Good news

I went for an ultrasound today to check up on baby boy.   (At my first ultrasound he was too low to accurately see all of his brain anatomy.)  His brain is "gorgeous," according to the tech.  :)  I had the same tech that I had at the first ultrasound, and I asked her to check up on baby boy's hole in his heart.  The first time I could clearly see the hole.  This time, only 4 weeks later, I never saw it.  The tech saw it, but said it seemed much smaller.  It only looked like a "shadow" and she could only barely see it every so often.  Praise the Lord!  It seems that his heart is well on it's way to being whole and perfect!  He has another 3 and a half months to finish closing the hole before he's due to arrive.   Which, by the way, I officially have a c-section scheduled for Tuesday, May 4th at 9am.  

Baby boy also has a very cute profile (I think he has my nose...), and little cheeks that are already plumping out.  :)  

Thank you for praying with us for baby boy!  Keep those prayers coming!  

Belly Update

Here's a belly picture from today.  I'm 24 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  

Baby Boy #2

Well, it's official!  Baby #2 is another boy!  We're so happy to have a little playmate for Alex.  It'll be fun to watch them grow up together and play.  :)    

We went to a fetal echocardigram on December 21st down at Children's Hospital.  We did one with Alex as well, just as a precaution, due to my own cardiac history.  I think Grant and I both went into it never expecting anything to be wrong, we were just there as a way to be "over-cautious."  We had a great time watching the little guy swim around on the screen, talking with the tech, and even catching up with some of the nurses that used to take care of me when I was a patient there.  The tech was able to tell us he was a boy at the end of the test.  The tech left the room to take the results to the doctor and Grant and I had about 15 minutes to just hang out.  We were both just a little bummed that it wasn't a girl.  And then we spent time trying to figure out a name (still no progress on that front, by the way).  

Then the doctor came in.  Apparently the little guy has a hole in his heart.  It's called a Ventricular Septal Defect.  The ventricular septum divides the two ventricles at the bottom of the heart.  Most of it is made up of muscle, but at the top it thins out into a membrane.  The hole is up near the membrane part.  It is VERY common, and most likely not a big deal.  It will most likely close before he is even born.  Even if it doesn't close on it's own, it's not big enough to require surgery.  The hole can only get smaller, it will never get bigger.  They expect me to have a normal pregnancy, normal delivery, and for the little guy to be just fine upon arrival.  We will need to take him to Children's to have an echo done on his heart within the first week of his life to check and see if the hole is still there, and if so, how big it is.  

Grant and I were both pretty shaken after hearing the news.  No one wants to hear the word "defect" describing part of their child.  We were trying to hold it together until we got out of the hospital.   We ran into another nurse that I know in the hallway.  She noticed I looked upset and asked why.  As soon as I told her, she went to get Dr. Knilans, who was my pediatric electrophysiologist  for 13 years.  He is fabulous!  He had been briefed on the baby's results even before we were.  He came out into the hall, put his arm around me, and said "Why are you crying?  This is no big deal.  You never would have known about this if you hadn't have had this specialized test.  The hole is going to close before he's born and he'll be just fine."  I said "Are you sure?"  And he says "I'm positive."   Wow.  How amazing!  I went from pretty much being distraught to relatively calm in just a few short moments.  I trust Dr. Knilans explicitly, and for him to be so nonchalant and positive about the situation was exactly what I needed.  

I truly feel that God has his hand on this baby boy.  I feel that we just need to pray for our boy even more than we would have originally.  I know that I have a tendency to get caught up in all the details of the pregnancy and how I'M feeling, and not focus on the baby.  This has helped us to focus on the baby and cover him in prayer.  We would truly appreciate any prayers that you would offer on behalf of our little guy, and we fully anticipate God to close up the hole in his heart.  If his little heart could form and start beating in only several weeks, it's totally possibly for a tiny little hole to close up in the 18 weeks that we have left until he arrives.  

We'll keep you posted and let  you all know if we ever decide on a name for this boy!

Alex's 18 month check-up

I took Alex to the doctor the other day for his 18 month check-up (a month and a half late...).  He's doing great!  He weighs in at 28.5 pounds (75%) and is 34 inches tall (80%).  He's grown 3 inches since September!  The doctor was very pleased with his development.  He could do 19/20 of the communication skills that were listed.