Good news!

Abby's appointment with the neurosurgeon went swimmingly today! After examining her head and the previous scans, the doctor said that her skull did not fuse prematurely and that we are not looking at any surgeries! He also said he wouldn't even recommend a helmet to round out the forehead and that she will definitely "grow into" her skull and look just fine. Now maybe all the doctors will stop trying so hard to find something wrong with my perfect Abby-bear!

What a relief! I am beyond ecstatic...but I am also beyond exhausted, so off to bed I go. We have a puppet show to attend at the library tomorrow morning, and morning seems to come way too soon lately!

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Abby's first playdate!

Abby and I went on our first playdate to the park this week! We met up with Cathy and baby Corbin - who we met at Babytime in the library - and had a great time playing on the swings. It was sooo hot, though, so we ended up cooling off a bit in the sprinklers and heading to lunch at Golden's in downtown. Abby thought Corbin was pretty interesting and they both enjoyed some veggies at lunch. I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship :)

Well, hello there!

(For those that are not ultrasound savvy, the head is on the bottom left)

Introducing Baby "Monkey" Sandlin!


Our lovely surprise is coming around January 26th, 2011.


I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed, quite a bit surprised - but overall really blessed to have been given another little miracle. This year promises to be a crazy one, with me starting back to teaching half-days (and continuing this time after an abbreviated maternity leave), Abby hitting toddlerhood, and a new little one making his/her debut - but we wouldn't have it any other way!


My doctor is very optimistic that I will not develop HELLP syndrome again and they will be watching us carefully, along with the maternal fetal medicine specialists. Dr. Turner says this will be my full-term baby - and I am so looking forward to having a normal pregnancy and delivery...and getting to hold my baby right after it's born!


Best surprise of our lives!

Happy Father's Day!

An update

We met with the craniologist for a follow-up scan this week. Abby's skull seems to have a triangular shape to it - coming to a point in the forehead - which may mean her skull-plates have fused prematurely.

Here's what a normal baby's skull looks like (aerial view):

And here's what Abby's skull looks like (ignore the diagonal lines- they are just measurements):

After the follow-up, Dr. Karl noted that her skull really hasn't rounded out or changed significantly, so Abby has an appointment to meet with a neurosurgeon on June 28th. I've done a little bit of research, and it turns out that Children's Hospital of Atlanta has the best neurosurgeons in the world - as in, people from all over the country send their babies to see them!- so that makes me feel confident that they'll know what to do.

I've put the appointment out of my head for the last month, but now that it's coming up, I'm starting to get a little nervous. I just feel like she's already been through so much - what with her prematurity and physical therapy and all of these doctor's appointments. I was really hoping that the tough stuff was behind us. Please be praying that the plates haven't fused early and that all she needs is a little baby helmet to redirect and round out her forehead. I've seen descriptions and pictures of the surgery they do to correct early skull fusions, and I know she's a trooper and we would get through it and she wouldn't even remember it - but I think every mother's heart just breaks when they think of their child having to undergo even the most minor of surgeries. And I don't think that skull surgery falls into the realm of "minor".

Matt's taking off of work on the 28th to go with us to the appointment. I'm not sure if it's just a consultation or if they will be doing the catscan/MRI that day as well. But for now I'm going to stop googling and go play with this little conehead, who is positively perfect in every way.