New Year and Easton news

I can't believe this year is already over! What a whirlwind it has been! This time last year I was engaged, less than 3 months from our wedding and in a total wedding planning frenzy. IN the next 6 weeks I would have a couple of wedding showers thrown for me, make a bunch of quick trips to San Angelo for Pictures, dress fittings, last minute details at the wedding location. It was fun but I was stressed. In March we were married, in a beautiful wedding ceremony, surrounded by the most important people in our lives, then whisked away to a lovely week in the mountains to do nothing but unwind. Now 9 months later I am 25 weeks pregnant with our first child, and instead of being totally overwhelmed with wedding planning, we are totally overwhelmed with baby and family planning! I never thought we'd be here now, but we are and we are so incredibly blessed!

Speaking of baby, we have decided on a name and he will be Easton Landry Ellis. We just fell in love with the name, a good strong name that flows well. It doesnt necessarily mean anything but we love the flow of it. And it doesn't hurt that we believe this makes total sense, you know, since he will more than likely be the starting pitcher for the Texas Rangers some day ;)

Things are going well with the pregnancy. We have had a couple of hiccups, but now that we're getting used to a few things I feel like I can tell the world. Our precious boy has a cleft lip/palate that has been confirmed in three ultrasounds. We are seeing a perinatologist and a genetic counselor who are helping us set up appointments at Cooks Childrens hospital in Fort Worth  as well as offering support and advising us on what steps to take. For those who do not know, a cleft lip/palate is not something that is that uncommon. 1/700 babies will have it in the US and there is no clear reason as to why. Its "multi-factoral" and is a mixture of genetic predisposition and environment among other things. We may never know what caused it, but we know it is there and we are receiving very good care, advice and support from our medical teams and our families. It is so common that the genetic counselor told us at any given time they are treating at least 2-3 mothers with a cleft babies at a time and had just seen one earlier the morning of our first appt with her. It helps to know that we're not alone.
Easton also has a bright spot on his heart we are keeping a watch on. Our Doctors do not seem overly concerned with this since there are no other signs or symptoms of any sort of syndrome, but we are having a fetal echo done by a fetal heart specialist early February just to get a better look. This is also something that we have found is not terribly uncommon and could end up being nothing to worry about at all. But we are definitely being very cautious and praying hard about this as well. Structurally his heart is perfect and his heart beat is always perfect.
Our medical team seems to think the cleft lip/palate is an isolated event and there should be no other issues. It also appears as though the cleft is just on one side, which can make feeding and correcting less complicated.
Easton is growing right on track with where he should be, actually he always seems to measure a few days ahead of where we are, he is a big boy and he is VERY active. I can feel him kicking and moving quite frequently now, and lets just say he loves his icecream (just like his Daddy). The best thing about the cleft is we get to see him more often with more ultra sounds, and it is always reassuring to watch him wiggling and squirming, even if I can feel him, seeing his sweet little hands and feet and face always warm my heart.

Luke and I are doing well. We were surprised in the beginning and I'd be lying if I didnt tell you I cried a few times about it. We know that things will come a little harder for a while, feeding and such. I hate the fact that Easton will have to have surgery so early in his life. But we are confident in the teams we are going with to help us out medically and emotionally, we know that we are strong and can be strong for our little miracle and most importantly we have more love for Easton than I ever dreamed it was possible. We have a wonderful support system and no matter what is thrown our way, God is watching and listening.
We talked and decided it would help us out to document our journey, and some day we can show Easton how loved he was and is, and tell him all about his journey!

We are so thankful for modern medicine and technology that is allowing us to begin to prepare for what is to come. We have heard from a lot of people "I never had sonograms" and "I think they do too many ultrasounds these days". Well, we have them for a reason, and one of those reasons is so that we can find issues before he is born and we can prepare for them. Because of these ultrasounds we can have a prenatal consultation with the craniofacial/pediatric team who will work on Easton in Fort Worth. Because of these tests we will be able to not only medically and financiall prepare but also emotionally prepare for some of the trials that will come. We can set up meetings with people who can help us with feeding, help us get the resources we may need, and just offer support. I thank God for the inventions of Medical technology.

So looks like 2012 has a lot in store for us, and I say bring it on! :) We are ready and with support of family and friends and GOD we can handle anything!
Besides how can we not be optimistic when we got a Thumbs Up from Easton just last week!