2024 Raborn Family Recap!

 2024 Recap!

This year about took me under with it, between giving birth at the beginning of football season, the most stressful time of our family and the time Cody spends mere minutes a day at home, and navigating an unusually difficult clubfoot journey on extremely limited sleep and high high stress with 2 under 2, and a very very bad bout with colic, weekly 4am foot doctor appointments, I didn't think I would make it. I still don't. This was one of our most stressful years of our entire lives but also one of the best because we have little Colton who has beautifully completed our family. 

Here's a little rundown of what our year consisted of:

January

January started out strong as it always does the years I'm pregnant then goes downhill quickly with the clubfoot diagnosis but this year was different. I of course knew it would probably be like 2022 and we find out quickly that our baby boy had clubbed feet but we had our ultrasound at the end of January and it showed the baby had normal feet (see picture below)! We were absolutely floored. We rode a high unlike anything else and were so so excited. I finally felt like I had a normal pregnancy and baby and actually looked forward to ultrasounds now and the now normal newborn and infancy that I would have. Everyone we came across we told them our baby didn't have clubbed feet. People didn't even know what that was but we were so excited to shout it from the rooftops, it was the greatest month we've ever had. 

February

Jump forward to February, they scheduled our next ultrasound, the 20 week ultrasound on leap day! I was thrilled, what a lucky day to have an ultrasound! We went in and I was actively feeling strong movements daily from baby, and we very clearly saw clubbed feet. And significant clubbed feet at that. We were so stunned, it was quite literally impossible. Clubfoot occurs at 9 weeks gestation, not 20. We saw that his feet were normal at 15 weeks and severely clubbed at 20 weeks. We were devastated and knew exactly what we were up against and I wanted no part of it. I made sure our OB understood clearly what our life would look like the first year (because a lot of doctors don't care to know) and I was EXTREMELY upset for a long long time. We got a 4D ultrasound to be sure and his feet were "holding hands". Yep. This was our future. Our sweet sweet baby's future. 

March

In March we went on our babymoon! I really wanted to go to the Biltmore for Christmas for our babymoon but I was 10 weeks along then and extremely sick. For our babymoon this year I was 21 weeks along and finally felt better. So over Cody's spring break we went to Anakeesta up in Gatlinburg! We had a blast spending a day babymoon there. We couldn't spend more time than that because we are the only two qualified to put the boy's braces on at night. 

April

April rolled around and we celebrated our first baby's 4th birthday, Lucy! We had a blast making the day all about her!

We then scheduled our 4D 28week ultrasound with family and had a blast seeing our gorgeous baby boy. His face was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. He even gave us a thumbs up to let us know everything would be ok. 

May

Nothing really notable happened in May.

June

In June, we had a very very busy month with my baby sprinkle, sweet family maternity pictures, our 8th anniversary, and Conner's 2nd birthday. 

 

Baby Raborn boy #2 sprinkled with love!

  

I can't  believe our baby turned 2!

July

And then of course in July at 39 weeks 2 days along (same day as Conner's birth), our precious Colton Allen was born July 14th 2024 at 4:36am 7 pounds 2oz and 19.5" long. We were so in love and completely felt like our family was complete. We were so happy to have him here! And pregnancy with a 1 year old is no joke I tell ya, I was glad for that to be over. 

August

In August at 3 weeks old (same as Conner) we started the casting correction phase for sweet little Colt Colt. I was so so bitter he would have to endure this. 

September

In September Conner started his Tuesday Thursday preschool and absolutely loves it!!!

We also dealt with a host of cast slippage issues with Colton. And we had another cousin have a baby boy this month!

October

This month we dealt with a bunch of cast issues again with Colton and had to start over many many times. It was so frustrating. He also got his tenotomy surgery on both ankles (Conner only had his left ankle done because his right foot was only skewed). 

November

In November they discovered Colton's tenotomy surgery didn't work on his left foot (just like Conner's) and they hope the bracing will help it or he will need a repeat surgery. 

Colton started the bracing process the day before Thanksgiving and endured Hell week like a champ. He handled it much better than Conner did. 

December

We celebrated Colton's first Christmas and are trucking along with the bracing segment. He has to be in it for a minimum of 3 months and if he starts to crawl and pull up when Conner did, then he will be out of it soon for a total of 4.5 months in braces opposed to Conner's 6.5 months in it (just because casting took so long for little Colt Colt). 

Our word of the year this year was Joy, and Colton brought that Joy to our family. It kept me centered as we endured so much this year and were in the throughs of depression with everything that August-November brought us. 

-2025-

We look forward to 2025 as Colton starts up his baby gymnastics soon, he gets out of the daily brace wear, he turns 1, starts walking, and in the Fall, Conner will be starting Monday Wednesday Friday preschool. It will be a fun and busy year and my focus is to be present and soak up as much as I can with my two babies. Time sure does fly. 

Cheers! Here's to the Raborns 2025!

Colton's 5 Month Update!

 

Our sweet Colton Allen is 5 months old, can you believe it?! He is 13.7 pounds and 24" long, in size 6mo clothing. This was a big month of learning to sit unassisted in and out of the braces (thanks to the strong core muscles from the casts)! Colton is a happy baby now and loves to belly laugh at Conner and loves to smile, chuckle, and laugh often. Colton can put his own paci in his mouth now when I put it in his hand. He loves to grab my hair, and our clothes. He is exploring his "voice" by "talking" to hemself often. He enjoys playing now, or watching Conner play. He is in love with watching Lucy do anything, she is very fascinating to him.  He cries when I leave the room or get out of his sight. This month, Colton transitioned out of casts and has adjusted well to the boots n bar brace. He just got back to his normal sleep schedule because of the braces, and doesn't seem to mind them much now or even notice them much. We look forward to this next month together, celebrating his first Christmas!!

Colton's 4 Month Update!

 

Our sweet Colton Allen is 4 months old! He is 12.4 pounds, and 23.5" long. He's in 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers. This month Colton is reaching for items, can put them in his mouth, and bats at objects. Colton also surprised us all and can roll from his stomach to his back, and his back to his stomach both in casts and out of casts amazing!! Colton makes his needs known with little shrieks, and has to be entertained/distracted constantly or else he's upset. Colton loves to cuddle and hold your hand, but still doesn't like to nap unless held. He loves to giggle and smile while interacting with you, which is so so special. It has been a fun month, and at the end of his next month, we are transitioning to the boots n bar brace!

Colton's 3 Month Update!

 

Our precious Colton Allen is 3 months old. This month has been the most exciting in terms of his interaction with us!! Colton full on chuckles and giggles now, and can be tickled and laughs back. I don't remember Conner doing that. This month we dealt with more cast struggles again but ultimately ended with a win and still got his surgery in "early". Colton is trying to sit up when partially reclined, just like Conner did, and is most likely on the same path to be sitting unassisted by the end of his 4th month hopefully! That was so much fun! The casts and braces make their legs and core so incredibly strong. Colton can also put his paci in his mouth with his arm when it falls out which is really neat, and he loves to be entertained by us and screams when he isn't engaged with or held. Colton is 11.7 pounds and 23 inches long and is now in size 0-3 month clothes and size 2 diapers (because of the bigger casts post surgery). I'm excited for what this month brings with our precious baby boy. 

Colton's 2 Month Update!

 

Our sweet Colton Allen is 2 months old!! He's 10 pounds and 10oz still in newborn sized clothes but in size 1 diapers now! This month has been a whirlwind of casting problems and setbacks for our little guy but things are going well now. This month has been special because Colton has found his "voice" and loves to coo and chatter with anything and everything. He also loves to give me a big smile when he locks eyes with me and loves to study my face. Colton knows who I am and is a happy baby as long as he's being held or is sleeping in my arms during the day. He has strong neck control, and now he doesn't hold his fists so tight anymore and clings on to my shirt. The amount of joy he has brought our family is indescribable, I don't take these blessings for granted, even for a moment. 

6 Week Postpartum Update!

 

This is 6 weeks postpartum with baby #2! I am 25 pounds down from this pregnancies highest weight, and at this point with Conner I was 20 pounds down from that pregnancy's highest weight. I definitely have a little ways to go still but fully expect to feel like myself at the 15 month postpartum mark and I'm not pressuring myself to snap back quickly at all. (15 months pp was when I started to look and feel like myself again after Conner). With Conner's postpartum time period, I didn't get back to that pregnancy's pre pregnancy weight until 6.5 months postpartum and I don't expect to do the same with this pregnancy's postpartum until that point again. 

I want to normalize not looking the way you did pre pregnancy just merely 6 weeks post birth. For most that is extremely unrealistic. I am celebrating what my body did for me and I took care of it during and after pregnancy so whatever it looks like then and now is exactly what it needs to look like!

Kayla Raborn

8-25-24

Colton's 1 Month Update!

Colton Allen is 1 month old!! He is just at 9 pounds in weight and is such a happy boy. He loves to snuggle and he lets me hold his little hands! He is a relatively happy baby unless he is struggling with gas pain which seems to be getting better thankfully. He recently started taking the paci when he needs it most, which is what we could've wanted for him! Colton makes the cutest little noises between sneezes and loves to sleep in his bassinet at night and enjoys sleeping at night THANK GOODNESS (minus of course waking to nurse every 2-3 hours). We are so grateful for little Colton and his role on our family, he is just so perfect.

 

Colton's Birth Story!

Colton Allen Raborn 

July 14th, 2024  

4:36am

7 pounds 2 ounces 

19.5 inches long 

So as you know, we would have loved for our baby boy to be born on July 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, or 13th because each day has extreme significance to us! The 9th would fill our family's chronological order of birth (9th for new baby, 10th for Conner even though he was born in June, 11th for Cody, and 12th for me), same would go for the 13th. If he were born on July 10th it would be the same date as Conner just different month, and of course if he were born on the 11th or 12th that would be so so special for Cody or I to share the same birthday as him. Also if he arrived on his induction day, it's Cody's brother's birthday. So neat! Almost every single family member in my family and Cody's family is born in June or July! This baby fits right in!

......................

So on my birthday, July 12th, I woke up feeling all the crampiness, and discomfort and contractions. I just knew it was time. I loaded up the car and my mom and I took Conner to gymnastics (because it was half way from the house to the hospital) and just waited. Eventually after gymnastics everything faded and I felt back to normal, just frequent Braxton hicks contractions. The next morning on the 13th, the same thing happened. I texted family it was time, and by mid afternoon, nothing. I never went into the hospital to get checked out because I knew I had to be in more pain to go and I'm glad I didn't because it stopped every time. So the evening rolled around and we ran errands and visited family and I had the occasional contraction but when we got home at 6pm I got out of the car and I felt just icky. Very yucky and crummy and crampy. Then my contractions started every 5 minutes apart. I played with Conner in the yard and we went on a walk, I took a shower (just in case this was it), and laid down (to see if it would stop the contractions) and no matter what I did, for those next 2.5 hours my contractions were every 5 minutes. They still weren't painful enough to go to the hospital but it was 8:30pm and we had to make a decision about Conner. With Cody's prompting (thank goodness), we decided to bring him over to Cody's parents house to start the evening instead of having an emergency in the middle of the night to get him over there.

We then got to the hospital at 9:30pm and I walked around the huge loop to make sure I was progressed enough for them to keep me. I felt so silly coming in to be checked because they weren't painful enough and I knew I wouldn't be much past a 3 or 4 cm. I had an office visit the day before and I was only 80% effaced and at a 2.5-3cm. So I knew I was around there but I knew I was in labor. So I felt silly that my dilation wouldn't indicate I was in labor and they wouldn't believe me and I was also worried that they would send me home and I would have a car baby. I was definitely scared.  So Cody and I took the 30 minute loop around the hospital having regular contractions still and we went in to get checked afterwards. It was a little different than Conner's early labor because when I finally went in, I was in much more pain and at a 5cm. 

At 10:30pm when I was in triage they checked me and I was at a 4! Just as I expected with the pain level and they said they would monitor me for an hour and a half to see where I was at. When I went to the bathroom I lost a lot of my mucus plug and I knew at that point I was staying. Right after that the contractions picked up with intensity and frequency and when they checked me again at the 1.5 hour mark around midnight and I was at a 6cm! So much for my July 13th birthday baby, the five important days had come and gone. 

I immediately asked for the epidural and he came in around 1am to administer it. Well it didn't work. I informed him that I had scoliosis but he still dug around in my back for over 30 minutes trying to place it (with blood spilling down my back), and he finally got it. When he pushed the first dose, I felt nothing but numbness on my left thigh. I knew immediately what that meant for me. I was washed with absolute dread and horror. When I got my epidural with Conner I had immediate relief everywhere. I could move my legs and everything but I felt no pain. So I knew what my predicament was and at that point I knew I had to shift gears to get through this birth, there was no other option. I told Cody, I think I can do this, I just don't want to. The anesthesiologist told me that the epidural takes 15 minutes to set in but that's not true and indeed never happened. I was then 7cm. 

Over the next 3.5 hours I felt every contraction every minute and the growing intensity. I begged for help from the anesthesiologist but he kept giving me doses after doses of the epidural but my left thigh just got more and more numb, nothing else was touched. At one point he asked me if I was sure I wasn't just feeling pressure and not pain, that lit me on fire. I swiftly told him I knew the difference and it felt like he never gave me an epidural, it was like a chainsaw ripping through my stomach, back, and the sides of my legs, being torn apart, and a cross between being burned alive. I never knew a pain like this could exist. Then after the 6th extra bolus of epidural he got frustrated and said, there's no way it's not working, if you didn't have the epidural you'd be screaming bloody murder down the hall. I told him, sir, I have no extra energy to do that, I'm barely getting through each contraction and each ounce of energy is going towards that. So during those 3.5 hours I closed my eyes, tried to conserve every ounce of energy I had, couldn't talk, couldn't communicate, and tried to slow my breathing and relax as much as I could through the contractions. I've read when you do that, the pelvis opens up and labor quickens. Anything for the pain to go away faster. My mom fanned me because I was drenched in sweat and Cody held my hand and encouraged me. I prayed through each contraction that God would give me the strength to get through it, I knew he wouldn't take away the pain but to be there with me through it. At 4:15am I started to feel his head with each contraction, I begged for a c section so they could just knock me out and end my suffering but they wouldn't. The contractions were back to back and lasting over a minute a piece. 

At this point the anesthesiologist offered to redo it but as soon as he said that my water broke on its own. They checked me and I was at a 9.5cm. I was defeated because I needed to push but wasn't at a 10. 10 minutes after that they got my feet in the stirrups and said it was time to push. I always thought in natural unmedicated labor if you got to the pushing stage it alleviated the pain but I was wrong, it just added that much to it. I told them I couldn't push and to be honest I really didn't. Just the position of my curling over the the baby and my legs scrunched up basically did the work for me and after 10 minutes at 4:36am baby Colton was born. (I pushed for 30 minutes with Conner for reference).  The pain ended almost immediately, my doctor didn't make it so the on call doctor delivered. I only had a small tear that required 1 stitch. With Conner I had an episiotomy with many stitches. (The recovery was significantly better this time even though Conner's recovery was really great too).

My left leg was completely numb for almost 24 hours after birth from all the epidural medication but I never felt any other relief. I was sure to let the head anesthesiologist know the next morning, and they informed me that I was 17 out of 40 epidurals he messed up that night. But I did it. I can't believe I did it and it brought our perfect little boy to us. Thank God for a quick labor and quick pushing. I would say the extreme pain only lasted the last 3.5 hours. I know with 100% certainty this is our last baby and I have never been more at peace with having only 2 kids and 2 boys. God always led me this whole pregnancy not to have an induction and I couldn't figure out why. Conner's was perfect because I went into labor naturally before the induction. But this time I felt a prompting to let baby come on his own and to enjoy every second of pregnancy of my last that I could get. If I had gotten induced it would've been on the 15th, the only day that would've worked for us and our doctor, and I would've had him before then anyways the way I did. Also if I had been induced the other day that would've worked, it would've been on my birthday and if the epidural hadn't worked like it didn't, AND I had pitocin contractions from the induction (because baby wasn't ready on the 12th) then I would've endured agony from that and for much longer. I wouldn't have made it. Truly. And if this had happened for my first labor instead of my second, I wouldn't have had any more kids. God had a plan for me. He protected me. He has been with me every step of my life big and small and this wasn't an exception. God is so good.

With so much love,

Kayla Raborn

7/14/24

Welcome Baby Boy!! Name Reveal!

 I would like to introduce to you, Colton Allen Raborn! Born July 14th 2024 at 7 pounds 2 ounces and 19.5 inches long at 4:36am.

 

 

Meeting baby brother.

 

Newborn pictures!

 

 

New Family of 4 Pictures!

 

Nursery Tour Baby Boy #2!

 With this baby we went with a more forest woodsy theme and I LOVE it. It's so peaceful! It's amazing how both babies have a different feel from each other. 

Love,

Kayla 

7/14/24