A Strong Heart

We just got back from the cardiologist at TCH and she said her heart looks great! There was nothing that is a cause for concern. She said that her heart would definitely not fit into what is typically seen in a T13/T18 baby which was great to hear. The only thing she wants to follow up with is the size of her aortic valve which measured a bit small but was nothing serious. It was a good appointment and David and I feel much better knowing that God has given her the tools she needs to be healthy. So, I am hoping that our only existing issue right now with this little girl is her size which is something I have struggled with my whole life. Like mother like daughter!

Lessons

My little girl crazy Jackson learned a tough lesson about girls today. He was ice skating with his cousin Maddie and apparantly a little girl, also 6, approached them and was quite the talker and show off. So, when she was skating in the middle of the rink, Jackson took off to chase her and show off. Well, his wobbly ankles got the best of him and he crashed and busted his lip open and had to come off the ice for some clean up. I think an important lesson was learned but I'm sure he'll have to learn it again one day...

If your going to chase down a girl...you'll probably end up getting hurt.

Two steps forward, one step back

Well, I was hoping this would be the last baby update needed and that we would be smooth sailing after today but that is unfortunately not the case. The baby herself looked great again and as we saw three weeks ago looks anatomically great! Unfortunately, most babies have a three vessel umbilical cord and our little girl only has two vessels. That in and of itself isn't a HUGE deal but it is indicitive of a possible chromosome disorder and given that we already are at a high risk, this isn't exactly the news I was wanting. 2/3 of the babies with the two vessel cord are born completely healthy, and 1/3 of the babies have some sort of heart defect/kidney defect or chromosome abnormality. From what she could tell today, the heart looked structurally correct with no apparant holes, the kidneys are structurally sound, and she confirmed that she does not have a cleft lip palate or rocker bottom feet which are two more frequent markers of the Trisomy 13/18 babies.

So all in all, we are still hoping for the best as they can still find nothing on her body that looks abnormal in any way. I am going to go to a cardiologist at Texas Children's in the next 1-2 weeks so he can hopefully definitively tell us if the heart looks like it can/will function properly. The only other issue is that she has definitely grown in the last 3 weeks but has fallen back a little in size. My regular OB wasn't too concerned with this though as she knows that my babies full term are only about 6 lb babies. If her growth continues to slow down, I may have to go on bedrest at some point b/c due to the 2 vessel cord, it can cause problems sustaining a third trimester baby. I of course will do it if I have to but am simply not able to imagine being on bedrest with the boys running around. That has nightmare written all over it!!

At this point, we are opting out of the amnio. It is getting to a point that it is too risky for us to feel comfortable and it wouldn't change our course of action anyhow. Given the issues at hand, we will have a NICU Dr at the delivery most likely anyhow and will definitely have a chromosome test done after she is here to "just know" even if she appears healthy. David and I are I think at peace with any possibility at this point but really would just love to know for sure what is going on. We are getting a lesson in patience and faith right now which was probably well needed anyhow!! :)

We are spoiled!

We had yet another amazing day out on the lake today. This time it was Lake Houston with our friends the Richters who graciously took us out on their boat. We had a great time and as usual laughed a lot. Clayton and David looked absolutely hilarious in the tube together as I am sure you'll agree and Kristi really got them good! Thanks Kristi! It was Madison's first time out on the boat and she did great and didn't get a lick of sun! (just a football to the head!) We did have a minor accident that involved David, Clayton, and an almost chopped off big toe but I'll spare you the details!

The Dads' ride was so bumpy that I couldn't get a good pic of it but here is what they looked like afterwards. This pictures really don't show just how funny they looked!

Sweet Madison - just chillin' on the lake...

Really....we do like eachother!

I CAUGHT the boys actually getting along in the backyard having a friendly game of flag football. This has been a rare occurance this summer and I think at times if I let them really have at it with eachother they would do some serious damage to one another. So, it has been a summer full of breaking up many a fights. But, here was proof that there was one shining moment where they actually got along and dare I say enjoyed eachother!?!

Independence Day

As always, our 4th started off with the ever so steamy Coles annual parade. I had to work the night before so I slept through the parade. It sounded to be more of the same so I am glad I opted to sleep so I could enjoy the rest of the day!

We went to the Bain's house and the kids played all day on the lake. The neighbors had a great fireworks show and Charlie learned an important lesson about fireworks. Shoes should be worn at all times. The poor little guy stepped on some sparkler droppings and got two burns on the

bottom of his foot......lesson learned.

Baby Update

As most of you know, after some testing in our 11th week, we were put into a "high risk" group for a chromosome disorder called Trisomy 18 and/or Trisomy 13. For some reason, because of the devastating and similar effects it has on the baby, they are grouped together. These disorders are typically called "incompatible with life" and about 70% of the babies diagnosed in utero are terminated due to the grave outcomes. Only about 10% of the babies diagnosed in utero that are not terminated actually even make it to birth because of the serious implications it has on basically all of the vital organs. There was no question in our minds that we would not terminate the pregnancy. If she is not ok, we were/are willing to let God decide when her time would be. We wanted no part in that decision.

So, as you can imagine it was quite a shock to us. The genetics counselor we dealt with suggested an amnio as did my OB. David and I felt rather strongly from the beginning that we did not want the amnio but the more we spoke with the Dr and genetics counselor, we started to sway our opinion and figured we just needed to know. We were told we needed to follow up with a perinatologist for a US to look for the markers of this disorder. We had decided previously that if she found anything, we would have the amnio - if not, no amnio. Well today was the day and I started bawling before she even turned on the machine. This week was a rough one for me and I felt like I could barely catch my breath at times. I have never felt angry, or sorry for myself during this but the realization that we may have to bury a baby had gotten the best of me this week. I knew we would get through it, I knew we would be ok, but I knew it would be devastating and the hardest thing David or I would ever have to do.

So, on to the good news -- as of right now, the Dr found not one thing wrong with the baby!! She measured perfectly on all parts of her body and she could see all 4 chambers of the heart. She is progressing perfectly. The Dr still said we could do the amnio to know for sure but we decided to stick with what we had previously decided and not do it. While we are not completely out of the woods, this was a major step in the right direction. We go back in 3 weeks to take a closer look at her heart. These babies are so severe that typically several things are seen on ultrasound immediately. Have there been babies born with this that had normal ultrasounds - yes, but it is rare. If the heart shows some issues in 3 weeks, we may go ahead with the amnio but we are hopeful that the good news will continue.

The Dr did say that due to my blood levels being so off, it may suggest a complication with the pregnancy down the road. It may cause pre-eclampsia, pre-term labor, poor placental function, or low amniotic fluid levels, etc. She told me this after I called the testing we did "that stupid test" Ok, I acted like a 5 year old for a minute but I couldn't help myself. She wanted to be sure that I knew that the test wasn't "stupid" so she rattled off all sorts of things my stupid test may be trying to tell me even if my little girl doesn't have a chromosome disorder. I guess she told me!

I know many of you have been praying for us and I certainly appreciate it. I have decided right now to "let go" of the fear and allow myself the joy in thinking about my little girl coming home to us in December! I know it is out of my hands and I know that her path was decided long before we even did that "stupid test". So, here is a picture of our little girl - well, actually it is of her girl parts. She is sitting in a straddle and the 3 little white lines is her girl parts! I figured if David got to show off the boys' boy parts than I get to show hers off too!! I'm sure I'll get a, "that is so embarrassing" remark from her someday