Babymoon Baby #2!

Cody and I went on our babymoon day trip to Anakeesta in Gatlinburg and ate at the famous Applebarn .  The mountains were so peaceful. It was fun to get away and spend time together celebrating, before baby boy arrives. My wonderful mom watched Conner and Lucy and they had a blast! #21weeks5days  #babymoon2

We would also like to take this opportunity to share baby boy #2's initials!! C.A.R.  just like Cody's initials. We have three C names narrowed down for him and will ultimately decide who he looks like when he's born!

*Conner's babymoon was a half week adventure at PCB in December 2021 at 16 weeks pregnant over Cody's Christmas break!

 

Baby Boy #2 Not-So-Fun Anatomy Scan

So we had our anatomy scan on lucky leap day 😒and baby boy is healthy and that's all that matters but what we did find caught us completely off guard.

Conner needed a brother so God gave us a second boy, and Conner needed a clubfoot buddy so God gave him just that. Our second little guy has clubbed feet💔, the exact same as Conner as it seems. These last few weeks have been really tough with more ultrasounds trying to figure out what was going on. To have literal picture and video proof of perfect feet 2 ultrasounds and 2 months in a row then for our anatomy scan to have severe clubbed feet. Our doctor and clubfoot doctor have been concerned because that's literally impossible (clubfoot develops at 9 weeks not 19) and in a months time they twisted in.

Just like with Conner I just didn't even want to share this finding. Conner had a 50% chance of clubfoot and this baby had 65% chance. Bad odds. I can't bear to face the comments how it's not a big deal, or at least he's healthy or this is meant to be or at least we've done it before. That minimizes our experience and challenges. I am grateful he is healthy and this truly isn't a big deal but what is the most upsetting part of all of this is not just what's in front of us, now not one but both of my sons will have sons with clubbed feet since Cody's family can't have girls and apparently has some sort of gene mutation with this condition. It just never ends. Knowing I would never have a daughter, I always prayed I would be close with my daughter in laws and I will get just that, I will be the only one that truly knows how to help their boys in their first very difficult 9 months of life. I can't wait to be their ally and shower them with my unique help and knowledge.

I can't believe we are going through this again, and my baby has to endure this for life. I see the consequences this has on Cody daily and how it impacts literally every area of his life. He is constantly in excruciating pain and can't do what he wants a lot of the time.

We had 2 incredible months imagining life having a normal newborn experience and just the normal challenges and joys that come with that. If this was always the outcome, I guess I'm so glad I was given that. 

I guess the prayers we need right now are, since God turned his feet when it literally is impossible, maybe to pray He can fix them back by delivery? I literally don't know what else to think? And that everything else remains healthy.

This time around I will share more in-depth of the casts being taken off (by us, yes, insane), and put on, and the weekly challenges this little guy overcomes. 

...........

Basically what the last 4D ultrasound we had found that baby has a right skewed foot exactly like Conner and a left fully clubbed foot, exactly like Conner. Baby even looks exactly like Conner and has that cute dimple on his chin. I think they will be twins in more ways than I could have imagined.  

I don't know how I'll manage all of the first 9 month clubfoot treatment with a toddler running around too that I have to keep alive. Those first 9 months are so extensive and I can't take baby outside and get his casts sweaty when Conner wants to play. And all of this during football season when Cody isn't here. 

We're just heartbroken. We found out with certainty that Conner had a clubbed foot at his 16 week scan and the anatomy scan just confirmed it. This baby had perfect feet at 16 weeks then severely clubbed feet at 20 weeks. That just isn't possible. We will find out even more at our 30 week ultrasound at our doctors appointment and our 36 week ultrasound. The problem is baby is breech (just like Conner was) so it's extremely difficult to see his feet for long periods of time to really get a good look at them move. Clubbed feet can't stretch out and skewed feet can, so if we can just get his left foot to stretch out, then that answers our questions that it's skewed and the treatment plan for 2 skewed feet is very different from clubbed feet. That would also make sense why they were straight at 12 and 16 weeks and all of a sudden not. And if they truly are clubbed then we may never know why this all happened exactly the way it did and his feet were normal and now they are not, we just pray this is all that is going on an otherwise baby is healthy. 

Kayla

2/29/24

2023, Yearly Recap!

 2023 has come and gone, I can't believe it. Our year of love! The duplicate year of 2021 in terms of growing another little baby, one of the best years of our lives. 

This year has gone by in a whirlwind and it has caught me by surprise in the best way. I have grown as a person and as a mom so much and have grown even closer to Conner. It has been a privilege watching him grow up and understand more every day, I love being his mama. 

Let's start with January,

January:

We rang in the new year as a family of 3! Conner couldn't hang so he fell asleep at 10:30pm and Cody and I celebrated with our sparkling cider!

February:

Conner Pulled up for the first time and then crawled days later! We were so proud of him and all that he overcomes daily with his feet. 

 

March:

Those milestones won Conner the ticket to get out of the braces during the day! Finally after 6 months of 23 hour a day brace wear, gone!! Conner was 8 months old at this time. He now wears the braces just at night until he's 6 years old. Also my cousin Katy found out she was expecting her second baby!

April:

Baby Lucy had her 3rd birthday party!! God bless Lucy!

May:

Nothing really crazy happened this month, we just enjoyed each other's company. 

June:

We celebrated Conner's first birthday with family, it was so beyond special. We are eternally grateful for our little boy! He is so so sweet. Conner also took his first steps this month!! Conner and Lucy also went to the beach with us for the first time!

 

 

July:

Cody and I turned the big 30!!! Conner also started walking full time this month! We also decided it was time to start growing our family again.

 

August:

Conner started gymnastics every week and fell in love with it!

September:

We saw many of Cody's football games!

October:

We got pregnant with our second baby!! We had started on progesterone and got this miracle baby!

November:

We found out we were pregnant with our second baby on November 6th! We also found out the baby was a boy at 6 weeks and revealed it to our families days later!

 

Veeeerrrrryyyyyyyyy faint line!

 

December:

We got to see our precious healthy baby boy on ultrasound!! And my cousin Katy had her second baby, another little boy!

We deeply look forward to 2024 and what it brings completing our family with our second little boy. We can't wait to meet him!

The word of the year for 2024 has always been joy, just as the word of the year for 2023 was always going to be love and the love we are adding to and multiplying. 2024 will bring us such immense joy as we complete our family and grow together the rest of our lives. I can't wait to build memories with my boys and give them the best childhood they can have! Here's to so much joy to come!

With so much love,

Kayla, Cody, Conner, and baby boy (and Lucy)

12/31/23

IT'S A BOY!!!!

We're having another boy!! God decided it was best for Conner to have a brother, we can't wait to see their brother bond!!! God has blessed us immensely!

Cody and I actually found out about the baby's gender the Wednesday before the reveal just the two of us, it was beyond special to know this time what we were having before everyone else. 

Soaking wet in the pouring rain but we were going to go out there no matter what!! If anyone knows anything about me, if I get something in my mind, there's no changing it haha. 

Cheers to the Raborn family of mostly boys but Lucy and I! LOL

We don't know what name we will decide on because we don't know this time. We want a C or K name to continue our family's Kayla, Cody, Conner, C/K trend but we have 12 that we like and can't agree on one. Hopefully we can decide when the baby is born!

Love,

Kayla and new baby boy!

12/2/23