Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Beware! This is a long post - but there is no bad news!

I had my doctor's appointment this morning. It was just a simple check, but the baby's heart rate was fine and they gave me the go ahead to get out of the chair. I don't think I have ever been as happy to do housework as I was tonight. It was just in time because now Phil has whatever Maeve has and he is feeling miserable.

I did have a chance to ask the doctor all of my questions that have come up since we have started absorbing all of this. The stuff I learned:

1. The preliminary results for the amniocentesis covered the standard chromosomal abnormalities. The final results check for the more unusual abnormalities.

2. The next step if things keep progressing properly is to go to Ann Arbor to meet with the heart specialist when the baby reaches 25 weeks or so. We are at 19 weeks now.

3. Hypoplastic right heart syndrome is less common than hypoplastic left heart syndrome, so there is not as much data and we are dealing with more unknowns.

4. We have double confirmation that the baby is a boy. He has Y chromosomes and a penis!

5. The fluid around the baby's heart is not uncommon and may increase or decrease. The fluid around the heart is an indication of the heart not working properly. We will know that the situation is critical if the fluid moves into the abdominal cavity.

The most important thing that I learned today is that I am going to the right doctors. The two obstretricians that are in the practice are husband and wife. I chose them before I got pregnant with Ella because they accepted my insurance. Later, I found out they specialize in high risk pregnancies (the office is covered with photos of multiples). It has been wonderful not to have to switch doctors when things got ugly.

The wife is my normal doctor, but she was on vacation last week, so her husband was in charge. Today, I found out that he called her while she was on vacation to let her know what had happened. When she walked into the exam room, she gave me a hug and told me how sorry she was. These are definitely not people that treat their patients like a good way to make money.

I explained that we tried to let as many people know last week as possible. I told her how awkward it is to explain the situation when people ask how the twins are. Her response was "And now there are that many more people praying for you".

We are truly blessed to have such wonderful care. There is no way this little boy could be in any better hands!

The next doctor's appointment is April 9. I will post if anything new happens before then. Thanks again for all of your prayers!