Life Changing (Part III)

Home. With a baby girl. Incredible.

From the moment we came home, our front door became a revolving one. It was always opening and closing, welcoming family and friends, showing off our little bundle of joy.

The first few weeks were quite a blur, as it is with most newborns. We welcomed anyone that wanted to visit for more reasons than just wanting to see them. We wanted to make sure people saw Keziah for themselves, as of course, so many were curious as news passed along about Keziah and her birthmark.  By doing this, we were hoping to prevent rumours. We didn't want it that by the end of the week, her birthmark went from her forehead all the way down to the tip of her toes!! You know how rumours go.

Being so busy with visitors the first few weeks was helpful also in the "waiting period". Although we had Keziah in our home, we still had to get through a month or so in which her birthparents still had an opportunity to change their minds. This time period ended September 4th, which was met with great relief and yet sadness and empathy for her birthparents.

And so our life really began as parents. After 11 years, it was quite the adjustment to say the least. And not only were we adjusting to finally having a baby of our own, we were also trying to adjust to having to take her out in public where she was stared at constantly. But despite those stares, we showed her off!! We were so proud of her and to have her! We felt quite strongly about presenting her as "normal" and so we took her everywhere with us, especially to church. It was very important to us that our church family could get as much exposure to her as possible to help them see past the birthmark and see Keziah for who she was. These people were Keziah's family of faith, and it was essential that she fit in, was accepted and loved by all who would be a part of her life. Let's just say it didn't take long at all.........people fell in love with her pretty quickly.

We also started the process of getting in to meet with a plastic surgeon, one in MacMaster and one in Sick Kids. At the time, the surgeon in Mac had never seen this before, and so that made the decision easy: we are going to Sick Kids, to the surgeon that has dealt with this for 30 years! The referrals were sent in with some pictures right away from our family doctor, and we saw the surgeons for the first time when she was 9 months old.

Below you can see pretty well the size of her birthmark. You can also see that by her eyebrow, it is the fleshiest, lightening a bit above and then dark again. When she was born, she had gorgeous black hair everywhere but on the birthmark. It didn't take long though for the hair to grow on it, and boy, once it started to grow, did it every grow fast! And thick!

 

our gorgeous girl, sleeping outside so peacefully 

 loving daddy's whiskers!

telling daddy all her problems :o)

Around 2-3 months of age, I did have Keziah wear a lot of headbands and hats. The reason for this is not only because it looked so cute on her, I also knew it was imperatif for her to always wear a hat in the sun. I knew if I tried to put a hat on her when she was 9 months old, she would just try to take it off, so I figured I would start early and make it something as normal as putting on her shirt. It worked because to this day it has never been a problem keeping a hat on her!

 

 

When she was about 4-5 months old, she started to lose her hair everywhere, except for on her birthmark! Oh, she looked quite funny! By this time the hair on her birthmark was long and had a mind of its own! This is when she also had her first haircut (yes, I kept the hair :o)

 

But right from the get-go, it was not only her birthmark that captured attention, it was these eyes of hers!

 

After a few haircuts, the hair on her birthmark became quite nice and wavy. Then we had to deal with the hair on the rest of her head, which stood staight up as it came in!

 

We could finally tame the hair in pigtails, but as the hair grew, it became quite obvious that one pigtail was quite a bit thicker than the other, thanks to that birthmark hair. Oh well.....it added character :o)

Every morning, I always made sure I had the camera ready as I went to get her out of bed. I must say, I think she would win any "Best Bed Head" contest, hands down! :o)

 

 

And that is why her hair is done in some fancy do all. the. time. The hair on her birthmark has gone from soft and wavy to very coarse and kinky and will not lay flat. Oh well, it's a good thing I love to do hair! And she looks so cute with it always done nicely. She was born with quite the cowlick on the right side, which worked in her favour. Now that her skin was stretched, that cowlick you see below was moved over and is  now dead center.

(happy two year old!)

(yup....LOTS of hair!!)

So, there you have it. A few posts from when the journey began. I know I am working a bit backwards, but I thought I'd use these three posts to bring you up to present time. Although there were many tough days in the past 3 years, we wouldn't change anything. We've been so richly blessed. And every day we are so, so thankful for this goofus that was brought into our lives, even though it meant taking home a baby that didn't look "perfect". But you know what? She was perfect.......perfect for us.

Oh, and so is he, our handsome blue-eyed little man!!! But a post on him in a week or so :o)