In our church, it is common practice for a baby to be be given a name and a blessing in church during their first few months of life. This blessing is usually done by the baby's father. (For more info on what a baby blessing entails, click HERE ). Cedar Jane Faulk was blessed by her father on July 1, 2018. We wanted her to be blessed when my parents could be there (my dad flew in from Shanghai), and as an added bonus, Daniel's parents were given permission to come home from their LDS mission in Orlando for a long weekend to attend the blessing! It was very special for her to have both sets of grandparents there, as well as most of my aunts and uncles, sisters, and other friends. I will admit that Daniel and I felt a little bit of added pressure over this blessing as compared to our other kids' blessings. It is common to hear babies blessed with things like health, marrying in the temple, etc. For Cedar, all the "normal" things like that suddenly felt i
Throughout my pregnancy, I had a TON of ultrasounds and 2 MRIs. There have been MANY pictures taken of Cedar prior to her arrival. Throughout all of these, doctors and ultrasound techs assured me that Cedar did not have clubfeet. Many kids with spina bifida are also born with clubfeet--just one of those things. I was relieved to find out that she did NOT have clubfeet, since that would just be one more thing to deal with. At these ultrasounds, many doctors also mentioned that she was in breech position (the entire pregnancy), and often commented on how her feet were up by her head, like she was folded in half. We all laughed at her flexibility and moved on. Regarding her breech position, doctors would often say, "Well luckily you are having a c-section, so we don't have to worry that she is breech!" That is all anyone said. When Cedar was born, we were quite shocked when we saw her feet. As you read in his account of Cedar's birth, Daniel cried. When he