Happy Thanksgiving & Update

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Just a quick update from our appointment on Monday 11/23/09...
Everything is still going great. Fluids are looking good, and Briana is still moving quite a bit on the monitor. The nurse practitioner decided that Wednesday should be my last day at work, so I can rest before being admitted on Tuesday. We still have our appointment on Monday 11/30/09, then we have to go back Tuesday 12/1/09 at 5pm to be admitted.

I will try and update before Tuesday, but if not the next update may come from my sister.

I am starting to get excited (can't wait to see Briana) and a little nervous (all the unknowns).
She will be here soon.
Pray for us and Briana!

~Angela

Update from 11/16 appointment

Time seems to be getting away from me these days. Sorry again for being so late.

Our appointment on Monday was rather annoying. The appointment was at 2:45pm. We sat in the waiting room until at least 3:15pm and had the sonogram. It wasn’t a very long sonogram, but I asked her to look to see if the liver was still down in the abdomen. She really wasn’t talking too much, but did a thorough check of everything. I think the office was behind from earlier in the day and it just unraveled to the end of the day. After the sonogram, they usually hook us right up to the monitor, instead they had us go sit in the waiting room. When we finally got called back in for the monitor, the room was full most of the time, there is no one in there. Briana decided that she wanted to sleep, so the nurse was trying to wake her up, in doing that she caused me to have a contraction, all I felt was my stomach tighten, but not it didn’t hurt. I had been feeling some tightening lately, but I wasn’t sure if it was the baby moving, or a contraction. Now I know it was in fact a contraction. After the monitor, we were put in a room and a Nurse Practitioner came in to talk to us. We had a few more questions this week. We were asking about the liver, because we wanted to know if they saw it up there this week or not. She said she would have the doctor review the sonogram and they would be back in the room soon. 45 minutes later, they came in. We still hadn’t asked the rest of our questions, so we started asking questions and the nurse said, “I can answer those in a minute, Dr. Nosovitch needs to get into the next room.” Well excuse me, but we just sat here for 45 minutes, the least she could have done was be patient with us and gave him a chance to answer the questions. I think he saw that by my facial expressions after she said that. She didn’t make me very happy.

Anyways, Dr. Nosovitch did tell us that he does see a little bit of the liver up in the chest. I asked him if it can keep moving like that, or did the last sonogram just not capture that. He said that it can fluctuate, and by the time I deliver, it could either be out again or stay up in there. We were a little disappointed, hoping that things would be better, but again we won’t know the severity of anything until she is delivered and they do the surgery.

Dr. Nosovitch also scared us and said he was going to induce right before Thanksgiving, but he was mistaken because of the date he had looked at was wrong. He asked the nurse to set up an induce date of 12/2/09 but I would be admitted on 12/1/09. (Unless my water breaks or I start having contractions before that.) We are hoping we can do everything as he is planning it, so Briana stays in as long as possible. He told us that her approximate weight now is 5lbs. 13oz., almost 6lbs. I hope she grows a little more between now and then, but Dr. Nosovitch said that was a good weight.

Needless to say, we never got out of the doctors office until 5:30pm. What a long day!

It is getting much closer now, and we are getting as prepared as possible.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers coming.

We appreciate everything.

Thank you!

Update from 11/9/09 appointment

I know I said I wasn’t going to update until next week, but we had a long conversation with the Midwife (Kelly) at this appointment. We had many questions, like what happens if my water breaks and we are driving around, or I am at work. She basically said you are going to drive right here whether you have Mackenzie or not and if she comes, we will watch her until someone can get her to pick her up.

Kelly had some other information for us that I though could be another positive thing. She said that I have had such a good pregnancy so far, no problems. She also said that usually with these babies, the mother has high fluids, which I don’t. What that means we are not sure, but I thought it sounds like it could be a good thing. (Maybe that is why some of them go into pre-term labor?)

I was feeling a little crappy this past weekend, and Monday at the appointment. While on the monitor, they did say that I was having some small contractions and that could be why I wasn’t feeling the best. She said it is nothing to worry about unless I really start feeling crampy or contractions coming faster. I told her I don’t really feel the contractions, it’s just more of a crappy feeling. I feel better now, just uncomfortable.

I asked Kelly about when I should work up until, because I wasn’t sure if they wanted me to work right up until the induce date (tentative 12/2/09 still) or not. She wanted to take me out, my last day being 11/20/09. I said, can we see how I feel at my appointment on the 23^rd. I would rather have more time after the baby is born than before. So she may take me out of work around Thanksgiving.

We have a sonogram next week, so I will update everyone then. They should be able to tell what is up in the chest cavity, and how much she weighs at that point.

~Angela

Update from 10/26, 11/2 and 11/4 appointments

Again, sorry I haven’t updated in so long. These weeks seem to be flying by. Not too much longer…

Monday 10/26/09 we had a Fetal Echocardiogram and an appointment.

The echocardiogram was a little painful, they had me lay on my back for over an hour and the nurse was pushing pretty hard on my belly. When we finally say the doctor, he said that he didn’t see much change from the last one. Because she is getting so much bigger, it’s harder for them to see the heart, he said the bigger she gets the less they are going to be able to see. He said that everything appears to be functioning properly. He said he still cannot tell whether there is a hole or not, but it doesn’t seem to be the main concern at this point. Again they said when she is born, they will do an Echocardiogram right on her chest so they can see whatever they need to at that point.

We also had our regular routine visit to Dr. Nosovitch’s office. They said everything is going great, there is good movement, and fluid levels are great. I asked Dr. Nosovitch if he could give me a date that he would induce, and he said probably Wednesday 12/2/09, but not definite. Well at least we have a tentative date.

Monday 11/2/09 update: Not too much to report on for this appointment. Mackenzie came with us to the appointment and while I was on the monitor Briana was kicking like crazy. The nurse told Mackenzie that she hears her voice because she is moving. Mackenzie was very good and all the nurses loved her.

Wednesday 11/4/09 update: We met with the Pediatric Surgeon, Dr. Ratner. He was very informative and nice. He asked when my due date was, and I told him 12/9/09 but Dr. Nosovich was going to induce 12/2/09 tentative. He seemed to think I wouldn’t make it to those dates, because CDH babies come a little early. I am at 34 weeks now. I am hoping that everything keeps going well and that she doesn’t come early, but I am ready whenever. She is still VERY active.

Dr. Ratner explained to us the procedures, which some we knew and he answered our questions as best he could.

When Briana is born, they will stabilize her immediately, using one of three breathing methods. Once that happens, he said it could take 5-7 days of stabilization before surgery will be done. If she has to be put on ecmo (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) http://oce.sph.unc.edu/phnceac/babyguide/ecmo.pdf, which is the heart/lung bypass machine it could be longer.

The surgery will take about 2 ½ hours. After surgery, he said the time frame could be 3 weeks to 3 months in the hospital depending on the severity of her defect. He said he will check our last sonogram and see what is in the chest cavity to help determine how big the hole may be. But again, he won’t know until he goes in how severe the defect is. We told him the last sonogram we had, Dr. Nosovitch told us that he didn’t see the liver up there anymore. He said that would be good. He sounded very confident that things will go smoothly. We are just praying that he is right.

I will probably not update for a couple weeks again, because next week 11/9/09 should be pretty routine again, and the following week 11/16/09 is our next/last sonogram (unless they need to do more). I will update after the sonogram.

Thank you all for being supportive. We will keep the updates coming, even if I have to have my sisters update the blog.

~Angela