Medical Updates and Life

First things first- I had my fetal echo last Friday for baby #4 and...all is well! Yay! They found nothing wrong with his heart. Actually, things looked so good, they took additional 3-d images to use for teaching. What a nice change, extra pictures because things look so perfect!

Today, Asher had a sedated MRI. Not so much fun. It took quite a while to get him fully sedated (they used the maximum amount of sedation allowed for a baby his size). Then, during the MRI, his blood pressure dropped, so he needed extra fluids and medication. If that's not enough, he started coming out of sedation while they were still doing the MRI. But they were still able to get all of the images they needed. When they brought him to me, he was very drugged, and very angry! It took at least 15 minutes to calm him down. Then he had a bottle, and 5 minutes later proceeded to throw it all up. Beautiful. After a lot of cuddling, and clear liquids, we were able to get him to go to sleep. While he slept, however, his oxygen was not stellar (89-90% vs. his normal of 98%), and when he was drinking it was worse (83-85%). So he was on blow-by oxygen while we were there. We wonder now if he might always do that with his sats, and we just don't know because we don't have him on monitors at home. We won't find out how his heart is doing until Tuesday, when I see Asher's Cardiologist. Long day! I was there just shy of 5 hours, and I am pooped now.

Asher enjoying the nice weather last weekend
Jon at the park- he was so excited, you couldn't wipe that grin off his face!

Taylor and the tire

Taylor trying to look pretty while she went up the spider web (like her dress? I made it out if an old pillowcase!)

Jon being brave on the pole!

John and the spider web.

It's spring break right now for the kiddos, hopefully the weather will cooperate! I will update when we speak with Dr. P- have a great Easter!

New Arrival! (not mine, though!)

My little sister just had her second child on April 4th. Welcome baby Abby! She wasn't due until April 22nd, so it was a surprise to everyone when she came! She was born at 11:33 am, and weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. She and mommy are doing great. Here are some pictures I took of Abby this Monday (she is 6 days old in the pictures):

I have my fetal echo for my little bundle tomorrow morning. I will post an update afterwards!

OF COURSE there's a complication!

So, as you know we are expecting baby #4 , and given Asher's heart defect, we have been very concerned that this baby might also have one. (Odds are typically 1 in 100, but since Asher has a CHD, odds increase to 5 in 100). After we had our ultrasound at 20 weeks, and all looked clear with this baby's heart, we felt we could breathe a little easier (though I won't feel completely okay until after our fetal echo on the 15th). Then I saw my Nurse-Midwife last week. She confirmed that all looked well on the ultrasound...but. BUT?! Well, apparently the placenta decided to attach on my uterus, where my scar from Taylor's C-section is. Big deal, right? It has to attach somewhere, and as long as it isn't blocking the cervix, all is well, right? Not quite. Uuugghh. SO, the placenta attaching on the scar can cause all sorts of complications. The baby could get inadequate nutrition, the placenta may not grow large enough for the baby, I could go into preterm labor, the placenta could detach from the uterus early, I could hemorrhage, OR when I deliver the baby, the placenta could be attached too strongly, and require intervention, which typically leads to hemorrhaging and a hysterectomy. Lovely. And the real kicker is there is not a darn thing I can do about it. So, now we hope and pray that the placenta moves (which there is a CHANCE it might do). I have another ultrasound scheduled in May, and that will give us a better idea of what we are looking at. SO please send good thoughts/prayers our way. Because I'm kind of freaking out right now.