Thursday, October 29, 2009
Pictures of Kacee :)
We got PA from China yesterday!!! Yay!!! :) So... As promised, here are some pictures of Kacee...she's so adorable!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Information about Microtia Atresia
Posted by Tabitha:
I saw this on another blog. I like how it explained Kacee's special need and adapted it for this post.
We do not want Kacee to define herself by her ears — they are a part of who she is but not all that she is. Her ears are different from most of our ears, but when you think about it don’t we all have different ears, different noses, etc.
There is much debate in the Special Needs adoption community about whether or not to share information about an adopted child having a special need, especially if it isn’t visible. Some parents view it as a matter of protecting their child’s privacy. We understand and respect this reasoning but we believe differently. We believe that taking this approach will also run the risk of a child feeling shame for their medical condition — that it is a secret to be kept and not shared because something is wrong.
We realize that there is likely some curiousity among family and friends about Microtia Atresia. It certainly sounds different. We had ever heard of it either until we fell in love with Kacee's picture. We started researching this medical condition. During this research we learned from other parents that this is very easy to handle and is likely why folks don’t hear too much about it. It is too much of a non-issue that it isn’t really talked about. We are and will most likely continue to be happy to answer questions from folks, but don’t expect us to dwell upon it. As all parents know, there is much more about kids to focus on.
This post contains information about Microtia Atresia for those who want to know more, causes, what it is, and treatment.
Kacee has bilateral Microtia Atresia, meaning the condition affects both of her ears. We are unsure of the extent of the condition yet or whether she has formed ear canals. We do have readable results from a hearing test and there were some comments in her growth report indicating that she has some hearing, but we prefer to wait until she meet her to determine this. It is not uncommon for the medical reports to have false information. Obviously there are some unknowns — as with the addition of any child to a family, whether by birth or adoption.
What causes Microtia Atresia?
The occurrence of microtia is usually a random, sporadic event, and it is not caused by anything the mother did before or during the pregnancy. Researchers theorize that Microtia is not hereditary but is caused by tissue ischemia (decreased blood flow) resulting from an obliterated artery during fetus development
What is Aural Atresia / Canal Stenosis?
Aural atresia refers to the absence an external ear canal. When someone has aural atresia, there is a high incidence of malformation of the external ear (Microtia) and middle ear also, but the inner ear and auditory nerve are frequently normal. A narrowed ear canal (i.e. one where the eardrum can be viewed, but the canal is narrower than normal) is sometimes referred to as a stenotic canal, or canal stenosis. Aural atresia most commonly effects just one ear (unilateral), but can occur both ears (bilateral).
What is Microtia?
Microtia literally translates from the Latin to mean “small ear.” Microtia varies from the complete absence of the ear to a somewhat normal but small ear.
Classifications of Microtia:
Microtia is divided into separate classifications (classic microtia is considered Grade III).
Anotia
Anotia technically means no ear. This is the most severe form of microtia.
Grade 1 Microtia
The ear is smaller than normal although most of the features of a normal ear such as a well-defined lobule, helix and anti-helix are present. This can occur with or without an external auditory canal.
Grade 2 Microtia
The normal features of the ear are missing. There is still a lobule and a remnant of helix and antihelix.
Grade 3 Microtia
"The Classic Microtia": The ear consists of a vertical skin appendage with a malformed lobule (earlobe) on the lower end. There is usually firm tissue at the upper end which is made up of a disorganized cartilaginous vestige. The lower end is usually a piece of lobular tissue which will be the future earlobe when reconstructed. Usually there is no external auditory canal (atresia).
To help Kacee hear better, she will probably wear a small bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) to restore hearing. Age for BAHA implantation is around age 5. If the child is under this age, the BAHA can be worn on a headband.
For auricular reconstruction (to restore the visual appearance and form an outer ear), we are leaning toward the Rib Cartilage Graft Reconstruction. The earliest age this surgery can be attempted is age 6. It involves sculpting the patient's own rib cartilage into the form of an ear. Since the cartilage is the patient's own living tissue, the reconstructed ear will continue to grow as the child does. This is a two-stage surgery for each ear. The major advantage of this surgery is that the patient's own tissue is used for the reconstruction.
I saw this on another blog. I like how it explained Kacee's special need and adapted it for this post.
We do not want Kacee to define herself by her ears — they are a part of who she is but not all that she is. Her ears are different from most of our ears, but when you think about it don’t we all have different ears, different noses, etc.
There is much debate in the Special Needs adoption community about whether or not to share information about an adopted child having a special need, especially if it isn’t visible. Some parents view it as a matter of protecting their child’s privacy. We understand and respect this reasoning but we believe differently. We believe that taking this approach will also run the risk of a child feeling shame for their medical condition — that it is a secret to be kept and not shared because something is wrong.
We realize that there is likely some curiousity among family and friends about Microtia Atresia. It certainly sounds different. We had ever heard of it either until we fell in love with Kacee's picture. We started researching this medical condition. During this research we learned from other parents that this is very easy to handle and is likely why folks don’t hear too much about it. It is too much of a non-issue that it isn’t really talked about. We are and will most likely continue to be happy to answer questions from folks, but don’t expect us to dwell upon it. As all parents know, there is much more about kids to focus on.
This post contains information about Microtia Atresia for those who want to know more, causes, what it is, and treatment.
Kacee has bilateral Microtia Atresia, meaning the condition affects both of her ears. We are unsure of the extent of the condition yet or whether she has formed ear canals. We do have readable results from a hearing test and there were some comments in her growth report indicating that she has some hearing, but we prefer to wait until she meet her to determine this. It is not uncommon for the medical reports to have false information. Obviously there are some unknowns — as with the addition of any child to a family, whether by birth or adoption.
What causes Microtia Atresia?
The occurrence of microtia is usually a random, sporadic event, and it is not caused by anything the mother did before or during the pregnancy. Researchers theorize that Microtia is not hereditary but is caused by tissue ischemia (decreased blood flow) resulting from an obliterated artery during fetus development
What is Aural Atresia / Canal Stenosis?
Aural atresia refers to the absence an external ear canal. When someone has aural atresia, there is a high incidence of malformation of the external ear (Microtia) and middle ear also, but the inner ear and auditory nerve are frequently normal. A narrowed ear canal (i.e. one where the eardrum can be viewed, but the canal is narrower than normal) is sometimes referred to as a stenotic canal, or canal stenosis. Aural atresia most commonly effects just one ear (unilateral), but can occur both ears (bilateral).
What is Microtia?
Microtia literally translates from the Latin to mean “small ear.” Microtia varies from the complete absence of the ear to a somewhat normal but small ear.
Classifications of Microtia:
Microtia is divided into separate classifications (classic microtia is considered Grade III).
Anotia
Anotia technically means no ear. This is the most severe form of microtia.
Grade 1 Microtia
The ear is smaller than normal although most of the features of a normal ear such as a well-defined lobule, helix and anti-helix are present. This can occur with or without an external auditory canal.
Grade 2 Microtia
The normal features of the ear are missing. There is still a lobule and a remnant of helix and antihelix.
Grade 3 Microtia
"The Classic Microtia": The ear consists of a vertical skin appendage with a malformed lobule (earlobe) on the lower end. There is usually firm tissue at the upper end which is made up of a disorganized cartilaginous vestige. The lower end is usually a piece of lobular tissue which will be the future earlobe when reconstructed. Usually there is no external auditory canal (atresia).
To help Kacee hear better, she will probably wear a small bone-anchored hearing aid (BAHA) to restore hearing. Age for BAHA implantation is around age 5. If the child is under this age, the BAHA can be worn on a headband.
For auricular reconstruction (to restore the visual appearance and form an outer ear), we are leaning toward the Rib Cartilage Graft Reconstruction. The earliest age this surgery can be attempted is age 6. It involves sculpting the patient's own rib cartilage into the form of an ear. Since the cartilage is the patient's own living tissue, the reconstructed ear will continue to grow as the child does. This is a two-stage surgery for each ear. The major advantage of this surgery is that the patient's own tissue is used for the reconstruction.
Adopting a Waiting Child
Posted by Tabitha:
Our family is very excited to be in the process of bringing home our next child, another girl, Kacee, who will become the baby of our family. Our family dynamic will once again change and everyone will need to make adjustments.
This time around, not only will there be the adjustment of adding a new family member and everyone’s role in the family changing, we will be adding another layer in that Kacee has Microtia Atresia. We do not want Kacee to be defined by her medical condition. Some folks may be questioning our decision to adopt again and even more so to adopt a child with a known medical condition — and a medical condition that probably many of our family and friends are not familiar with.
We’ve decided to address these issues in the blog and hopefully it will cover questions/concerns that anyone may have but does not feel comfortable asking. So, this post will be somewhat lengthy and not the typical light hearted blog posts usually on here. After this post, we will return to posting the family activity posts typically posted and will no longer focus on the issues of Special Needs Adoption and Microtia Atresia. While these issues are a component of our lives- there are not and will not become a focal point.
We decided to adopt again because we like being parents. We preferred to adopt from China again because China still has one of the best, if not the best, internationally run adoption programs. We also want Kacee to share a birth culture and background with Karli and Kenzie.
As most of you know, the wait to adopt from China grew to a much longer wait when we adopted previously. This wait has continued to grow even longer. Since we brought Kenzie home (September 2007), China has only processed 4.5 months of approved adoption paperwork. The wait to adopt a *healthy* baby, as young as possible, is over 4 years from the time China receives the application. Granted, this is not a reason to adopt a child with medical needs, but many of the medical needs in China adoptions are not what we would consider to be serious. Many are easily correctable with surgery or some other type of treatment that is readily available in the US.
After we were home with Karli for 7 months, I was in one of my chat rooms and saw a plea for families for four children whose files were to be returned. Children whose files are returned are often not eligible to be adopted again since they had their chance of finding a family. Little did I know that we would soon embark on the paper chase for one of those children.
Hutson and the big kids were at church camp for the week. When they returned, I mentioned one of the children. All I knew at that point was that she was a female and 16 months old. We talked about it and decided to request some more information. That was a Saturday evening, and by Sunday afternoon, the agency had emailed us the medical information and tests as well as 7 photos. As soon as I saw that adorable little girl I was hooked. We researched her medical condition and talked to the agency. Everything just fell into place including a grant from the agency. We locked in her file the day it was to be returned to China.
I think God everyday that we found Kacee before her file was returned. We are so anxious for her to join our family.
Our family is very excited to be in the process of bringing home our next child, another girl, Kacee, who will become the baby of our family. Our family dynamic will once again change and everyone will need to make adjustments.
This time around, not only will there be the adjustment of adding a new family member and everyone’s role in the family changing, we will be adding another layer in that Kacee has Microtia Atresia. We do not want Kacee to be defined by her medical condition. Some folks may be questioning our decision to adopt again and even more so to adopt a child with a known medical condition — and a medical condition that probably many of our family and friends are not familiar with.
We’ve decided to address these issues in the blog and hopefully it will cover questions/concerns that anyone may have but does not feel comfortable asking. So, this post will be somewhat lengthy and not the typical light hearted blog posts usually on here. After this post, we will return to posting the family activity posts typically posted and will no longer focus on the issues of Special Needs Adoption and Microtia Atresia. While these issues are a component of our lives- there are not and will not become a focal point.
We decided to adopt again because we like being parents. We preferred to adopt from China again because China still has one of the best, if not the best, internationally run adoption programs. We also want Kacee to share a birth culture and background with Karli and Kenzie.
As most of you know, the wait to adopt from China grew to a much longer wait when we adopted previously. This wait has continued to grow even longer. Since we brought Kenzie home (September 2007), China has only processed 4.5 months of approved adoption paperwork. The wait to adopt a *healthy* baby, as young as possible, is over 4 years from the time China receives the application. Granted, this is not a reason to adopt a child with medical needs, but many of the medical needs in China adoptions are not what we would consider to be serious. Many are easily correctable with surgery or some other type of treatment that is readily available in the US.
After we were home with Karli for 7 months, I was in one of my chat rooms and saw a plea for families for four children whose files were to be returned. Children whose files are returned are often not eligible to be adopted again since they had their chance of finding a family. Little did I know that we would soon embark on the paper chase for one of those children.
Hutson and the big kids were at church camp for the week. When they returned, I mentioned one of the children. All I knew at that point was that she was a female and 16 months old. We talked about it and decided to request some more information. That was a Saturday evening, and by Sunday afternoon, the agency had emailed us the medical information and tests as well as 7 photos. As soon as I saw that adorable little girl I was hooked. We researched her medical condition and talked to the agency. Everything just fell into place including a grant from the agency. We locked in her file the day it was to be returned to China.
I think God everyday that we found Kacee before her file was returned. We are so anxious for her to join our family.
One Step Closer
Betcha don't know what you're looking at. It is the receipt of Notice of Action for the US government approval for our adoption application. Really it's not anything important at all; it just lets us know that our application was received and that a fingerprint appointment will be scheduled soon. We should hear about our fingerprint appointment in about 1-2 weeks. After that, we wait for a reviewer to process our application and send the approval in the mail. Once we have the official approval, we can send all of our paperwork to China and start our official wait. Much of the adoption is waiting for approval, either from the US government or the Chinese one. It took us about 1 month to get all of the paperwork together, one month to write the home study, and probably about a month for the US government approval. We hope to send everything to China by December 1, to start our official wait.
Since we can't post a picture of Kacee yet, I thought I'd leave you with a glimpse of her. I can't wait to show you a picture of how cute she is.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Pictures from Saturday's Game (10/17/09)
Here are several pictures taken at (one of) Keaton's game on Saturday. :) The girls usually have quite a ball (heh*heh...get it? Ball!) playing around the field area, either in the dirt/sand, or running around with some of the other kids. His team lost, as I said earlier (they're not exactly the best team around...but they're getting better), but they still had fun...and he stole a base--which he has been wanting to do all season, seeing as this is the first time he has been able to steal one all throughout his years of baseball (only certain age groups can steal). Go Keaton!! The girls love to cheer for him, by the way, and they either yell "Go Keaton!" or "Go Baseball!" or sometimes even "Go Boy!" (which is his nickname around our house, because he is the only boy). LOL! In fact, they cheer for us ALL at our sports events; they are such great (adorable, might I add) little cheerleaders...they're going to be big athletes someday! I am thinking that Keenie will probably take up basketball when she is older, because she can already dribble, pass, and catch the ball. She watched my practice last night, and I think she really likes it. Karli? Hmm...I'm thinking my girl will probably be a dancer, because that is what she enjoys to do a lot. (Although both the girls love horses and soccer and stuff, too, so only time will tell what the littles will be into when they are our age!) Anyway, except for the losing of the game, they all had a blast, and Keaton did really well, I heard. (I bailed on sports to go shopping and chill with my grandma.) Go Blue Jays!!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
How was your weekend?
Hey people :) How was your Sunday? What about your weekend? Leave a comment and tell me how you/your family spent your weekend!! I'm interested to hear how everyone's month of October/start of Fall has been!! We had sports yesterday, like I said, and also like I said, in the freezing cold (for us at least)! Keaton's team lost both of their games, but the first one was really close (8-9), and Kylie's team lost hers, too. :( It was still a good day...I went shopping with my grandma, while my mom spent about a total of 8 or so hours watching outdoor sports. (Shopping was the way better option if you ask me, lol). Today we had church, and I had drama practice, and then AWANA. (We also go to AWANA at a different church on Wednesdays, because we really enjoy their program.) It is cold today, too, by the way....56 degrees!!! Not fun!!! Tomorrow, we just have school and basketball, and nothing else, and sports obviously on the weekend. They are almost done (I think about two weeks or so), then we have weekends free again! Yes!! We are probably going to have some more family trips and stuff, so that means more photos :) Next Sunday is the fall festival at our church, and my drama team is performing a skit. We are doing the Lifehouse Everything skit, which I love, and have a really big heart for, and I am SO HAPPY that we are going to be doing it (I am playing the model in the skit). We'll also be performing that our Halloween Night concert w/ Ornan's Floor and youth night, which will be a blast!!! (We are not having our Fall Festival at church on Halloween this year for numerous reasons, and so we are getting to have a youth night instead..yes!!) What are your plans for the rest of October?? Whatever they are, hope they're full of fun!!!
(Watch this it is really good!!!)
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Brrrrr!!!!
Hey folks! We are in for a chilly day of sports. We have three games today (two baseball, one soccer) and they're all outside...and the temperature is like 56 degrees. No joke. I'm sure where most of you live, that's nothing, especially for mid-October, but where we live that's a bit cold!! At least it's not hot :) The other day it was like 87 degrees, which I think is inappropriate weather for this time of year, and it's never really fun to sit outside for a few hours with the heat and horrible mosquitoes and stuff. Ugh....but hey, that's Texas for you!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Arrival Confirmation
Okay, so remember how the other day when I gave that little post with the tad bit of information about Kacee, and I said that we had just sent our application for our I-800A (our approval to adopt)? Well, today we figured out that they received our package yesterday at 1:15 p.m. That means that we are one step closer to getting Kacee home!! Yayyyy!!!! :) Now if only they would hurry up with approving us and all of our paperwork and stuff...
Today has been a pretty good day; Kylie/Keaton had super friday, and Karli of course had school, so Kenzie hung out with mom and I all morning today (we went to Wal*Mart and just chilled). Kenzie was pretty tired, though...wonder why that could be...? Maybe because she stayed up until about 1:30 a.m. watching the end of Christmas Vacation and most of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. She enjoyed them both, and can recall parts of each movie. Luckily she got to take a little nappy today...what a little trooper!! Tomorrow, the older kid have sports (soccer for Kylie, baseball for Keaton) and then who knows what? Lol. Maybe something with the family or something :)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
My Girl!!
I found this picture on my mom's iPhoto collection of all of her photos, and I'd never seen it before, and I thought, "Aww this is so cute!!" and so I just had to put it on here :) lol.
Adventures with the TV
So, I think we are all happy dancing. Yup, really. And why, you ask, are we so happy? (Besides the fact that we sent our paperwork off yesterday for Kacee). Well, it's because.....
THE TV IS BACK!!!!
Okay, so I'm sure most of you don't know the story about our TV, so allow me to tell it for you.
So we wait two weeks, and they're basically boring weeks of pure agony. (Okay, not really, but I will say this: we don't watch TV that much, only in the evenings or when Kenzie watches her morning PBS Kids shows, but you never appreciate your TV until it's gone.) Finally, the man with the "Geek Squad" thingy comes out to our house, and what does he say? We're going to have to replace some of the boards inside. Did I mention that two months earlier a different man had come out and replaced ALL of the boards inside the TV? Well, he did, okay, and what I'm getting to, is that we've probably had--before the big "break" in August--about 4-ish visits from the people at Best Buy because our television system was having problems. We really didn't see how replacing a board or something again would fix it, but we said okay, and then he said that he would have to order the part and come back...in like TWO MORE WEEKS!!! (I do not blame this guy for our television problems, it is all actually Best Buy's fault.) He said he is sure this part will work, so we wait...
and wait...
and wait...
And he comes back in two weeks, and spend almost three hours at our house, and guess what? IT DOESN'T WORK!! Grr! So then he says he is going to try to get approval for us to get a new television, but it will take a few days. He called the next day and said that his boss said no, but they think something else is wrong with it, and so they are going to have to order the part (it takes between 2 and 3 weeks to get in) except their computer system was "down" that day, and so they would have to order it when it was working again. By now my mom was upset because we'd been without our television for awhile, and everyone was really miserable and missing it, and so she and my aunt went down to Best Buy to complain...which was useless. All we got there was people trying to get out of replacing our TV and our warranty by making excuses like "You didn't buy the warranty that ensures a new television set if yours breaks" (when they only offered us one warranty) or saying that we were supposed to have at least four visits and then the policy after four is that they replace the TV. Well, we had had visits numbering well over FOUR but they somehow had no records of them. Gee!! Go figure!! They said it did show that we had an appointment scheduled for today (October 15th) except, well, we didn't know it, and we had never been notified about this. They also gave us a 1-800 number to call and they said that they would supply us with information and perhaps give us a new television.
No such luck, because that was pretty much useless. Except we did figure out that they had the records of some (not all but some) of the other visits, the Best Buy people were just looking in the wrong place online for them. Wow. Anyway, THEN they said that they would have a conference with the head people, and see if they could get us a new set, but that obviously never happened, so we waited it out for like two more weeks. Not fun! (Lol.) Okay, so you are probably bored to death in hearing this, or you are laughing at our misfortune, because I learned that having no TV is just awful, especially when you have little kids that want to watch it, or you want to watch Bones or Extreme Makeover: the Home Edition and you CAN'T, but the point I'm trying to make in telling you this, is that after ALL of this happening, the guy came today, the part worked, and he fixed it!!! That means...that our TV is working again!! We are so happy...this weekend we just might have to buy something new to watch :)
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
More on Kacee....
Hey everyone! Just thought I'd tell you a little more information about Kacee. She is currently 18 months, and will be 2 on April 5, 2010. Her province is the province of Guizhou, China. She has a special need, called microtia, which just means that her ears are not properly formed (both ears) and that she may have issues with hearing. We are hoping to travel next Summer, we actually just sent the completed home study to our U.S. government a couple of hours ago. She is absolutely adorable, and after we get approval to adopt, I cannot wait to post pictures of her!!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Partayyyyy!!!
The other day was Karli's birthday party. It was a good, fun family birthday party (except for Debby and Alana, but they were our "honorary family"), and we had cake/ice cream and Karli opened presents. Obviously, she loved them. She got a big princess castle play house (pretty much a princess version of Kenzie's Batman toy) with accessories, a puzzle, a new purse, another book for her Tag pen, a Kai Lan LEGO set, and a new bike/bike helmet!! :) It was a good day and she and Kenzie enjoyed it a lot. I'll post pics later.
p.s. "Kacee" has become the decided spelling.
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