Introducing Blake Bailey

Here are a few pictures of Blake! He was born Monday, April 21st. He weighed six pounds and I am unsure of his length. He's the cutest baby I have ever seen! Mandy says he opens his eyes and stretches his arms when he is hungry, apparantly he rarely cries. Everyone is healthy and happy and Mandy is making a great recovery. We are all so grateful there were no major complications.

I think Blake looks a lot like Cole but others say he looks exactly like Tor in this picture.


So you can get an idea of his size, here he is in his car seat.


Big brother Cole holding his new brother!


The twins LOVE being big sisters. They want to touch him every chance they get.

Safe and Sound

I am happy to report that Mandy's surgery couldn't have gone better. The baby (Blake) was delivered right at 8:30 AM and he was an even six pounds. Although Blake is in the NICU, his health is excellent. Mandy's hysterectomy also went without complication. The fear was that she would start bleeding after the C-Section but, the doctor said she didn't bleed any more than normal. Mandy is heavily sedated in the hospital but she is healthy and happy (when she is awake!). We are all able to take a deep breath! Now, it is time to prepare for having conjoined twins, a preemie, and a c-section/hysterectomy patient all in the same house. Things are going to get interesting..........

P.S. I will be able to take some pictures of Blake tomorrow, I will do my best to post them tomorrow night.

Baby Bailey

Tomorrow at 7:30 AM Mandy (Parker's sister) will go into surgery for both a C-Section, and a Hysterectomy. Mandy has a condition called placenta accreta. Instead of her placenta rising above the baby halfway through the pregnancy, hers stayed underneath the baby and attached itself to the lining of the uterus. The condition is quite serious and we are all praying for Mandy's safety during the surgery. The challenge will be after the C-Section. She will start bleeding and the doctors will obviously have to get the bleeding to stop. They are already planning on having to do at least one blood transfusion, hopefully that will be all she needs. A nurse did tell Mandy that they had four patients with accreta last year and one of the four did pass away. However, the doctor performing the surgery has handled 15 accreta cases and only lost one patient. We are hoping he will improve his record to 16-1. Please keep Mandy in your thoughts and prayers. I will be sure to update the blog as soon as we hear from the doctors tomorrow.

Life is Fragile

It has been a long time since the last time I posted anything. A lot has happened in the last few weeks which I will be sure to post about later but, I first want to reflect on an accident that occurred on Thursday. I was driving to work when I got held up by a passing train. I remember being a bit annoyed because I was already late but I had no other choice other than to sit and wait for it to go by. As I continued on to work, a few police officers (lights and sirens blazing) and news camera trucks where headed in the opposite direction as me. When I arrived at school, the main office was a mess because two students had been hit by the same train that held me up on my drive. The students were on a road parallel to the one I drove on and the accident happened moments after the train passed me. The driver suffered only a fractured vertebrate as well as a few cuts and bruises. The passenger was not as fortunate. The train hit the passenger side of the car and this young lady had two gashes in her head (bone deep) each several inches long, a broken nose, a broken jaw, and she has cuts covering her entire body. To give you an idea on how bad the cuts were to her head, she was in surgery for over four hours just getting stitches. I have had both of these students in class several times (which makes it hit closer to home) and I adore both of them. I can't help but reflect on how fragile life is. It has been six years since my cousin was killed in a car accident and this accident is another reminder to slow down and be cautious. Life is precious. We shouldn't be so willing to drive fast/wreckless and risk getting into an accident to reach our destination only a minute sooner.

You can see the news report of the accident at the following address.
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=53240C56CB4F7A456E04EA4BD271EF27?contentId=6332413&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1