Treatment for Baby Z's Birthmark

Can't even tell he just got zapped, huh? He went back to sleep
almost as soon as he was back in his stroller.

We had a great appointment today with Dr. Milton Waner of the Vascular Birthmark Institute to determine how to treat the hemangioma on Baby Z's eyelid.

He recommended laser therapy and offered to do the first treatment then and there. I hope this option is able to completely remove it since it seemed to cause Baby Z less pain than his last round of immunizations.

I am so grateful to live in the city where VBI is run. Dr. Waner is famous for helping kids with birthmarks, though many are much more severe than Baby Z's. You can see several before and after pictures on the VBI website. He was kind, patient and explained thoroughly, all with a great South African accent!

One of the patients I waited with in the lobby was having a major lip deformation treated, though I could not tell because it had been removed so cleanly. For years doctors said his birthmark could not be treated without severe scarring, and it wasn't until he was in college that his family found Dr. Waner, who was willing and able to treat it.

His story, and those of the other patients I waited with who had come from all over the United States for treatment, is my motivation for posting about our visit. If you know someone who has a vascular birthmark they need or want to get rid of, let them know about Dr. Waner and VBI.

Had my baby

Our baby was born 1:05 a.m. Tuesday morning. He was 6 lbs 1 oz, two weeks early and too quick to give mom time for an epidural.

This video is from his first day.

And this we took while trying to wake him up for round two of feeding on Friday.

Pregnant Pics

Oct. 3 (26 weeks)

Nov. 2 (30 weeks)

Dec. 4 (34 weeks)

Recommendations?

Which of these should I keep?

This looks comfortable and fancy.

But I love how compact this
is in our little apartment.

Edna was on my train this morning.

Learning the same lessons again and again

My scripture study has been weak for a while, but in the past few weeks, I've studied the Book of Mormon diligently for the lesson I taught Sunday. At first, the studying was mundane, but the more I studied, the more exciting it got. By the time I taught my lesson, I was really interested in the story of the people of Limhi/Alma the Elder, so I studied yesterday at home, while I did laundry and on my commutes today.

And guess what: All of a sudden I'm feeling all this joy and receiving inspiration for my calling. I was just marveling at how happy I feel, when I remembered this quote:

"It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called 'the words of life' (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance."

Ezra Taft Benson, “The Book of Mormon—Keystone of Our Religion,” Ensign, Nov 1986

I feel it. I know this power is real.

The power has come not just from studying, but from testifying of the things I'm learning during my lesson, to Tiff our my run, and to a coworker who saw me reading on the train this morning. "Faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." Ether 12: 6

It's never the letter that you think...