Our Big Day of Doctor Visits

So Wednesday we a full day spent downtown visiting various doctors and getting a tour of the NICU. First we met with one of the best pediatric surgeons in the area. He was very informative and gave us great confidence that Gumdrop is in good hands. It appeared that he thought that he had the easy job. He made it sound like the surgery itself was very straightforward. That it was the NICU that has the hard job.

So that was our second stop after a quick walk around the hospital to get our bearings and a bite to eat at the cafeteria. This was by far the toughest part of our day. We have been waiting a long time to meet with a neonatologist and she was able to answer many of the questions that we have had, even if they were not the answers that we wanted to hear. She explained all the different treatments they have available and all the possible scenarios for CDH babies. Some scenarios are worse than others as you can imagine. But the hardest news was that we are most likely not going to be able to have a moment to hold our child after birth. She wants to immediately take the baby, put it on a ventilator, and move the baby to the NICU which is on a different floor from the birthing floor. We had convinced ourselves that this was going to be possible. Who know, each baby is different and Gumdrop is a fighter…well at least a kicker!

The tour of the NICU made everything real. It is an amazing place, but one that I hope no one has to visit. They are amazing people and take the sickest and smallest babies and get them through their earliest days. I am sure we will have our tough days and our good days. Regardless we will just take one day at a time.

Our final visit was to the area Perinatal Center. This was our last visit there! And the sonogram looked great. Growth was right on target, with an estimated weight of 5 lbs 12 oz. According to one of the books we have the baby should grow about a half pound each week from here on out. The lung to head ratio was the highest that it as been at 2.99. This all points to, in there words “a more favorable outcome.” They also said that the closer we can make it to our due date of February 4th the better our chances for a positive outcome.

We ended yesterday feeling tired, scared, and more anxious. We were looking forward to a healing mass tonight at our church, but because of the weather it was cancelled, although we didn’t know that until we drove there only to find the church locked :-(

So our bags are packed, we have a bunch of snacks to bring and we are getting things ready for others to take care of our dog and two cats for a few days. Mom is feeling well...but in a word…big. It is hard to get up after sitting on the couch or in bed, but it is great to feel Gumdrop playing inside :-)

We can’t thank you all enough for your prayers and continued support that just keeps finding us everyday.