On the 2 week Plan

Friday June 20, 2008 - 30 weeks 5 days

1st off Happy Birthday to my sister Staci as she is celebrating in Iowa today, preparing to be the best Auntie ever!

I had a routine check up at St. Francis with Dr. Feuerbacher today, as I am now seeing him every two weeks. Everything looked pretty good, I am measuring at a little over 33 weeks. He measures from my pelvic bone to the tip of my fundus. This generally correlates to how many weeks along you are, but since my amniotic fluid has increased, so has the size of my belly, making it look as if I am farther along than I really am. My blood pressure was fine as was my weight ( a number I will never disclose ). We talked about the appointment that I had on Wednesday, since Dr. Feuerbacher is about 10 days behind, I usually give him the scoop before he gets the written reports from Dr. Gray in KC.

All in all I am feeling pretty good, tired, but good. My feet have really started swelling more and more, so I decided to treat myself to a pedicure today. It felt amazing. We are heading out of town for a wedding this weekend and I will be taking my NCLEX (state board of nursing test) tomorrow morning in Kansas City. We will try to take some cute pictures so all those who haven't seen me for a while can check out my "baby bump" as my best friend Darci puts it. I am pretty sure I surpassed the "bump" phase about 10 weeks ago, but who knows.

Sounds like baby Kinley is having a pretty rocky 48 hours post operation, so please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers ( and it's okay to slip one extra in for me to pass my NCLEX). As always, thanks for the overwhelming support. Love to see all the turquoise bracelets, especially at my work. We have decided to order a bunch more since we are currently out. So everyone is soon to have one.

No News = Good News?

Wednesday June 18, 2008 - 30 weeks 3 days

Profile shot of her face

Her BIG feet- Dr. said she has very long arms and legs~ wonder where they came from?

Sucking her thumb with her pinkie out

The arrow is pointing to hair on the back of her head- they say she has a ton!

Lying on her side with her arm curled up around her face. She was in the craziest positions.

Yesterday we had another appointment at St. Lukes for an ultrasound to ensure everything was right on track. It had been a while since we had one, i think almost 5 weeks ago so I was pretty anxious to see how much our little girl had been growing. Our appointment was at 1:00 but we didn't get into see to start the ultrasound until after 1:30 because they are making everyone re-register in admissions for every appointment which takes forever.

This ultrasound was pretty short, they took measurements of all the little bones, head, abdomen and my amniotic fluid level. Dr. Gray who saw us last time was the Perinatiologist that saw us yesterday. He said that everything looks the same as last visit which is pretty much the best we can hope for. No better, no worse. He did confirm that a portion of the liver is herniated up which he suspected last time. He also said that my amniotic level is a little higher than average but that is considered "normal" for CDH babies because they are unable to effectively swallow and recycle the amniotic fluid. At this time Dr Gray said it was not a concern and that he would continue to monitor both baby and I via Dr. Feuerbacher. He said it was also unnecessary to come back every two weeks to Kansas City for my prenatals because of how far the drive was and how well both baby and I are doing. And yes baby girl reed did not behave herself again yesterday. She was moving around so much and doing summer salts the whole time. I am assuming that is why the ultrasound was so short this time. Both the ultrasound technician and the Dr. asked me if she moved that much all the time- ABSOLUTELY! I guess she will have time to sleep after she is born because she shirley doesn't seem to now. Dr. Gray said she is weighing in at about 3lbs 8oz so that is great news- she is really growing! We didn't ask about the LHR (lung head ratio) partially because it doesn't matter and because she wasn't being very cooperative we figured they probably couldn't get a good shot of the lung.

We also discussed the possibility of induction, trying to nail down a date when he thought it would be a good time so we can start planning some things- basically the longer I can keep her "baking" the better. Her chance for survival and a good prognosis depends on how big she is and how long her lungs ( what little lungs she does have) have to develop. Basically he said that we could talk about it at the next appointment but he would like to see me go to at least 38 weeks. I guess Brian and I are just scared that since we live so far away, we don't want to risk having her anywhere but at St. Lukes. As for now, no induction date. Dr. Gray just told me and baby to stay boring and not do anything too fun. I told him not to worry- I wont.

After the appointment we stopped by to see Kevin and Kathy Melcher at Children's Mercy, there baby Kinley who also has CDH was born about 2 and a half weeks ago. She was supposed to have her surgery yesterday to repair her diaphragm, but they got "bumped" because of some emergency surgeries. We had a nice visit with them, but made it short so they could get back to their little girl. She has been on ECMO for the last two weeks and will go into surgery hopefully today on ECMO. Please send up some extra prayers for Kinley and her family today as they are on an "emotional roller coaster" There is a link to their blog site under CDH Babies on the right hand side of the page if you want to check it out.

Also, we want to thank everyone for the awesome support and wearing the CDH wristbands, we still have a few to give out but don't have too many left. Thank you also to everyone that has sent notes, cards and prayers, they are much appreciated and keep them coming. It is unbelievable how a positive comment really brightens our day.