A day of doctors

Whew!  It has been quite a long day and it's only coming up on 5pm

My day started around 4:30 when I just decided I couldn't sleep anymore.  I wasn't nervous, I felt completely rested and relaxed to get up and get going.  I checked some email, nibbled on some fruit, watched an episode of NCIS and then decided to make Brian breakfast in bed.  He's not exactly a morning person so I thought it would be a nice surprise on one of his long days where he goes to school after work.  By 5:45 I was out the door on my way to my parents to get mom before we headed off to the hospital.

We started with Dr. Cuneo (Card) and another fetal echo to see how Olivia's growth is impacting her heart and all related anatomy.  The echo lasted longer than the last few have, so not going to lie, I started to get a bit antsy.  Once Dr. Cuneo came in though all my angst was put to rest, they were looking at the valves which they hadn't really been able to view before due to size, view, etc.  Olivia is looking great at this stage.  Her pulmonary artery & vein are both really nice sizes and while the aorta is still hypoplast, it has subtly grown since the last scan.  We got two thumbs up, scheduled our next visit for four weeks from today and were then sent off to the MFM (Maternal Fetal Medicine) Group there at Christ.

The intent with making a switch over to MFM at Christ is these high-risk OBs are better equipped to handle a labor and delivery of a baby with any special needs during delivery or post delivery. They are more likely to throw in the towel and call an audible c-section if Olivia isn't tolerating the contractions properly and overall just have a better idea of what signs to look out for in later weeks of my pregnancy if we need to induce.  It sounds like the delivery room will be quite the happening place for us when Miss Olivia makes her debut.  We will have a Neonatologist, Respiratory Therapist, Nurses and of course the Dr playing quarterback. 

As I've stated before in previous posts, we will not have much time with Livvy when she's first born as they will take her to assess vitals and promptly start her on an IV of Prostaglandin for the Fetal Ductus.  However, those first few days before surgery will be next to normal except that I will have to go to her instead of her staying in the room with me.  Immediate family will be able to meet her and hold her; so no worries there. 

The best part of the day in between going back to exam rooms to go over some things and then coming back out to the waiting room only to be called back again 30 minutes later was the level 2 ultrasound looking for growth and development.  Olivia has really grown since 22 weeks.  She is currently measuring at 3 lbs 7 oz, ranking in the 66th percentile.  Given the stature of our families, it's highly unlikely that she'll ever find her way into much higher percentiles than that, but I'm happy to see that she's growing and thriving.  As we keep saying, the bigger she is, the easier it will be the for surgeons to work around her little anatomy as you have to picture a 7 lb newborn's heart is not much bigger than a walnut. 

At one point it looked like we might get a 3D pic of her face as the doctor had one saved perfectly, but being technologically handicapped, he lost the file as he tried to print it out.  Oh well, all I can say is she was adorable and in my eyes looked a lot like her daddy (minus the satellite dish ears) Oops did I just say that?  Truth be told I really don't care who and what she looks like, she's ours and that's all that matters.  I thought about it the other night and although I wouldn't wish our circumstances on anyone else, I wouldn't trade Olivia for any other "healthy baby" either.  She's ours and we love her just the way that she's been given to us.