I thought maybe it was time to sit down and write about Kason and his diagnosis of sagittal craniosynostosis. As a new mom I had a vision in my head of what everything would be like once my baby was born. Well that vision was shattered about six weeks after Kason was born. At six weeks old Kason was diagnosed with a condition called sagittal craniosynostosis. Unlike adults, babies have seven plates that make up their skulls. These plates are separated with sutures that eventually fuse together around age 2, to create the skull. Babies heads are made this way so that they can easily pass through the birth canal at birth and so that their brains can grow. The suture on the top of Kason's head had already begun to fuse.The fusion cannot happen this early because a baby's brain is rapidly growing. In the first 9 weeks their little brains double in size. If the plates are fused together, then it makes it difficult for the brain grow, causing pressure on the brain, and also causing the babies head to take on a deformed shape. When Kason was born his head looked perfectly normal, nobody noticed a thing. Fast forward six weeks (and remember the part about babies brain doubling in size in the first 9 weeks) and Kason had a very elongated head with a ridge running along the top. The top of his head was more of an oval than a circle. The back of Kason's head was longer than most babies (he looked like he had a permanent cone head.) Kason has so much thick blonde hair that it took us awhile to notice it, and even then we just thought he was still a bit cone-headed from the birth. We later found out that the fusion probably began to happen while in the womb.  My sweet mother-in-law who used to work as a Maternal Newborn Nurse noticed that something wasn't quite right with Kason's head. She thought we should have the baby's doctor check it out. When we took Kason to the doctor, he felt that something was off as well, but he had never had a patient with this kind of condition. He said he was going to get us a consult with Primary Children's Medical Center.  

We waited a few days and still we had not heard from him or the hospital. We were anxious to find out if Kason had craniosynostosis or not. We have a family friend who was able to put us in touch with the head of pediatrics at PCMC.  The doctor said he would be happy to diagnose Kason if he had x-rays of Kason's head. We decided not to wait around anymore and ended up ordering our own x-rays for Kason through Kason's primary care doctor. Within the hour of emailing the x-rays up to PCMC we got a phone call from the doctor saying Kason had sagittal craniosynostosis. That was the moment when my vision of how life would be with our sweet baby shattered. We knew from our own research that our baby would have to have head surgery and wear a helmet for months, or even up to a year. That day I felt so upset and sad, I just sat and snuggled Kason for hours and kissed his head. I was upset that in all of the babies born, it was me and my baby that had to go through this. I found myself angry that it was us that was given this trial. I was upset that Jake and I were first time parents, we have no clue what we are doing in raising a baby, let alone a baby who has craniosynostosis. I found myself looking a my friend's babies that were born around the same time that Kason was and envying their perfect round heads. I desperately wished that my baby had a round head like that. 

We were put in touch with Dr. Faizi Siddiqi who specializes in cleft pallets and craniosynostosis. Once again, within the hour, Dr. Siddiqi got in touch with us and set up a consult with him for the following week.
The next Tuesday we met with Dr. Siddiqi and Dr. Riva-Cambrin who is a neurosurgeon. They explained Kason's condition  and told us that we caught it in perfect time. With Kason being only 7 weeks old, they could perform an endoscopic surgery that would be less invasive and a quicker recovery time. They explained that the ideal time to perform this surgery would be when Kason is 8-10 weeks old. They said if he was older than that, they would have had to wait until he was 9 months old and perform a total skull reconstruction surgery that would take 5-6 hours. We were extremely blessed in that we discovered in time and Kason would be able to have the endoscopic surgery. They scheduled surgery for two weeks later on Tuesday, Oct. 22. Through those two weeks I was anxious and nervous for Kason to have to go through such a major surgery at such a young age. Two weeks later we headed back up north for the surgery. 

On Monday morning we drove to PCMC so that Kason could have some blood work done before the surgery. Afterwards we had an appointment with the company that would make Kason's helmet that he would have to wear called Shields. They scanned Kason's head so they could see the dimensions before the surgery. By the time Kason is completely done with wearing the helmet the width of his head should be 80% of it's length. The scan showed Kason's percentage at 70%.  That night we had to quit feeding Kason at midnight and by 5:00 the next morning he was starving. We had to be to PCMC on Tuesday morning by 6:00 so we could get registered for the surgery that would take place at 7:30. It was hard because Kason was hungry and screaming and we couldn't do anything about it. About 7:00 I was able to get Kason to fall asleep. We met with the two surgeons who would perform the surgery at 7:20. We then met with the anesthesiologist who would be putting Kason to sleep. While visiting with the anesthesiologist we found out that this was not a routine procedure, like we had thought. We were told that this was major brain surgery. Kason would have an IV in his foot and in his head. He would also have one in his artery on his wrist. He was also going to have a nose tube and a mouth tube. All of these tubes were for "just in case" something went wrong. It was then that I realized that we were sending our baby in for a major surgery that he may not come back from.

 At exactly 7:30 we walked with the anesthesiologist down a hallway and he stopped at a set of double doors and he told us that this is where he would take the baby with him and we would go to the waiting room. I handed my sweet baby boy over and began walking to the waiting room with Jake. It was hard to stop the tears that began to come after handing him over. It was hard not knowing if everything would be okay and if we would see Kason again. It was then that I remembered Kason's blessing and that Jake had blessed him to be healthy so that he could accomplish the things in this life that he needed to. I also remembered the blessing Jake had given the night before, and I was comforted knowing that Kason had two priesthood blessings, as well as many prayers from family. I knew that he would be okay and we would see him again. We sat in the waiting room for two hours while the surgery was performed. At 9:00 we received an update from the operating room telling us that everything was going well and he would be done in 45 mins. At 9:30 Dr. Siddiqi and Dr. Riva-Cambrin came and told us that Kason was out of surgery and that he did great. They said out of the 200 surgeries they have performed of this nature, there was less blood than there had ever been. They said Kason had hardly bled at all! Also, the material that covers his brain was not ripped at all either. Usually that is ripped and the neurosurgeon has to fix it, but not on Kason! I knew that Kason was being watched over. 

At 10:15 I was allowed to go and see Kason in the recovery room. (They only allowed one parent to be with him at the time.) I knew that this was going to be another hard part for me. I didn't want to see my baby in pain with a bunch of monitors and tubes hooked up to him. I thought I was prepared for what I was going to see, but I wasn't. Once again, I couldn't stop the tears as I looked at Kason in the bed with all of the tubes and monitors. His eyes were glazed over from the anesthesia and I could tell he was in pain and wondering why he was suddenly in pain. His head was orange from the iodine and he had dried blood on his face from the nose tube that they had pulled out after surgery. He suddenly began to scream and cry. His little cry was so hoarse from the throat tube they had pulled out that I hardly recognized his cry. The pain medication they gave him wasn't working and he was crying out in pain, I tried to hold him and feed him, but that did little to comfort him. Eventually, they ordered stronger pain killers for him and that settled him down enough so he could sleep. We then met Jake in the hallway and together we walked up to a private room we would be staying in. I was so glad to have Jake at my side again to help me through the rough time. When Jake saw Kason for the first time, I could tell he was struggling as well. As parents, we never expected to have to see our baby like that. Once we were in the room, I sat and held Kason for an hour or so while he slept, I eventually put him in his bed because every move I made would wake him up and he would cry in pain. Kason slept most of that day and night. 

By the next day, he was beginning to be more like himself, he was smiling and cooing just like he used to. He was even eating the same amount that he used to as well. It was so good to see him smiling again. Babies are so resilient! Yesterday, we took him back to Shields so they could scan his head again, his percentage was up to 74%! The surgery had already improved the shape of his head. Earlier this week we picked up his helmet and we are now breaking it in. By Saturday he will have to wear 23/7 for six months. It is definitely an adjustment! We had just settled into our normal routine post-surgery, and now it is all upset again trying to get used to the helmet. It is so top heavy, Kason has a hard time holding his head up. (He was so close to being able to hold it on his own without it wobbling before the helmet!) Now it is like he is a little newborn again learning to hold it on his own. 

I am not going to say just yet that I am grateful for this trial in our lives. I haven't quite reached that point yet, as we are still making weekly trips up north, and adjusting to this helmet, but I do know that we were given this trial for reason. We are supposed to learn and grow from it, and I know that Heavenly Father has been with us every step of the way. There have been many prayers said in Kason's behalf in the last 5 weeks. I know that one day when I am sending Kason off to his first day of first grade, this will be a small bump in the road that is long gone, and hopefully long forgotten, Kason will have a perfectly shaped head, and he will be a perfectly normal boy. This trial is affecting our lives right now, but in six months we will be done with it, and life will keep going. In my eyes, even with a helmet on, Kason is perfect. He is still his happy, smiley, bright-eyed, interactive, talkative, strong interactive self. I love him so much and I am so grateful he was sent to our family. 

Kason a half an hour after surgery

He slept the day away

Mom holding him right after the surgery

Getting discharged from the hospital....yay!

Mom and Kason playing a few days after surgery. We had to keep his head elevated to help with the swelling.

First time wearing his helmet.

Kason Kyle Grant

Our sweet baby boy finally made his debut last week! He was actually right on time, he was born on his due date of August 19, 2013. My Dad jokes that he is just like me in that when I was in high school I was never a minute early or a minute late for curfew, I was always in right on time. So Kason takes after me in that he wasn't a day early or a day late, just right on time. We had a little family pool going as to when he would be born and how much he would weigh. It was fun to see which family members were the closest or right on the dot, and guess who won when he would be born? Yep, my Dad, he guessed the due date using the curfew logic. I thought I would take a minute and write down Kason's birth story, I want to record it while it is still fresh in mind.

On Sunday, August 18 I began having contractions around 3:00 pm. I knew I was already dilated to a 3 and 60% effaced, so I knew that I could go into labor at anytime. We went to Jake's parent's house for dinner around 4:00 and the contractions continued. They were not painful contractions, they just felt like Braxton Hicks to me so I didn't think much of them. After dinner Jake and I decided to time the contractions to just see how regular they were. After an hour of timing, they were coming every 4-5 minutes. Jake's parents convinced us we needed to go to the hospital because I was in labor. ( I didn't think I was because the contractions didn't hurt at all!) Around 8:00 we went to the hospital. I was dilated to a 4 and still 60% effaced. They hooked me to the monitors to monitor the contractions. After an hour of monitoring I was still at a 4. The nurse said she would need to call my doctor to see if I should be admitted or not because my cervix hadn't changed. She said she would be very surprised if he sent me home because I was at a 4 and having very regular contractions. After ten minutes or so she came back and said I was being sent home because my cervix hadn't changed and I wasn't in any pain. Jake and I were very discouraged, we were hoping to be having the baby that night. The nurse told us as we left that she was surprised I was being sent home and that her and the other nurses were taking bets as to when I would be back.

At home I took shower and went to bed around 11:00. My contractions were still coming and they were becoming more painful. I was unable to sleep because every time I was about to relax, another contraction would hit. It wasn't too terribly painful, but just painful enough to keep me from sleeping. Around 1:30 I woke Jake up and told him I hadn't been to sleep because of the contractions. We called his Mom who used to be a maternal newborn nurse to see what she thought we should do. She said that my labor was progressing and that we should go back to the hospital. We headed back around 2:00 am. The nurses said they knew I would be back. They checked me again and this time I was dilated to a 5. I thought for sure I would be staying at the hospital this time. After an hour of monitoring I was still at a 5, but my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and they lasted a minute. As a side note: I think baby K knew what was coming because he was moving like crazy the entire night. The nurse laughed and told us she hoped he wasn't this hyper outside of the womb. Anyways around 3:30 she called my doctor and this time the doctor told us to stay! He said if I didn't dilate anymore by 5:00 to start me on Pitocin. Around 5:00 I had only dilated to a 5 1/2 so they started me on Pitocin. At that point the nurse told me I could get my epidural since I was at a 5. I told her I was doing okay and didn't need it yet. Well as soon as the Pitocin started going, the contractions got more painful. I thought I will tell her when she comes back. She didn't end up coming back until 6:00 with my doctor who wasn't supposed to show up until 7:00 to break my water. I told her I wanted the epidural and she said it would take the anesthesiologist a half an hour to get there. I told her that would be fine. The doctor broke my water and left the room. Well after that the contractions started coming hard and fast. I dilated from a 5 1/2 to a 9+ in half an hour. I was slightly freaking out that I wouldn't have enough time to get the epidural. The anesthesiologist showed up at 6:40 for the epidural, while he was giving it to me, I could tell the baby was coming. I told the nurse that and she hurried and got my doctor. After the epidural was in place, and the doctor rushed back to the room, I began pushing. I could still feel the contractions and the pushing because the epidural had not taken full effect yet. I pushed for half an hour and little Kason was born at 7:16 am on August 19, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. I was so glad that he only weighed about 8 lbs. I thought for sure he was going to be in the 9s. The women in Jake's family tend to have big babies, even the ones who marry into the family, so we thought for sure our baby would be big. The doctor even thought he would be in the 9s, but I had so much water, we were all wrong.

Baby Kason is now a little over a week and a half old. He is growing so much, and already looks so different from when he was born! He is such a sweet baby who has such a mild mannered personality. We love him so much!

Right after he was born in Grandpa Garrett's arms

First family picture....cute of the boys, yuck of me!

Dad's first time holding Kason, he was so excited to hold him!

Mom holding Kason

Dad and Kason watching the first Utah football game of the season

Kason's first real bath, after a week of sponge baths. He loved it! More than the sponge baths!

Little sweetheart sleeping

Sunshine and Summertime

Wow I have a lot of catching up to do since the last time I posted! Summer is flying by, Jake will be starting back to school in about another month and we have been doing so many fun things this summer! The summer started off with me graduating from SUU with my Bachelors degree in Elementary Education. It feels so good to be done with the student phase of life. I am looking forward to the next phase of my life of being a wife and a mother. Although I guess with Jake still having several more years of school, I still might feel like a student in some ways!

It was so fun to be friends with these girls during the block/student teaching.

About a month after graduation we went on vacation to Disneyland/California with my family. I loved being able to go on one last vacation with my family before the baby comes. We drove down to Anaheim, California on Tuesday after Memorial Day. That evening we got ice cream from Cold Stone (mmm....my favorite!) and walked around Disneyland. The next two days were spent inside the two parks, California Adventure and Disneyland. It was a little bit different experience for me. I was 28 weeks pregnant and was unable to ride a lot of the "fun" rides. I sat out during a lot of the rides. I think the most adventurous ride I was allowed to ride was "Pirates of the Caribbean." Even though I had to sit out on a lot of the rides, I still really enjoyed being in Disneyland and just enjoyed being with Jake and my family. On the third day we went to Huntington Beach and spent the afternoon playing in the ocean and laying out in the sand. I was a little bummed that I couldn't go out and play in the waves with Jake and my Dad. I love being at the ocean and it was hard to just sit on the beach. The next day my family left for Utah, and Jake and I headed to San Diego to visit Jake's brother and his family. We were able to go to the beach in San Diego and Jake got to kayak out in the ocean to see some sea lions. It was such a fun vacation, and a great way to start the summer.

Some highlights from our trip!

I love this picture! The last night in Anaheim, we went to dinner
at the Cheesecake Factory. I wanted a picture of the two of us, and
classic Jake pulls a silly face. It is just classic Jake, I love it!

One thing I was able to do this summer was make my first quilt ever! I am so proud of myself for finishing it. I wasn't sure how I felt about quilting, I thought I wouldn't have the patience for it, but it turns out I really liked it, and I was a little sad when I finished it. My mother-in-law helped me to make a quilt for the baby. It turned out so cute and I am excited for him to use it!

At the end of June/first of July we were able to go on a couple of trips to Lake Powell with Jake's family before I got "too pregnant." We love being at Lake Powell and look forward to going every summer. We were excited to get a couple of trips in before the baby comes. I didn't get to participate in the water sports, but I did enjoy working on my quilt and swimming. Jake also took me on a slow jet ski ride, and a canoe ride. Jake was so great about being considerate of me and not being able to do everything we normally do. He sat out a lot on the water sports in order to swim with me or take me on rides. He was such a good sport, and I love him for that! Jake loves being at the lake more than anywhere else, and I know how hard it must have been for him to sit out on some of the activities such as wake surfing and wake boarding in order to spend time with me. I did not take any pictures at the lake because I looked terrible in my swim suit being pregnant. So unfortunately there are no pictures of our trips to the lake. 

A few weeks ago we attended a family reunion with the Garretts at Bryce Canyon. It was so fun to be with all of my aunts and uncles on that side. I had never been to Bryce Canyon before so it was fun to be able to see that. 

Bryce Canyon

And last, but not least, we have spent much of the summer preparing for baby boy. We are getting so excited for him to come. I am due in about 3 weeks, but I would okay if he decided to make his appearance earlier. Being pregnant in the summertime hasn't been as terrible as I thought it would be, but I am definitely feeling more uncomfortable and ready for this little guy to come. We have had a couple of baby showers which we are so grateful for, we are feeling more prepared for him to come. We have also spent some time setting up the nursery and getting things set up such as the crib, car seat, and stroller. I am really excited for how the nursery turned out, I painted the letters of his name and hung them up, which turned out really cute. I waited to post what his name will be just in case we changed our mind, but with only 3 weeks left, we are confident in the name we picked. The letters are hung in his room, and we along with our families have been calling him by the name we have decided on. His name will be Kason Kyle Grant. 

Everything kind of just came together and we ended up with a jungle theme for his room. 

The blanket/bedding, swing, and bouncer are all jungle themed. It was not even on purpose! It just sort of happened, and I am so excited about it!

Oh Boy!

We have had some excitement around our house in the last few weeks. We found out on March 19th what the gender of our baby is! Yep, you guessed it, probably from the title, it is a boy! We are so excited for this new little addition to our family in August. Jake was over the moon when he heard that it was a boy. He was completely convinced that we would be having a girl. I had a feeling that it was going to be a boy, so I guess it wasn't too big of a surprise for me. But it was still fun to have it confirmed. Our little baby has officially graduated from an "it" to a "he." It is so amazing the technology that is available to us these days. The ultrasounds (especially the 3-D) were incredible. It was so fun to see our little guy moving around in 3-D up on the big screen. 

As for a name, we have no clue yet! We have some ideas, but we haven't decided on anything definite yet. 
I have been thinking everything blue for the last few weeks. I have bought a few cute outfits for him and my sister-in-law took me to some garage sales in Las Vegas where I got a cute bouncer that looks brand new for super cheap! I have also been working on crocheting a cute receiving blanket for him as well. I have done a few of these before, but they have been baby girl ones and they usually take me a couple of years to finish because I forget about them. But once I found out I was having a boy I started working on a boy one I had, and I have been working on it a lot lately so that it will be done by the time he gets here in August. 

Isn't this just adorable?

Playing Catch-Up

Oh wow! I am a little behind on my blogging! My last post was last Fall, probably before Thanksgiving. So much has happened since then! Maybe I will do a month by month recap of the last few months.

November:

We were able to spend Thanksgiving with my Mom's side of the family. It was fun to get to spend time with the Beattys since we don't get to see them that often. Carly and I made the dinner rolls at my apartment. It was quite the adventure making rolls for 45 people in my tiny kitchen with one oven. We cut it close, but we made it to my parent's house just as they were getting ready to eat.

December:

December brought a lot changes in mine and Jake's lives. I finished my elementary education block classes, and Jake finished another semester of accounting. That same week that we finished up classes we found out that we were expecting a baby, and Jake got called to be in a single's ward bishopric. I was a little nervous for so many changes all at once, but they really have been blessings in our lives. We spent Christmas with Jake's family. We were able to spend time with Jake's siblings, and do a lot of fun family activities. We surprised our parents on Christmas with our announcement. It was so fun to watch their faces as they opened our present. We bought two Hersheys Candy Bars and made our own wrappers for them. We made the wrapper to look like the original but highlighted "he" in blue and "she" in pink. So the wrapper read "He R She, We will have to wait and see, Baby Grant due August 19,2013."

January:

In January Jake started a new semester with some tough classes. I began my last semester of student teaching. I started out in Mrs. Hunter's 5th grade class. On MLK Day we went with my family down to Zion National Park to have a picnic and go hiking. It was such a beautiful day for hiking and picnicking.  On January 22 we had our very first prenatal appointment. We were able to have our first ultrasound and hear the heartbeat. 

February:

February brought more school for the both of us. I finished up my 5th grade placement and was a little sad to leave. I started my second placement in 1st grade and was a little nervous as to how 1st grade was going to be. We had a low key Valentine's Day. We decided we wanted to keep it cheap so we ordered a pizza, watched a chick flick and ate blizzards from DQ. It was a perfect V-day. I wouldn't have wanted to spend it any other way. We had our second prenatal appointment where we heard another strong heartbeat.

March:

I am loving 1st grade and can't believe how fast the time is going. I only have 3 weeks left of student teaching and then I am done! Jake is enjoying his new calling, I think it was a little overwhelming for him at first, but now he is getting into the swing of things and getting into a routine. This week Jake is in San Antonio all week for work. I am going to miss him! I can't wait for him to get home at the end of the week.

Phew! Now I feel caught up! Maybe from now on I can stay caught up! We will see!