Chance is the name we gave our beautiful son. We wanted him to know exactly what he meant to us. He is our chance to become better people, our chance to learn and to grow, our chance at learning how to love unconditionally. This blog is dedicated to our first son. Our hope is that he will read it when he is older and realize just how much he has always meant to us.



Monday, February 7, 2011

24 Weeks - Getting Closer

We are scheduled with our regular OB/GYN and our new Perinatologist once a month. I've heard in the second trimester we will see them twice a month, but i haven't spoken to either about that yet so we will see.

We just finished our round of appointments at 24 weeks. As usual it wasn't uneventful. I ended up in labor and delivery because of more, yes more, kidney stones. My son blessed me with no mornin sickness but the mischevious child decided to send some kidney stones my way - i guess since I won't feel the pain of childbirth he didn't want me to feel left out. Anyways, i was getting cramps so i went in to be safe. While i was laying there i had some Braxton Hicks, nothing out of the ordinary, and was sent home after being tested to make sure I was not in preterm labor.
A couple days later i had my two doctor's appointments. My OB/GYN was pretty quick. I was given the infamous bottle of liquid sugar and told to come back later in the week for my first glucose test. I went about a week later and everything came back normal. One sigh of relief.
At my perinatologist appointments i get detailed ultrasounds. This was my first appointment since what i have labeled the "real" diagnosis, not the one i was given at my OB/GYN. I was nervous, Brent (my husband) was nervous. We didn't know what to expect. They measured my little one to make sure he is on track. He had a tinier head than body. Specifically his BPD (biparietal diameter) was measuring 22 weeks and his head circumference was measuring a few days behind. He had always measured right on the dot - i was scared. Everything scares me now.  She measured his abdominal circumference, he's a chunker! He measured about a week ahead, i breathed a little easier, at least his body growth was on track. My sweet son weighed a normal 1 pound 7 ounces. The tech couldn't get him to flip in order to see his spine so she left it for my doctor to do. As i sat with my husband staring at some more printouts, this time two profile pics, i rocked back and forth to get him to move - i wanted to make sure our doctor could see his spine.
When the doctor got a look at his spine it was still there, the lesion. I guess part of me was hoping it would disappear, no such luck. It measured 19mm, which i'm not sure is good or bad. I looked at my ruler later and it didn't seem so large. The doctor measured his ventricles - 12 and 13mm. I guess one had gotten larger and one had stayed the same size? He told me that a shunt would be needed as soon as the ventricles reached 20mm. I got excited, his weren't even close, maybe he wouldn't need a shunt? The doctor wasn't so optimistic, he fully expects them to get larger, and even if they are not 20mm by birth, after the back surgery the ventricles almost always increase in size. I still have hope though, maybe we can get away with one less surgery, i will pray.

We left the doctor's slightly relieved, nothing crazy had happened. I was still worried about his head size so I Googled. It's become something of a sick habit for me lately.
Apparently a small BPD is normal for Spina Bifida babies. I feel a little better.

4 more weeks until our next visit, counting them down.

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