Monday, July 17, 2017

Baby Girl Updates

Ok, where to begin?! How about a cute collage of baby pictures?!


Full face!

In these pictures, she was chomping like a mad woman on the umbilical chord for a good 4 minutes. It was neat to watch!


Now, to the updates:

I finally posted my thoughts about receiving news from the perinatal specialist about Baby Girl's kidneys so go read that post before this post. Here's an update and more in-depth details about that appointment which we are finally sharing since we've received multiple tests back.

I was told at that appointment in April that not only did Baby Girl have serious kidney issues but that there was a 50% chance that she has Down Syndrome. I was completely shocked by that news, clearly. After I left the office, I cried and got on google. I realized that I had no other "markers" for Down Syndrome. I wasn't over 40, I wasn't obese, etc. But alas, that's what I was told. For the next 2 months, we were in limbo. The not knowing was absolutely killer. We wanted to wait until we got multiple tests back confirming or denying that she had it or not. The only people that knew were our parents and a couple super close friends, some of which were L&D nurses.

Baby Girl does NOT have Down Syndrome, as far as they can tell and told me to not even think about it. As of now, her chances of having it are 1/1000 but because my second screening came back negative, my doctor is confident that she doesn't have it.

When we got all the results back, we were so relieved. Of course we would love our baby no matter what but not having to worry about that, took so much anxiety away from me. Especially because there's already SO much going on with this pregnancy.

Although she doesn't have Downs, she does have Hydronephrosis. Her kidneys are backed up and full of fluid. Her ureters are also inflamed. At our appointment in May, they were measuring 5.1 and 6.1 and at our last appointment a week ago, they went down to 4.1 and 4. We were so excited for this news. She still isn't out of the woods and still, only time will tell. There's multiple treatment options or scenarios but we won't fully know until she's born. It can be as simple as her taking medicine, to her having surgery and even death. But I have been told through a special blessing that "with modern medicine, she will be ok". And that is what I cling on to.

As far as preeclampsia goes. I do have it. I have the urine in my protein, my BP isn't terrible but still not what they want, 130's/70's and I have the weight gain. I have been working really hard this pregnancy to NOT gain a lot of weight. I walk at least 4 days a week (when I'm home) and I make sure to hit 70grams of protein a day and I hardly EVER eat sweets. I've gained 10lbs each month for the last two months. It sucks. Im up 22lbs this pregnancy so far. But it's better than 40lbs at this point with both boys 😂

I still do the monthly urine collections and blood tests. And I see my doctor every 2 weeks along with the perinatal specialist. Starting the week of July 24th and every week after that, I have 2 NST's (non-stress test monitoring-2 hours) a week and my OB doctors appointment as well as my specialist doctor. I'm not excited about that but it's better to be proactive. I also have to meet with a pediatric urinolgy team within the next few weeks and we will go over Baby Girl's kidney issue when she she's born. The team will be in the room with me when I deliver via c-section. And starting in August, I will most likely be put down on bedrest with no driving. Fingers crossed I won't have too! I hit 28 weeks already and at 28 weeks with Maddox, I was put down on strict bed rest and had to send my 33 month old, Paxton, to California for 8 weeks. So I am SO grateful I'm not down on bedrest yet! So we'll see how that goes at my appt on August 3rd.

Anyways, enough of all that. That's the updates that we have as of now.

Thank you again for the kind words and prayers!