Neonatalogist

We met with a neonatalogist yesterday at The Valley Hospital and although we were feeling extremely confident and ready to take on our son and all of his nuances...the doctor we met with made us feel even better (if that is possible). The first words out of his mouth were, "This can be fixed." It is overwhelmingly encouraging when a doctor doesn't feel like they have to point out the "buts" and starts off positive from the start. Of course it was hard to hear that your son may be in the hospital for weeks, but during the course of this journey we have always been aware of the "time tables" omphalocele babies have in hospitals.

Every time we meet with a new specialist the tears form in my eyes and no matter how hard I try to stop them two or three inevitably trickle down my face, but this time it was because of happiness. One of my fears when giving birth to our son was that right when he was born, I would not get a chance to see him, that he would be whisked away to the NICU with no contact to his mother or father...yesterday the doctor dispelled this notion. The doctor told us that we will be able to touch him right when he is born, and once is is cleaned and a sterile cloth is placed on the omphalocele will be able to give him a kiss, possibly hold him for a second and take LOTS of pictures...my husband even asked about cutting the umbilical cord and that is totally available as long as it will not interfere with the omphalocele. All of this information meant so much more to me than I am sure the doctor knew...with all the doctors and specialists I see I never know which doctor I should be asking which questions, and finally I feel like ALL of my questions have finally been answered as best as I know they can be at this point.

Baby Harris we are ready for whatever you are about to bring to us...the great, the scary, and the love!!!

26 week Sonogram

We had our 26 week sonogram yesterday and the baby is looking great! He is about 2 lbs and his omphalocele has not gotten any bigger than is was last time, which is about 3 cm. As ususal the little man did not want to cooperate with the sonographer (no surprise to me) and she was shaking my belly, pressing on my belly, and even at one point had my table tilt head down so I was almost standing on my head...but to no avail would the baby move into a position where they could get a better picture of his brain...oh well, I guess he really is like his father and I. Baby Harris either cannot sit still or just wants to sleep! Here is a picture of me at 26 weeks...belly and ALL!

Glucose Screening

OK, well people warned me how gross the slurry is that you have to drink to take your glucose screening test...but the fruit punch flavor is pretty tasty...and if you bring something to read that hour you have to sit there and wait before they take your blood goes really fast! I admit...I drive about 25 minutes from my house to go to a specific Lab Corp because the woman who takes your blood is funny, charming, and doesn't hurt one bit when she puts the needle in...and for me that is worth the drive!

I feel BIG!!

So here are the lastest pictures of me at 25 weeks and 1 day...I hear mixed things from people like..."WOW you are big, I don't think I ever got that big." HA! Gee thanks, that is such a nice thing to say to someone isn't it?!! And, "You are just belly, your face looks totally normal..." You be the judge...however, do not judge the hair, I didn't style it that day!

Last of the genetic testing is in...

On Monday my husband and I got the last results from our genetic testing...the Beckwith-Weidemann syndrome. They all came back negative!! Our genetic counselor was instructed to only call my husband because I didn't want to be the one who has to always receive the news, but she was so excited she called my husband and me right afterwards to tell us! I feel like we have jumped another hurdle!

Pediatric Surgeon

My husband and I met with the pediatric surgeon yesterday. Thank goodness my husband was there because even with the paper in my hands that listed about 10 questions...I still lost my sense of coolness and tears welled up in my eyes and he had to take over. The answers he gave us to all of our questions were great and he was completely full of himself when talking about doing the surgery...and I mean that in a good way. I want a surgeon who doesn't think this is a big deal and has done this many times and is very confident with what he is doing...and he was all that...in fact he even told us that he was over in another county doing outreach work in 2007 where he solely worked on children with omphaloceles! That impressed us...I am feeling better and I am off to now make an appointment to meet with the neonatalogist at our hospital too and to get a tour of the NICU. If you are getting ready to meet with the pediatric surgeon...here are the questions we asked (Chris's cousin who is a pediatric emergency physician helped us with a couple of these as well):

1) How many omphalocele repairs and what kind have you done?

a) surgery right at birth? #

b) "Paint and wait" method? #

c) If "paint and wait" how many months did you have to wait to pull together the abdominal muscles?

d) Will you know right away which method you would want to use or will you have to wait until our son is born?

2) Is this something you feel comfortable doing because of your experience?

3) What level NICU's are there at Valley Hospital?

a) What do the levels mean?

b) Where would our child start?

c) What determines which level they start and then move to?

4) Will you be the surgeon tending to our son or will there be someone else? If there is a chance that there is someone else can we meet them as well?

5) When should our son be circumcised if he is already having to go through surgery? Should we wait to have less areas with the potential to get infected?

6) Are you up to date on the latest research and procedure?

7) I have heard that "paint and wait" is out dated, what are the methods used now?

8) Is there a pediatric surgeon on call at all times?

Follow up sonogram...

Yesterday we had our 23 wk 3 day follow up anatomy sonogram. Of course I was nervous because I associate the Maternal Fetal Medicine doctors with birth defect news. However, yesterday was quick and painless, infact we were in the waiting room longer than we were in the sonogram room. I saw the last of the 3 doctors at this practice, what great doctors and genetic counselors I have had the opportunity to meet at Maternal Fetal Medicine of Valley Hospital. ANYWAY: the technician did the sonogram, talked to us the whole time, showed us exactly where to look to know that we were having a boy, but truly I didn't really see anything that would help me, and the doctor came in to look.

I asked the doctor what exactly were we seeing in the omphalocele because the last time we were there we were told liver and some intestines...but to my surprise and relief, she said it looks like it is only liver!! She showed us how the omphalocele was very dense and the same color which tells her that it is only liver. To some of you that may sound terrible, but to me...it was wonderful news. I couldn't help but feel a little better knowing that there was more inside of my little man than I had previously thought, and my husband and I celebrated with milk shakes!
Here is a 4D sonogram picture of our little man...I think he looks just like my husband...you be the judge!