The hot topic: Are you afraid your next baby will have albinism?

After struggling with infertility for a year, we got pregnant with our second baby. It was a year of trials and challenges to our mental health and I couldn't wait to meet this baby boy that our family prayed so hard for.I had envisioned this baby for so many months before even having that first positive pregnancy test. Naturally, the baby I dreampt up resembled my daughter, who was born with a dark complexion and a full head of dark hair. Needless to say, I was shocked to see the blondie that entered the hospital room the night he was born.Since I had infertility and was undergoing a lot of tests and procedures, I had a decent amount of testing performed included genetic panels. Still, I couldn't stop questioning the white hair, white eye lashes and lack of eyebrows on this precious little newborn I was rocking in my hospital bed.A few hours on the maternity floor and I was coined "the mom with the baby with the hair". I remember saying to my husband and my mom "these people see dozens of babies a day, don't you find it odd that they're enthralled with his hair?" I had my head spinning inbetween bouts of newborn snuggles and bonding. I would ask my attending nurses if something could be wrong, to be told "its just how your genes worked out!"

...Hurdles at home

Fast forward 2 weeks home with our little guy and we're diving into a world of worries related to nystagmus. The diagnosis story is a blog post for another day, but like most medical diagnoses, testing and answers took time.Here I was as a mom of two, navigating new family transitions, juggling post partum recovery and hormones, functioning on lack of sleep and facing unknown answers about my sons health and future. All of those sweet moments I had pictured when bringing home a newborn looked different from the reality of our transition.I was struggling to bond with my new baby. I loved him so much and I wanted to soak up all of my time with him but looking into his eyes I couldn't help but feel anxious and swell with sadness. Nystagmus, if you aren't aware of what it is, is involuntary eye movements. My sons eyes were essentially swinging like pendulums all of the time, all while he was showing no signs of tracking or visual development. Being in healthcare, I was familiar with nystagmus and I wasn't too suprised when I was told an MRI of my newborns brain might be warranted in the next steps.

A turning point

While waiting for specialist appointments and bargaining with the front office of every local neuro-ophthalmologist, I did what any questionably unstable post partum mom would do.. GOOGLED!As it turns out, a mothers intuition is practically a super power. All of my white haired worries came full circle when I used Dr. google to diagnose my son with albinism. It didn't clear me of all of my worries but while waiting to meet with opthalmology and genetics, I took it upon myself to talk to all of the parents in the community that I could reach (Thank goodness for social media and other blog platforms!). The stories that vulnerable parents, who once felt like me, would go on to share with me have stuck with me still today. I would get photos of their thriving little toddlers and kids who so clearly did not let their visual deficits hold them back.18 months later and I've had the chance to experience all of my sons successes first hand. There have been challenges and many hours of early intervention, and I know we will continue to face hurdles in each new developmental phase. Albinism though, is something I am not afraid of in this pregnancy. Albinism is something I know. Albinism is something I've become the specialist of (that's what we do for our babies). Albinism might come with it's unique challenges, but it certainly doesn't hold my son back.So in the 25% chance that my third baby makes their grand entrance with white hair and a strong dislike for those fluorescent hospital lights, I look forward to two things...1.) announcing to the nurses that it's due to albinsim (a little education point) and 2.) giving my son the comfort of a sister that looks like him!And in the other 75% chance that she doesn't have albinism, I will celebrate a healthy baby who won't have the same obstacles of low vision and appreciate that I may not need to further fill our schedule with therapies.Stay tuned to see what surprise is in store for us at the end of October!

Preparing for Baby Without a Nursery: Tips for Expecting Moms on the Move

Is there ever a perfect time to bring a new baby into your family? My husband and I had gone back and forth about timing and trying to decide when we would ultimately love to add a third baby into our family. Having gone through secondary infertility with my second baby, 6 failed IUIs and 12 months of very painful negative pregnancy tests, I was anticipating a similar path and felt anxious to get ahead.We started to think about the logistics. Is this the "right" time for our lives to begin the journey? Realistic concerns about finances, child care, work schedules and living arrangements were the frequent topics of the conversation, but ultimately the desire to grow our family outweighed all of the concerns.Our TTC journey with this pregnancy was fortunately less challenging than before, but it still came with it's hiccups. I knew the "cocktail" of medications that worked when conceiving my son, and I was lucky that both my OBGYN and PCP were on board to treat me without referral to a fertility clinic.

Plans vs. reality

When I found out I was pregnant, 40 weeks seemed like an eternity away and plenty of time to work out the small kinks in our routine and living space that didn't seem accommodating to a third baby. We live in a townhome, which we always envisioned to be our starter home with a 5-7 year plan. It's more than comfortable for our family of 4, but with a new addition, it will certainly create challenges with space.Well 27 weeks has flown by, to say the least, and the housing market has unfortunately been making other plans for us! With interest rates high, bidding wars and houses that sell as quick as you can spot them on Zillow- we continue to find ourselves quite comfy in our 2,000 sq ft townhome! So here we are with 13 weeks before this baby makes her entry to the world, making it work with what we have !

Planning for a newborn with the space we have

Having done this twice before, if one thing is apparent to me about newborns, it's how much they DON'T need! I've made it my mission to come up with ways to make our living space functional for a newborn without over-cluttering our home. I want to feel organized in my post partum weeks, but I also want to avoid changing too much of the space that my toddler and 5 year old have come to make their own.When I came up with my mental checklist of what I needed to comfortably navigate those first few months with baby girl, this was the list of I created.My list of need to have ..
1. A safe space to lay baby at night
2. Organization for clothes
3. Organization for baby items (diapers, wipes, etc)
4. A safe space to lay baby in the day (downstairsWith my other babies, I set up a pack n play in the living room. This was great for the newborn phase. It allowed me to have an easily accessible changing area, a safe place for them to nap downstairs and storage for items on the first floor. With this baby, I knew that option would be too bulky and intrude upon play spaces being utilized by my other two. A few other parents had listed a Moses basket as a most used baby item and I found a great deal on a high quality basket with the rocking stand on fb marketplace. It fits great in our living room and I love the portability of the basket so I can have a safe bassinet to move throughout the house. I love this option in place of the pack n play with a basket for storing diapers, wipes and changing products near by!

Currently, our ideal "plan" is to keep the baby in our room for 2-3 months at our bedside in a bassinet and hopefully have a new home with a space for her to sleep when it's time to transition to a crib!As I've started to accumulate all of the newborn clothes and swaddles, I cleared a drawer in my room to dedicate to these items. I also picked up a closed storage bin to keep more relevant clothes in for the newborn stage since they tend to run through so many sleepers, onesies and swaddles within those first few weeks. It's a flat bin that could easily slide under a bed and tuck away when not being used.We have a corner of our bed room that will be a dedicated space for the bassinet and clothing bin and a backup plan for sharing space with big sister, Lucy, incase we aren't on the move when it's time to transition to a crib!The hardest part of all of this is fighting the urge to nest when there's not much space to nest in! Being in this limbo phase is just another part of life where we have to be adaptable, and I have a feeling we will truly cherish some of our last core memories we create in our first home together when we become a family of 5.