Plans Are Beginning to Take Shape

I am happy to report that this week’s doctor’s visits were both very positive!

We went to our 26-week ultrasound on Tuesday. The sonographer talked us through the entire scan, unlike my last two ultrasound visits at UCSD.

My two largest concerns I addressed with her were: 1) low amniotic fluid 2) growth of the cyst found on the umbilical cord. She educated me that the amniotic fluid was perfectly normal and the cyst growth is still inconclusive while we still do not know if there is any real danger to Samuel yet. Even though the cyst is quite large (8cm x 5cm in one angle), there are more things to consider such as number of cysts within the cyst and exact angle the baseline cyst measurements were taken at UCSD. Two new things that were discovered 1) a possible absence of a stomach 2) a possible a greater complication to the heart than what was reported at UCSD.
She is recommending a follow-up visit at the UCSD Hilcrest facility where we will now finally perform a fetal cardio echo exam to check Samuel’s heart. She works at this facility too and will do the evaluation for us next week!

The sonographer took great interest and compassion to our situation. We asked for one picture of Samuel and she printed ten! We discussed with her the possible ‘scenarios’ that could take place at Samuel’s birth and our feelings about when we would want to take corrective action to fix our precious Samuel and when we would not. We also told her we would like to deliver at a hospital that is capable to medically care for our son if we chose to take this route at the time of his birth. We do NOT want to be in a position to have to transport our son to another hospital while I am still recovering myself.

The following day we had a general check-up with my OB. I prepared myself to go over these ‘scenarios’ and build my case for the hospital I would like to deliver. Recap- at my last OB visit, she stated that she wanted me to deliver at Scripps which doesn’t have the neonatal staff or surgeons to care for a baby like little Samuel. When she finally came into the room to perform our standard biweekly check-up, she immediately gave me a big hug and told me I was so brave. To my surprise, she started the discussion stating “I am going to recommend you deliver at a different hospital because of the nature of your son’s complications”. What?? I didn’t have to say anything or plea my case to her. Before I knew it she was writing the name of a perinatologist/OB referral over at Mary Birch Sharp hospital and handed me the order for the cardio echo exam to take place next week. This cardio exam couldn’t be done without her blessing. Had the sonographer talked to my OB about our feelings on both of these things? I may never know…

We are so happy that things are starting to come together for us regarding at least a few of these really big and difficult decisions. Thank you to all who are following our blog and praying for us! Your prayers are already paying off greatly and we are feeling much stronger now with what lies ahead of us.