Yesterday I had more appointments, there is nothing like driving into Boston on a Monday morning! Yuck! My appointments started at 8am, first up, NST (non stress test). I failed, as I knew that I would, the baby is not active in the mornings, which was the exact thing that I told the receptionist when I booked my appointments. I sat hooked up to a machine for 40 minutes and the baby didn't move very much, so I went to have what's called a BPP, AKA an ultrasound. They checked the baby's breathing and such. Everything looked good, then I waited for my OB to sign off on it. Then went to the Advanced Fetal Medicine Department for my regularly scheduled appointment, I did all of the normal things, however no internal exams for this girl, One bonus! (I guess it's too risky for me.)
Dr Bruce Feinberg is following my care and Dr Dani Carusi will be delivering the baby because Dr Feinberg will be on vacation, still aggravated that I haven't meet her yet. I just remembered that the receptionist in the office never called me back to set up a followup appointment for me. Huff!
Dr Feinberg told me that because of the cyst that is in my brain that I will have to have a neurosurgical and an anesthesia consult. They scheduled them for after my appointment. He also told me that he wanted to get a weight on the baby so I would have to go back after my consult for another ultrasound.
So I made my way up to the labor and delivery floor and waited for the neuro-surgery and anesthesia departments. They asked me a complete medical history and then advised me that with this type of cyst in the brain that I should have never have attempted to have a natural birth. Oops! I guess that when you have these types of brain cysts, you should never push. You should also not have a complete spinal. Which I had with Spencer. Another oops! I guess they give you what is called a 50/50. Half of a spinal and half of a epidural. The fluid that is
Inserted into the spine goes directly to the brain, which can make the cyst increase in size. So they told me that I needed to get clearance from
My primary neurosurgeon that I can get the 50/50 and I have to be able to produce the last few of my MRI scans to the BWH Anesthesia and neurosurgery department for review and approval. They will need to know where it is in the brain and how large it is. Hopefully I will not have to obtain new MRI films. A brain MRI would not be fun, especially pregnant! Yikes!
So I called and faxed over my release for medical records today to NEMC. Let's hope that I get them soon...we only have 3 more weeks from today until the delivery.
I also filled out my living will and health care proxy tonight, that certainly makes it feel real close....I wish that we could just stop time forever! :o(
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Saturday, September 24, 2011
What is sleep?
Ok, now I realize that at this point in your pregnancy the baby is enormous and any possibility of sleeping a complete night is crazy. But at some point over the last few days, the baby has shifted and is lying on my Sciatic nerve. My OB hugged me and told me, I am sorry but there is nothing that we can do about it. If your blood sugar gets low try to drink a little orange juice, but that's it.
Seriously?
Seriously?
Friday, September 23, 2011
BWH NICU Consult
Yesterday we (Gary, Donnie and I) went to BWH to meet the new baby's BWH NICU triage team. Sarah Bates (the baby's doctor that will perform the Apgar's scores and the initial assessment) meet us in a meeting room outside of the NICU.
After, the baby is born he will get his initial assessment and then we can take photos of him hopefully before he will get all of his lines and tubes that he will have for the next few weeks. I stressed to Sarah how important that it was for us to have some pictures without these items. She assured us that she understood and that she will do everything in her power to make sure that we get some. I also discussed the possibility of there being another person in the OR with us, because Gary will leave me and go with the baby after about 15 minutes. She said that they would/could accommodate another person in there as well.
After our meeting we toured the BWH NICU, (this was nothing like the CICU) this is where the baby and Gary will go first after they leave the OR. They will start the PGE there and intimate him if he needs it. He will be in Triage for approximately 1 hour before he makes his voyage over the bridge in the "plastic bread box" to Children's Hospital.
It was great to see where the baby will be going since I will not be able to go there as well. But it still breaks my heart that I will not be able to hold him. :o(
Donnie treated us to Boloco...yum!
I have more appointments today and first thing on Monday. This is getting a little ridiculous!
Friday, September 16, 2011
Another sad day.
Since I could not even muster a conversation with the Greyhound Rescue, I asked Pam to call. Greyhound Friends told Pam that they were having a Foster event this weekend at the rescue so to try and bring him there sometime this week so his odds were good that a family would adopt him. He is good with cats, most Greyhounds are not, but he does have anxiety during thunderstorms.
The hardest part of all of this was telling Spencer, we told him that Chance was going to go to a doggie school so that he could play with his friends like you do when you go to preschool. He seems to be adjusting to it. More than Gary and I are. I think that I still feel extrememly guilty. I hope that gets better with time.
So Chance wherever you end up in the remainder of your senior life, you will make a fantastic dog to a wonderful family.
Thank you for all of the lovely memories!
Thursday, September 15, 2011
I got my C-section Date!
Well I just got the call that we have been waiting for and of course as luck would have it. My c-section date was rescheduled again for Tuesday October 18th. We are really hoping that this is a sign from above that all will be ok. There is nothing like having your little boy on the day that you married the greatest man in the world. :o)
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
A very long day.
Today Gary and I had appointments all day long at Brigham and Woman's and Children's Hospital. We left Clinton at 7:30 am, we dropped Spencer off at preschool and pulled in the driveway at7:25pm. It was a long day to say the least.
We started with my weekly allergy shots in Framingham, then we worked our way into the city for everything else. We started our day off with a 10am ultrasound, except we were told to go to the wrong location so we ended up running a little behind. We arrived at Ultrasound and the RN from Maternal Fetal Medicine checked us in. (Thank god for her...because the receptionist was far from friendly.) We had a scheduled ultrasound to check on fluids and to check for cleft lip. We then were greeted by Dr Bruce Feinberg who I was told previously would be delivering the baby. He confirmed that the previous ultrasound and diagnosis was accurate...Tricuspid Atresia (Tricuspid valve not formed) VSD(hole between lower chambers). However he assured me that my fluids looked good and that he did not see cleft lip, however that the baby's head was down.
After our ultrasound we made our way over again to Advanced Fetal Medicine where we had an appointment with a RN to go over everything that in a normal pregnancy would have already happened. For example, since I am almost 35 weeks, we had to cram everything that happens in weeks 8-34 into a 1 hours visit. All of the questions left my head spinning. After what seems like an eternity we were allowed to go to lunch because we had an appointment with Dr. Feinberg at 1pm.
Gary and I found our way to the cafe,it was so expensive and I hope that I never eat there again!
We waited for Dr. Feinberg who was the most kind and patient man that I have ever met. We discussed everything about my past pregnancy's and also a tubal ligation. I assured him that I never wanted to be pregnant again so he agreed that due to my "ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE" (Insanity!) that I would be an acceptable candidate for it. However, there was talk of going into preterm labor "naturally" and what exactly would my birthing options be? He had had a conversation with another attending there about the arachnoid cyst in my brain, they believed that that would not allow me to "push" as with a natural birth. I told him that I have come to peace with a csection and that I would like to have the tubal ligation as well, so he believed that this would be accepted as the final decision. Dr. Feinberg, had to be the bearer of bad news, as you can imagine, I feel as I have had enough bad news by now. He would be on vacation and out of the country for almost a month to Israel celebrating the Jewish holiday, and sadly he would not be my attending. Lets see, that would make the 4th OB that I have meet during my pregnancy. He was going to talk to a woman who he called Dani, who he said was a much better surgeon that he was. His words exactly, "I am a great surgeon, but when anyone needs help, we call Dani." So I really feel that I am in fantastic hands, who's ever they may be. More appointments were made for 2 more weeks.
Then we walked over to Children's hospital where we had a pediatric echocardiogram of the baby's heart to make sure that nothing had changed and a final diagnosis was made my the chief of Pediatric Cardiology. Yes, the baby has Tricuspid Atresia VSD and this is how we fix it. There was a lot of information that was given to Gary and I. It really left our heads spinning. Most importantly, there was nothing that we did to cause it, it just happens early on in the baby's life cycle, but there are a few options that we can do to fix it.
There will be 3 scenarios after birth & likely 3 heart surgeries in the first few years of life:
1. If blood flow to the lungs is not obstructed, too much blood may go to the lungs over the first few weeks of life. Pulmonary artery band may be needed timing will be unknown for surgery.
2. If there is no pulmonary blood flow to lungs from heart, medication (PGE) will be started and shunt surgery will be needed.
3. Mild lung blood flow obstruction, possible to go home without surgery. (Very unlikely, seen only in few cases)
The last question that I asked was prognosis and life expectancy. The MD told me that it is very possible that our child would be a healthy boy, except for this heart defect, however, heart surgery will need to be done and the possibility that the baby would survive all 3 surgery's without complications would be around 85%. However, you need to prepare yourself that the baby will be in the cardiac NICU for almost a month at birth.
We were then assured that if we have any questions to call and ask the MD's. We were then introduced to the social worker who showed us how to get into the NICU and introduced us to a fantastic nurse named Moira, who had a niece with the same diagnosis as our child. She smiled and said that she just celebrated her 8th birthday. (This was extremely comforting.) We toured the family rooms the lactation room and were shown where the bathrooms were. She explained how the floor worked and that the RN's pull 12 hours shift rotations, so they like no disturbance between the hours of 7am-7:30am or 7pm-7:30pm due to shift changes. They need to inform the incoming RN of all of the changes. We were then allowed to walk into a few different rooms to see exactly what things were in there. There were so many tubes and machines it was the worst thing that I could have ever imagined. And it was surreal that Gary and I would be our new home. This was also the point in our day that I had lost all composure and started to sob. Nothing on this earth prepares you to see an IV in a babies head. The Rn was lovely and assured us that this was only a pit stop on our way out of the hospital.
We then thanked Moira for her time and she assured us that we would be in fantastic hands when baby #2 does arrive.
We got stuck in traffic and I cried the entire way home. I wish that I could just fast forward 3 years and see what my life was going to be like. I keep clinging to the psychic that I saw a several years before I had Spencer, she told me that I would have 2 boys.
Praying that she was right!
We started with my weekly allergy shots in Framingham, then we worked our way into the city for everything else. We started our day off with a 10am ultrasound, except we were told to go to the wrong location so we ended up running a little behind. We arrived at Ultrasound and the RN from Maternal Fetal Medicine checked us in. (Thank god for her...because the receptionist was far from friendly.) We had a scheduled ultrasound to check on fluids and to check for cleft lip. We then were greeted by Dr Bruce Feinberg who I was told previously would be delivering the baby. He confirmed that the previous ultrasound and diagnosis was accurate...Tricuspid Atresia (Tricuspid valve not formed) VSD(hole between lower chambers). However he assured me that my fluids looked good and that he did not see cleft lip, however that the baby's head was down.
After our ultrasound we made our way over again to Advanced Fetal Medicine where we had an appointment with a RN to go over everything that in a normal pregnancy would have already happened. For example, since I am almost 35 weeks, we had to cram everything that happens in weeks 8-34 into a 1 hours visit. All of the questions left my head spinning. After what seems like an eternity we were allowed to go to lunch because we had an appointment with Dr. Feinberg at 1pm.
Gary and I found our way to the cafe,it was so expensive and I hope that I never eat there again!
We waited for Dr. Feinberg who was the most kind and patient man that I have ever met. We discussed everything about my past pregnancy's and also a tubal ligation. I assured him that I never wanted to be pregnant again so he agreed that due to my "ADVANCED MATERNAL AGE" (Insanity!) that I would be an acceptable candidate for it. However, there was talk of going into preterm labor "naturally" and what exactly would my birthing options be? He had had a conversation with another attending there about the arachnoid cyst in my brain, they believed that that would not allow me to "push" as with a natural birth. I told him that I have come to peace with a csection and that I would like to have the tubal ligation as well, so he believed that this would be accepted as the final decision. Dr. Feinberg, had to be the bearer of bad news, as you can imagine, I feel as I have had enough bad news by now. He would be on vacation and out of the country for almost a month to Israel celebrating the Jewish holiday, and sadly he would not be my attending. Lets see, that would make the 4th OB that I have meet during my pregnancy. He was going to talk to a woman who he called Dani, who he said was a much better surgeon that he was. His words exactly, "I am a great surgeon, but when anyone needs help, we call Dani." So I really feel that I am in fantastic hands, who's ever they may be. More appointments were made for 2 more weeks.
Then we walked over to Children's hospital where we had a pediatric echocardiogram of the baby's heart to make sure that nothing had changed and a final diagnosis was made my the chief of Pediatric Cardiology. Yes, the baby has Tricuspid Atresia VSD and this is how we fix it. There was a lot of information that was given to Gary and I. It really left our heads spinning. Most importantly, there was nothing that we did to cause it, it just happens early on in the baby's life cycle, but there are a few options that we can do to fix it.
There will be 3 scenarios after birth & likely 3 heart surgeries in the first few years of life:
1. If blood flow to the lungs is not obstructed, too much blood may go to the lungs over the first few weeks of life. Pulmonary artery band may be needed timing will be unknown for surgery.
2. If there is no pulmonary blood flow to lungs from heart, medication (PGE) will be started and shunt surgery will be needed.
3. Mild lung blood flow obstruction, possible to go home without surgery. (Very unlikely, seen only in few cases)
The last question that I asked was prognosis and life expectancy. The MD told me that it is very possible that our child would be a healthy boy, except for this heart defect, however, heart surgery will need to be done and the possibility that the baby would survive all 3 surgery's without complications would be around 85%. However, you need to prepare yourself that the baby will be in the cardiac NICU for almost a month at birth.
We were then assured that if we have any questions to call and ask the MD's. We were then introduced to the social worker who showed us how to get into the NICU and introduced us to a fantastic nurse named Moira, who had a niece with the same diagnosis as our child. She smiled and said that she just celebrated her 8th birthday. (This was extremely comforting.) We toured the family rooms the lactation room and were shown where the bathrooms were. She explained how the floor worked and that the RN's pull 12 hours shift rotations, so they like no disturbance between the hours of 7am-7:30am or 7pm-7:30pm due to shift changes. They need to inform the incoming RN of all of the changes. We were then allowed to walk into a few different rooms to see exactly what things were in there. There were so many tubes and machines it was the worst thing that I could have ever imagined. And it was surreal that Gary and I would be our new home. This was also the point in our day that I had lost all composure and started to sob. Nothing on this earth prepares you to see an IV in a babies head. The Rn was lovely and assured us that this was only a pit stop on our way out of the hospital.
We then thanked Moira for her time and she assured us that we would be in fantastic hands when baby #2 does arrive.
We got stuck in traffic and I cried the entire way home. I wish that I could just fast forward 3 years and see what my life was going to be like. I keep clinging to the psychic that I saw a several years before I had Spencer, she told me that I would have 2 boys.
Praying that she was right!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
The worst day in the world!
On August 29th, 2011, our world completely changed. It was then that I was told by 3 Children's Hospital Pediatric Cardiologists that the son that I was carrying in utero had a heart defect called Tricuspid Atresia.
Let me backup a few years, in November of 2006, I was told for the third time that I was pregnant. Previously I have had 2 other pregnancies one resulted in a miscarrage and the other a tubal ligation. So we thought the third time had to be a charm. And it was, On August 6, 2007, my husband Gary and I welcomed Spencer Patrick into our world.
During my pregancy with Spencer, I was told that he had various things, club feet, cleft lip and webbed fingers. As I sat in UMass in Framingham, they spoke to my husband and I and they were confident that they were seeing a diagnosis of Trisomy 18. The next few weeks were hell, but it quickly turned out that they were all incorrect and I gave birth to a healthy, happy baby boy.
So in August 2011, when I was prompted by a Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor at Newton-Wellesley Hospital to just get an echocardiogram at Massachusetts General Hospital because he felt that he saw something "unusual, but I am sure it's nothing" I didn't even think twice about not bringing my husband to the appointment because I knew that it would, in the end, turn out to be nothing.
We are still waiting for that moment...
Let me backup a few years, in November of 2006, I was told for the third time that I was pregnant. Previously I have had 2 other pregnancies one resulted in a miscarrage and the other a tubal ligation. So we thought the third time had to be a charm. And it was, On August 6, 2007, my husband Gary and I welcomed Spencer Patrick into our world.
During my pregancy with Spencer, I was told that he had various things, club feet, cleft lip and webbed fingers. As I sat in UMass in Framingham, they spoke to my husband and I and they were confident that they were seeing a diagnosis of Trisomy 18. The next few weeks were hell, but it quickly turned out that they were all incorrect and I gave birth to a healthy, happy baby boy.
So in August 2011, when I was prompted by a Maternal Fetal Medicine Doctor at Newton-Wellesley Hospital to just get an echocardiogram at Massachusetts General Hospital because he felt that he saw something "unusual, but I am sure it's nothing" I didn't even think twice about not bringing my husband to the appointment because I knew that it would, in the end, turn out to be nothing.
We are still waiting for that moment...
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