Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Only a few more days!

This past Monday we had a very uplifting appointment. Our baby weighed around 5 lbs 11ounces. Next week when he is born he will probably weigh just over 6 lbs. He's still a bit small, but growing well. The fluid in his ventricles has no longer increased and remains around 13-14mm. The doctor said that these numbers are in the very mild category. We also learned that our baby has a head of hair which was evident in his ultrasound pictures!
A few days ago we also visited the NICU and Neonatal. The staff was very kind and we feel at ease knowing where we'll all be in a few days. We had a lot of questions for the Neonatal doctors, but as usual, the answers are usually, "we have to just wait and see." So in other words, we still have no new information on our baby's physical abilities, hydrocephalus, the severity of his latex allergies, or recovery time.
As many of you are aware, our C section date is Jan. 6 at 7:30 am. We feel so encouraged by everyone's excitement and eagerness to visit us and our baby, however we have made the decision to allow only family visitors on the 6th, please. After the 6th we'll be looking forward to hopefully many friends stopping by!
We will also do our best to keep everyone updated on the day of our baby's birth. We will try to post updates on our blog that very day.
Please continue to pray for us as our delivery date nears, our baby's health, and his doctors.
Thanks!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Amnio Results are in

After a little over a week of anticipation, we finally recieved our amniocentisis results. We are relieved to announce that our results came back normal. In otherwords, there shouldn't be any other deformities or fatal problems with our baby. What an answer to prayer!
At our last appointment, the ultrasound showed straight legs and normal looking feet which is good news. However, the fluid in our baby's ventricles increased. Normally a baby will have ventricles measuring 10mm and under. Our baby's ventricles are measuring 14mm and 19mm. Fluid build up in the ventricles can occur from hydrocephalus which needs to be treated with a shunt. It was disappointing to receive this news, however it still does not indicate that a shunt will for sure be needed. So far they are still planning on doing the initial back surgery and then will monitor the ventricles in the brain for hydrocephalus. Please pray that the fluid will reduce and that a shunt won't be needed.
Last week we went to our C section class. It feels great gaining more and more information on what to expect on our big day. We're also going to be touring the hospital and meeting with NICU people. Our friends, Leigh and Andy, have already visited Spectrum and felt great about the people and facility. We we're glad to hear that and are eager to see it for ourselves.
Our nursery finally has a crib thanks to Nate's mom:) It's starting to come together but we still have a lot to do in preparation for our baby. This last month is going extremely fast; we hope we'll be ready for the 6th!