I have an 8 qt stock pot, I fill that half with water and dissolve a scoop of Oxiclean (just to the 1 line on the scoop) and fill it with clothes, just to the point where they are all still covered in water. Turn the heat on, bring it to a boil, and stir around the clothes every once in a while. I let it go for about 15 minutes, then you pour all contents of the pot into the washer, with whatever else needs to be washed, and your normal detergent, and just run it as usual. All baby puke, blowouts and food stains are GONE!!! They looked like new!

We also went to Target while they had a buy one get one half off sale on their baby clothes. While we have tons of clothes for him already, most are hand-me-downs, so of course I wanted to buy some new outfits for him, too. And we were looking for specific kinds of outfits: ones that button up the legs, and pjs that aren't footie pajamas and preferably button up both legs. The reasoning for this specific wardrobe: the ultrasounds have shown that Carter has clubbed feet.

We went in at 20 weeks for our first ultrasound where they tell you the gender and measure and check what seems like every possible organ in your unborn baby's body. As they were scanning around and looking at his legs they noticed the feet didn't really line up straight with the legs, they were curved in a little bit. So they checked from different angles and had the Dr come in and check. But everything was showing crooked feet.

So they had us come back like 8 weeks later just to check again because it was still possible that he could just be positioned weird and they could straighten out by then. And I don't think they got a good look at his upper lip so they wanted to check that again for cleft lip. Well we go back in and they check his heart again and take some cute pictures of his profile for us. Then they check his feel. Sure enough, still looking clubbed. Here's some pictures:

Here's his cute chubby profile.

So this one above is of his left leg, from the knee to the ankle, and the bottom of the foot should be facing the left side of the picture but it's turned and facing the top of the picture.

This one above is of his right leg and it doesn't look as bad, but they said it was still turned in a little bit.

So being me, I went and looked up stuff about clubbed feet. It occurs in 1 in 1000 (yes that's only one thousand) births so it's fairly common. It happens twice as often in boys as it does girls. The cause is not entirely known, whether it is totally genetic or not, but there's some indications that it is slightly genetic; something I read said if you have one baby with clubbed feet you're more likely to have another with clubbed feet. It is fixed with rigorous casting and bracing starting around 2 weeks after birth; back in the day they performed hard core surgeries to fix it. But then some dude named Ponsetti came around and figured out a way to correct it with casting and bracing and minor surgeries to lengthen tendons only when necessary. And there's hardly any difference once all the treatments are done. Except for those who go on to be famous athletes like Mia Hamm, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Troy Aikman, all of whom were born with clubbed feet.

We go in for another ultrasound on Friday. The Dr told us most often clubbed feet is an isolated problem, but there can be other deformities along with it, so they just want to check to make sure his heart, head and femurs are growing normally. They all looked normal in the last ultrasound, they just want to check again.

After that initial ultrasound, emotions were running high. Imagine, a pregnant lady being told there is something wrong with the baby inside of her. While it's not a huge problem, it's still not the perfect baby with absolutely nothing wrong with it that you picture they will show you. (But he is definitely still perfect!) That is why I am so thankful for Mike, and he being a worthy priesthood holder able to give me a blessing of peace and comfort.

It took me a few weeks to be able to talk to people about it without getting emotional. But luckily I know a couple mom's who have gone through this in the last couple years and have gotten some advice and seen pictures and really gotten a feel for what is to come. I know that Heavenly Father gives us things in this life to make us stronger and prepare us for more to come, but I also know without a doubt that He doesn't ever give us more than we can handle, nor does He ever leave us alone - He is always right there to help us through everything!

So yeah, be prepared to hear about a Carter Leishman in about 20 or so years while you're watching your ESPN!