The Faulk Family

Well, we did it!  Daniel and I have spent the last several weeks deciding whether or not fetal surgery was the right way to go for our family.  There are a lot of considerations, and it is not right for every family.  I briefly went over how we decided to do fetal surgery two posts back, but if you would like to know more about that, let me know! Over the weekend, we had to stop back in at the hospital to do two rounds of steroid shots.  The steroids are a precaution in case an emergency were to occur and Cedar (our daughter's name, by the way!) had to be delivered at 25 weeks.  The steroids would give her lungs an extra boost, just in case.  Not going to lie...those hurt.  But we do what we have to do! We checked into the hospital Monday night at about 8:30pm.  I'll admit, I was really nervous.  We had gone to see a movie the few hours before, and I could barely concentrate on what was going on!  I started to get that nervous ball in my stomach that wasn't going away.

One of the most overwhelming aspects of our daughter's spina bifida diagnosis has been the amount of people willing to do anything to help us.  I mean, literally.  Beautiful individuals have been calling, texting, showing up at my house, sending things in the mail, and just doing anything they can to help our family.  At one of the lowest times in my life, I have never felt so blessed. A good friend of mine, when she found out what was happening, showed up at my door with the cutest Kate Spade journal and Chip cookies  (guys, life changing).   On the cover, the journal says "PUT IN A GOOD WORD," and I immediately knew what I wanted to use it for--logging all of the tender mercies and blessings our family has received during this time, both big and small.  Kind of like a gratitude journal. I will be transferring a lot of what I have written in this journal to this blog.  I plan on doing "tender mercy" posts here and there to update you on the positiv

February 21, 2018 is a date that I thought would be like any other, but ended up being the day that completely changed our lives.  My world was one way before February 21 and completely different after February 21. In the crazy world we now belong to, February 21 is what they call our "D-Day."  Diagnosis Day. Two days before, I had gone in for my routine 20-week ultrasound.  The anatomy scan.  You know, the one where they check your baby over from head to toe.  Our big concern was whether or not little girl would have a clubfoot like Miles.  We were praying for straight feet.  We find that pretty funny now. Everything looked completely normal to Daniel and I on the scan.  We made the ultrasound tech look for clubfeet multiple times, and her feet and leg bones looked fantastic.  Daniel asked the ultrasound tech, "So do you see ANYTHING that looks concerning?"  She looked us straight in the eyes and said, "No."  We still wonder whether she lied straig