Update

I just waned to give a quick update. Abigail is doing awesome. Our dentist, Dr. Meredith Harris is doing a great job. She is getting so much movement out of Abigail. We were looking at pictures last night and there is already a huge change. Sorry I don't have the pictures with me right now to post, but as soon as I get them off our camera, I will post them. Abigail is eating well and, for the most part, has her days and night correct. Abigail has been doing so well with her NAM that Dr. Harris wants to see us every Tuesday and Friday for adjustments. Thank you all for your continued support.

Today, one our good Cleft Buddies is going in for his lip repair. His name is Reid. You can see his blog by clicking on "Reid the Robust" on the right hand side of this blog. Please keep him in your prayers.

To our Cleft Buddies

I am sorry, but I have mixed up names and people. In order to be sure who I am talking to, can all of our cleft buddies (families who check our blog with cleft babies/kids) send me an email with your name, kids name and email. I try and send out individual emails with questions and thanks, but lately I have been sending them to the wrong people. So you don't have to leave a comment displaying your email to the world, please send your emails to pjenson05@hotmail.com. Thank you in advance for helping me iron out my mix up. This also gives the people who check our blog that is not on our email list an opportunity to get on it.

NAM, Clinic, Etc.

When we found out that our precious little one was going to have a cleft lip at our 20 week ultrasound, we were blown away. I just remember getting back to our car and breaking down. How could this happen to us? And more importantly, how could this happen to our little one? The how's turned into why's and anger and frustration. God how is this your plan? Why is this your plan? Well, I now know part of the answer. Not necessarily why little Abigail has cleft, but at least why God let us know so soon.

We met Abigail's Cleft team yesterday. It was ok. This is just such an emotional roller coaster that hearing the same thing over and over gets to us. The team is VERY NICE and VERY COMMITTED to us and Abigail's needs. We believe we have selected a surgeon, but are not completely sure. Keep this decision of ours in your prayers so we will make the right choice.

Abigail is doing Awesome with her NAM. We would not be so far along or so far ahead of the game if it wasn't for God letting us know and preparing us for what is ahead. Today we went in for our first adjustment and already the results are amazing. Because Abby is so young (11 days) our dentist is able to make more movement, more quickly. Not only that but we will probably have another appointment on Friday for her next adjustment! Because we knew ahead of time we were able to be on top of our game. Below are some pictures of Abigail. Below the picture I have some captions so you know what you are looking at:

This is Abby's NAM. I have labeled what they call the buttons. These are what stick out of her mouth and rubber bands attach to them to keep the NAM in place.

This is just a top view of her NAM.

This is after our adjustment. You can see the adjustment molding right next to her premaxilla (her lip and gums). They will continue to add this molding until her premaxilla is all the way centered.

This is just a better daddy-daughter picture than I had up before. You can also see that Abigail's gaurd dog is still earning his stay!

Meeting our Team Tomorrow

Like I said before, I know I am going to be busy so check when you can and I will update you when I can. Sorry it has been a few days since I have been able to get an update to you all. Life really doesn't slow down when you have more kids, it just crams more fun into your already fun cramped life. Anyway...

Abigail did her NAM last Thursday. Thursday was a hard day for Heather and I because it is hard to see your little one in discomfort. We got through it and we have been adjusting well. Abigail has also been adjusting well. Today is the first day that she is back up to eating around 2 ounces. When she first got her NAM it was like she had to re-learn how to eat, but she is doing well.

The prayer we need right now is the guidance to pick the right people for our Cleft Team at Children's. Tomorrow, Monday, we meet them all including the surgeons, social workers, etc. I am pretty excited to meet them all and hear what they have to say. We have already heard just about everything, so we are trying to set any expectations, but hoping they bring good news. Thanks to all that check up on us and I will post some pictures of Abby's NAM and of Abby as soon as I get an extra second.

First of Many

We went to our first two doctor appointments today. I will talk about the second first because it was actually only a nurse's appointment where they check her weight. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. which is only 2 ounces under her birth weight! She is doing good with her eating.

The first appointment we had today was with one of her dentists. The appointment when well. We are going to use the Nasal Alveolar Molding (NAM). This is not the prettiest devise but it will really help Abigail in the long run. Click here to view some other examples of kids that have used a NAM. Today at the dentist they took an impression of Abigail's mouth to fit her with a NAM. Abigail is already setting the bar high. The dentist today told us that she has never had a baby do so well with the impressions. If any of you have ever had braces you know what impressions are. Well, just to let you know, Abigail did so well, she fell asleep while they were taking her impression. She begins wearing the NAM on Thursday and begins to adjust it every Tuesday beginning on the 20th. This is a 20 week process. It will take a lot of time and commitment, but God could not have given Abigail to two parents with more commitment to their children. And plus, with God there to help us, what really do we have to worry about? Not very many people around the United States have access to this kind of treatment so we feel blessed for where we live. We also live close to Children's Hospital which has one of the top two cleft lip and palate teams in the US.

Thanks again for all the thoughts and prayers. I will keep the updates coming. Here is a picture of Abigail praying and either thanking God for the family she was put into or asking God why she was put with a bunch of crazy people:

This next picture is of the guard dog we have hired; he literally watches her every move:

Baby's Daddy

I am sorry there are not very many pictures of Baby and Baby's daddy. Heather couldn't find the camera yesterday and said she missed some good ones. Here is one my sister took of us in the hospital:

ABIGAIL IS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will let her big brother introduce her before anything else:

(That is Colton and Abby's cousin, Emily, helping with the introduction!)

Abigail was 8 pounds 5 ounces. Heather, the amazing, did an awesome job. Here's the whole scoop:

On Thursday night Heather continued her regular "get-ups" to go to the bathroom. She said that every time she got up, she would have a contraction. About 2:00 am she was awakened by a contraction that was pretty intense. She was able to fall back asleep until 3:00 am when it happened again. From 3:00 to 4:00 she timed them to be 6 minutes apart. She woke me up a 4:00 and said, "Pete, honey, I think it is actually happening." I'll tell you what, there is no hitting the snooze button on that wake up call. We made our plan and started to get ready. After failing to get a hold of Heather's dad, we call my mom (who lives pretty much up the street). We got a hold of her and she was able to come over and watch Colton until he went to school - Thanks mom! Heather was able to eat some breakfast and take a shower, and then we were on our way. We got to the hospital about 6:00. They checked her out and said that she was 3 cm. They told us to go walk for 2 hours and come back, so we did. When we came back, they checked her again and told us that they are going to call it 4 cm so they can send us upstairs to Labor and Delivery.

To make this really long story a little shorter, we requested a mid-wife, who was really good. Her name was Susan. Even better yet was our nurse, Jane. Jane was just awesome! We walked the halls and rested and walked the halls some more. Jane then introduced us to the birthing ball (just one of those big exercise balls). Heather started doing that around 3:00 pm and about 10-20 minutes into that her water broke! Again, Heather was so good at this. She put up with so much, but continued her self control through the entire thing. At 5 cm she requested the epidural. Shift change for the doctors and nurses is at 7:00. At about 6:45 Heather told me I needed to find them because she was having a lot of pressure. They finally came in a little after 7:00 (Jane and Susan stayed late! We couldn't be more thankful). Susan checked Heather again and said, "Whoa, you are done. Let's try to start pushing." Heather did an awesome job pushing for about an hour and had OUR LITTLE ONE, Abigail Ann Jenson at 8:15 pm. She was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long; she was/is a chunk! She is so cute. She does have a bi-lateral cleft lip and palate. Her palate is complete on her left side and incomplete on her right. We feel so blessed to have such a healthy baby girl. The doctors that checked her out told me, "she is an extremely healthy baby." Below are what you all want!

1500 HITS!!!

So I haven't even had the hit counter on our blog for the entire duration of having this blog and we already have 1500 Hits!!! I did some calculations because that is what enginerds do:

Our first post was on December 23rd, 2007.
It has been 136 days since December 23rd, 2007.
We have over 1500 hits.

That is over 11 People a day looking at our blog!

I would say Abigail is already a princess with all the looks she is already getting.

PS - Update: She is still taking the free ride from her beautiful Mom. "Minor contractions, but nothing to get to excited about," Says Abigail's gorgeous Mom.

Today is the Due Date

Today is the day but still no Baby...YET!!!