Bringing Home Baby & Blindsiding News

Brayden was born on Thursday and we brought him home Saturday evening, after a quick stop at my parents to introduce him to my Dad's family who was in town at the annual Cline Christmas shindig.  As any first time parent knows, the first couple days at home with a newborn baby are scary to say the least. You are completely sleep deprived, but running on adrenaline. You feel like the most awkward, unprepared parent in the world, no matter how much preparing and planning you have done, how many books you have read, or how much advice you have gotten from every woman you come into contact with during your pregnancy.  You second guess everything you do, and wonder how on earth you could be responsible for the complete well being of such a delicate, precious, little life.

I'm so thankful I had Jeff there with me for almost a week after we came home. Together, we realized that we were capable of caring for our little guy, and that we would get this parent thing down sooner or later. (Not to mention I had him to change lots of dirty diapers that first week, yay!)

Now for anyone thinking of having a baby around the holidays, I don't recommend it. It's just not enjoyable to pack up and head out in cold weather with a newborn baby. You're tired, don't feel like getting out of bed, let alone putting on anything that resembles acceptable attire, and you will not want to give up your little bundle of joy you are just getting to know to let Great Aunt Bertha or Uncle Wilmer hold them.  If you do have a holiday baby, make anyone who wants to see you come to you!  I did not receive this advice and thus spent time I should have been sleeping and cuddling with my baby boy getting ready and traveling to and from family gatherings.

Anywho, back on track...just when we were starting to get the hang of the sleep deprived, up every 2 hour way of life that accompanies a newborn baby, we got the first of two phone calls that would change our lives forever.  We came home from the hospital on Saturday, December 18th, and got a call from the pediatrician's office on Thursday, December 23rd telling us that Brayden's newborn blood test had come back abnormal, and that we needed to schedule a sweat test to have him tested for cystic fibrosis.  I was completely caught off guard and confused...hadn't the newborn screen tested for CF? Why did we have to go have another test done? Does he have CF or not, and why won't you just tell me!? was what I was thinking.  She said it just came back abnormal and further testing needed to be done.  After doing some research we learned that just because the newborn screen comes back negative does not mean CF is present.  At this point we just began to pray and trust that God had a plan.

Unlike some families who are completely caught off guard with the news of possible or confirmed CF, we knew there was a possibility for us.  Jeff had two aunts with cystic fibrosis, so we were both tested during my pregnancy, and found out that we were both carriers.  It was not such a surprise in Jeff's case, but it was in mine, having had no known family members with the disease.  However, throughout my pregnancy we believed that our baby was healthy, having only a 1 in 4 chance of having CF, and that no matter what, he was in God's care.  Looking back I can say that knowing there was a possibility did make things easier when we got that call, but at the time, it still felt like life stopped for a few days while we waited for the sweat test.  (This also made our holidays not the most enjoyable since we found out about the newborn screen 2 days before Christmas and were awaiting our sweat test on the 27th.)

The next few days were somewhat of a blur for me. We were thankful to be surrounded by family and have the reminder of God's love that is the true gift of the Christmas season, and I think those two things got us through that time and helped us not to completely dwell on it.  Monday was the sweat test, and I remember every detail of that appointment. We showed up and they mistakenly prepped him for blood work which he did not need...as if my anticipation and nerves were not already at their wits end, this added an unnecessary 20 minutes to our trip. We were then taken back to a private area where I watched them strap my 11 day old tiny baby's arm up to a machine to produce sweat so that they could test the level of salt in it.  I will always remember how brave Brayden was, he did so well, and made the process that much easier for me to get through.

I was expecting a call the following morning, so was again caught off guard when his pediatrician called me that night at 5:18PM.  She told me she wanted to call me herself to tell me the results, and she didn't want me to have to wait all night.  For those two things, I am grateful.  As you all know by now, the news was not what I wanted to hear. The sweat test showed without much doubt (because of the level of salt in his sweat) that Brayden

Brayden's Arrival

Brayden was due December 11th, although he decided he wasn't quite ready to grace us with his presence just yet.  As if the 9 months of anticipation weren't enough for everyone, he decided he wanted to build it up just a little bit more before he arrived.  The wait, however, was well worth it.

With the help of some inducing agents, Brayden was born at 5:02 on December 16th. He was 21.5 inches long and weighed a healthy 8lbs. 10oz. It is no surprise I felt him moving constantly since all of that was tucked in my belly! When I first got a glimpse of our beautiful baby boy, I fell in love with him instantly. I never thought I could feel such strong emotions towards someone I had just met until I held our precious boy in my arms. He was absolutely perfect, from his cute button nose to his tiny fingers and toes, he took my breath away. I will never forget that day.

Preggers

I can't say that I loved being pregnant, but I can say that I liked it. I was so fortunate to have an easy pregnancy. I have heard many stories of the problems other women had while they were preggers, and let me tell you, I am so thankful for what little I had to go through.  I did experience nausea during the first trimester, and had a couple of incidents where I felt very faint, but aside from just the usual being tired and having to pee constantly, I will have good memories of being pregnant with Brayden.  My favorite part of being pregnant was feeling my little guy kick and move. It's no surprise he's now a wiggly, energetic baby because I felt him move all the time while he was in there.

The most eventful part of my pregnancy was the gender mixup we had.  It was the appointment before the appointment we were supposed to find out what we were having.  Jeff was with me that week, but wasn't going to be able to come to the next one, so beforehand he had suggested we try to get them to do the ultrasound this time. I explained to him that they have to be scheduled, so they couldn't just do it whenever we wanted.  However, during my appointment my OB asked if we were going to find out what we were having, and he must have sensed the urgency in my anticipation as I told him yes because he offered to do an ultrasound himself right then.  Obviously I said yes, and he took us back to the ultrasound room.
I hadn't done much research on ultrasounds at that point since I didn't expect to have mine until the next appointment, so I didn't really know what they were looking for as far as girls go.  I also hadn't filled up on water, so it's no surprise baby Brayden was squirming all over the place in there. Apparently doctors aren't too versed in reading ultrasounds because he told us he was 95% sure it was a girl...Brayden was full of surprises before he was even born.

About a month later I had my actual ultrasound so that they could take all the measurements and make sure everything was 'all good'. When the tech told me it was a boy I was in disbelief. I made her show me again two more times before I left the room. She probably thought I was crazy, but I just could not get over what she had told me! I called Jeff and we were both in shock for awhile to say the least!  I had already registered for girl stuff, bought the bedding, some clothes, and shared the news with family and friends. Moral of the story, don't let your OB perform your ultrasound, they are not trained to read them like the techs are!  I did, however, have fun registering twice, and I'm so glad we found out he was a he and not a she before he actually arrived! 

How This Wild and Wonderful Ride Began

Jeff and I got married in September, 2007 and embarked on our journey as Mr. & Mrs. Shiveler.  We knew we wanted to have a family, but we also knew we wanted to enjoy our time together as husband and wife before we brought a child into the world, and ventured into all the responsibility that comes with being parents. 
Before we got married, Jeff and I had agreed that we didn't think Fort Wayne (Leo) would be our home forever.  We both wanted to live in a warmer climate, close to the beach.  We had vacationed in South Carolina together and after much research and long nights of talking about our future, we decided we thought we would like to call Charleston home.
 
I finished grad school in May of 2009, and we decided to put our house on the market shortly thereafter. In the meantime, I began casually looking for work in the Charleston area. I had a few phone interviews, but nothing panned out. Spring and summer rolled on, and in spite of the terrible housing market we had 20 some showings, but no bites.  As winter approached and our second 3-month realtor contract came to an end, we decided we were going to have to tough it out for yet another Indiana winter. We took our house off the market, and life went on as usual.

Although we had previously thought we would wait until we moved to have kids, we decided there was never a "perfect" time to start a family, and we were ready for our journey as parents to begin.  Meanwhile, spring finally showed up in the Midwest, and we decided to give selling the house another go-round with a new realtor.  We had our first showing a few days later, which happened to be Good Friday.  Two days later, on Easter Sunday, we got an offer on our house.  Just when we thought we could not possibly receive any more good news on a day filled with celebration for Jesus' resurrection, it just so happened, there was one more piece of good news God wanted us to celebrate...

I will never forget Jeff's response when I showed him the at-home pregnancy test I had been anxiously waiting several days to take.  "Well, better luck next time," was his response. Turns out they don't teach you to read pregnancy tests in pharmacy school!  As excited as we were that night, we had no way of knowing all of what God had in store for our future, and how much joy the results of that one plastic stick would eventually bring us.