News about an upcoming photoshoot!

So. It's true.. When you have additional children, you really don't take very many pictures as you do with the first child.

We've been wanting professional pictures of Evan. Especially before his first surgery.. But time has been running out.. And.. they can be very expensive.

A month ago, we got an email from Smile Oregon. They told us that we are one of five families/children they have choosen to take professional pictures of for their website and other marketing items! The photoshoot is scheduled for tomorrow, 7/11/12.

They want to do "before and after" pictures of Evan. And also pictures of Evan with his NAM in and out. He'll be the youngest model and the only one that will not have his lip repaired yet. They have not taken any pictures of "unrepaired" children yet.. So they are very excited to do so. As are we!

All the pictures would be given to us on a CD as well.. Without any cost. The photography is provided by Red Letter Days Photography. According to the Smile Oregon contact, this photographer has been featured in National Geophraphic. We are so excited for tomorrow's photography session.

I'm so overwhelmed by the Lord and His provision. He truly responds in Exceeding Abundantly and Above ways.

^"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us"

Ephesians 3:20

The Crazy NAM

Since Evan was born, we have been going to OHSU Dorenbecker almost every Monday to see an orthodontist, Dr. Judah Garfinkle. This is actually the same orthodontist who taught/presented at one of Tony's classes right before we found out that Evan had a cleft lip/palate. He was gracious enough to meet with us before Evan was even born. When Dr. Garfinkle pulled out his powerpoint slides and showed us how kids benefited from using the NAM,. Tony and I knew that this would be that path we would take with Evan. Although, the NAM has brought the cleft together, it didn't just happen w/o some bumps in the road. Little did we know how rocky this taping/NAM journey would be. I could go into all the details.. but I'll spare you. 


NAM stands for nasoalveolar molding. It is made of a hard, clear acrylic and lined with a thin layer of denture material. So, it is like a denture plate for babies, no teeth. What holds the NAM in place is tape. Tape on your baby's face

Once you have gone through NAM, you will ALWAYS look at tape differently. Your child gets used to the NAM eventually.. When all the rough spots are smoothed out.. But the actual taping is very hard. Your child's arms are waving frantically around and his head is moving side to side... And it is extremely hard to get the tape on precisely.

During this journey, I've learned several tips.
1. Papoose or swaddle your kid.
2. Try to do it as a team with your spouse. One person to hold the baby's head still while the other does all the taping.
3. Buy dynacleft or use a huge steri strip for cross taping as extra support. This seems to help pull everything together. Makes the progress faster.
4. Use vaseline or aquaphor on the nasal stent. It will help to prevent any sores.
5. Use fixodent! helps with pulling everything together as well..
6. Hand restraints. Use them! I hear "Snuggle Wraps" are the best.. But haven't tried them yet. Once your kid gets old enough to touch their face, they are going to want to itch/scratch and pull at the NAM. Which will make the skin irritation worse. In our case, our kid would pull off the tape and serious seepage would happen. To the point where we would have to take a few days break from taping. Which.. you don't want to do as it will prolong the process.

Another tip.. But I'm not sure if it's feasible.. is to meet w/ the orthodontist right away if baby is not adjusting to the NAM. There could be a sore and the NAM needs to be adjusted.. Also it helps to see if you're doing a good job taping... So you're not going days with your baby in pain or doing inaccurate job w/ taping/tension.

I will try to do a tutorial sometime and post it up!

Our surgery is scheduled for 8/7/12. Although, I don't feel that we were the best NAM patients.. I can tell you, we definitely tried our best.. As a dear friend from church told/reminded me as I fretted over the outcome of the surgery/NAM, "God is the ultimate Healer". It is not the plastic surgeon.. it is not me and how successful I am at taping.. Evan's healing is truly in the Lord's hands.

First day with the NAM

Evan's Birth

I've been told that with each birth you have, the faster your labor goes. Some may remember how Isaac was born. He was born at the Andaluz Waterbirthing Center in Portland. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. And surprisingly fast. I had my first contraction at 1am and we had him at 3.05am. While I was pregnant with Isaac, I watched this documentary, "The Business of Being Born" and prayerfully considered an unmedicated birth. There were many different reasons why I wanted to have an unmedicated birth. But the main thing that I kept thinking about was why God would create women to give birth this way.. I wanted to fully experience the purpose of His design.

I wanted to keep the unmedicated tradition on with Evan. But I didn't want to keep my hopes up about having a fast and relatively uncomplicated birth. I just kept telling myself that each kid is different.. each birth is different.. You never know.. I could be in labor for 40+ hours like my close friend, Laurie! And.. Even though you've done it before, it doesn't mean you aren't as nervous about giving birth.. In fact, I was even more nervous! Sometimes waking up in the middle of the night wondering why women have to go through this! Another thing that added to the nervousness was having Evan at a hospital. It was something and somewhere different. I didn't know who would be in the delivery room with us since the practice we were with had a scheduled rotation of midwives.

At approximately 35-36 weeks, I went to see my midwife at the Vancouver Clinic. She checked me and I was at 4.5-5 cms already. She was convinced that I wouldn't make it a week without having Evan. But... I did! I made it to 38 weeks w/o any contractions and I was closer to 6 cms.

So at my 38 week visit, my midwife recommended that they break my water for several reasons:

1. They knew about Isaac's quick entry and wanted to make sure Evan wasn't born on the freeway or at home.
2. They felt that since Evan had a diagnosed cleft, if there was an emergency, I would already be in a controlled environment with specialists ready to help if needed.

It was kind of nice being able to "choose" your kid's birthday. One benefit is that we knew which midwife was working that day. We chose Sunday since the midwife I liked the most would be at the hospital that day. We came in at 7.30am, did paperwork and met our nurse.

The nurse was very sweet. She wasn't too pushy.. But when it came time to talk about doing an IV. She was very nervous about us declining the IV. She tried to convince me and say that it could help take the edge off if I really needed it. She asked several times and even said that she would have to check with the midwife to see if they were ok with me not having an IV. Then my midwife came in at 8.30. She was completely fine not having an IV and we broke my water around 9.00.

Tony and I were starting to settle in and started ustreaming church. Nerves were starting to calm down and reality was settng in. I would meet my lovely son face to face that day! Excitement abounded! Around 9.30, I decided to soak in the bathtub. No contractions yet.

My midwife came to talk to me when I was in the tub and she told me that she was going to be around checking on other patients. She asked me how I was feeling. As I was telling her that I was feeling fine.. I felt my first contraction. Gentle but firm. The midwife left.

The nurse came back in and told me that she thought it was very brave of me to not even have an IV and have an unmedicated birth. As she was telling me this, a contraction came on. She told me she was going to take a break and come back before the real action began..

All I remember next is having one contraction on top of another one. So fast that I could barely breathe. As I was thrashing around in the tub, Tony came into the bathroom with IPad in hand and the pastor talking on ustream, and asked me if we should get the nurse. I said, "Yes, please!!"

Around 10.20am-Another nurse came in as my nurse was on break and measured me at 8cms, she called the midwife immediately. The midwife came in to the side of the bathtub and asked how I was doing. I held her hand and could not speak. She immediately called people to help me out of the bathtub. Two nurses pulled me out of the bathtub and as I stood up and out of the bathtub, I was starting to deliver Evan right there in the bathroom. The two nurses were at my side and holding me up. I stood in the bathroom with my midwife yelling for gloves and with two pushes out came Evan Hien Nguyen. I then walked with the nurses to my bed with Evan in my arms and fell in love.

The pastor was still talking on the IPad.

And- Yes- I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Introducing Evan Hien Nguyen

It has been a very long time since I've last blogged! And many things have changed in the Nguyen household. The most important change is having our new son- a wonderfully new addition to our family! Introducing- Evan Hien Nguyen!

He was born on 1/29/12 around 10.30AM at the SW Medical Hospital. I will do a blog post about the birth story later as it was kind of crazy! Not the waterbirth I had wanted.. But it was without meds/IV.

Rewinding a good few months prior to his arrival, we had found out through our 20 week ultrasound that Evan would be born with a cleft. The day before the ultrasound, we had just come back home from Hawaii. Tony and I were so excited to find out what sex our little one was. I remember going into the ultrasound room very anxious to see our little one and being able to visualize what our family would be like.. Would we need to start looking into buying pink girly things? or would Isaac have a fun little brother to play with?

Tony was a little late to the ultrasound appointment because of school commitments, so the ultrasound tech just started to view the baby without him. Everything was looking great. Heart beat perfect. Relief was setting in. Just a few minutes into the ultrasound visit- Tony made it and the tech was able to tell us that we were going to have another boy. We were over the moon. Isaac would have a little brother to play with.

A few more minutes went by and Tony asked a question that would replay in my mind over and over for the next weeks after the ultrasound. He asked the tech if we could see a cleft at this stage.  Tony was just starting to learn about clefts in dental school and was just curious about the tech's response.  We do not have any history of clefts in our family.

The tech started to hover over Evan's face. As she started to hover over Evan's face, I actually saw something different on his lip and asked the tech if that was in fact a cleft. She advised that she wasn't sure. Towards the end of the visit- I asked again if there was a cleft and she advised that she would have someone call us the next day to confirm. In my heart- I knew Evan had a cleft.

That evening, I could not sleep and I woke up in the middle of the night to google "cleft ultrasounds". The very next day, the midwife called to confirm Evan had a cleft and I would need to come in immediately to confirm the cleft through a 3D ultrasound. Thus began our unforseen journey into the cleft world.

I have to admit.. I was truly saddened for my little guy. For us.. How would Evan nurse? What kind of surgeries would be involved? Really... what were the chances of this happening (I found out 1/600 for Asians and 1/1000 for the rest)? Lots of things were going through my mind. I was beating myself up for not taking my multi vitamins regularly.. I truly felt that I had done something wrong and my beautiful child was going to suffer because of my mistake. I felt horrible.

But the feelings of sadness only lasted a few days. I started feeling feelings of hope and reminded that the Lord had created Evan perfectly perfect.. My close friend, Au, reminded me of an elegant bible scripture that would be placed on my heart throughout my pregnancy and give me that perfect peace from above. Psalm 139:14 - Evan was fearfully and wonderfuly made.

There was a bigger picture as to why Evan was born with a cleft. Evan, whose name means "young warrior", was created to bring our family members closer together. To help us to be more compassionate towards others who hurt. To unconditionally love on strangers and show them Christ's unconditional love.

I also clung to my life verse:

"¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. " Jeremiah 29:11.

Evan has truly been the perfect baby. He has a lovable cry and demeanor. Loves to smile and is a delight to talk to. I take both of my sons everywhere and am so proud of them both. Isaac has been the BEST big brother. Even from the beginning. Evan was only a few weeks old and he was crying because of a dirty diaper. I tried to wash Evan in the sink while he was hysterically crying and Isaac came running to the rescue.. holding his baby brother's bottle and saying, "Evan (it's) ok! Evan (it's) ok!. That had to be one of my proudest moments as a mom..

And Evan.. words cannot express how PROUD I'am of him.. all the things he will have to go through.. the crazy NAM (I'll explain in another blog post)... surgeries.. speech therapy.. Knowing that he'll have to work harder to eat and speak.. I'm so proud of him..

Evan at 12 weeks

Isaac loving on his best friend, Evan.

Enjoying a sunny day in Portland. Vietnamese Sniff Kiss!

Just got home from the hospital. Isaac showing his love for his best friend =)

Isaac's 2nd birthday on 3/13 and learning to blow out a candle!

doing the moonwalk

talking with grandma!

Pictures from Father's Day