Monday, July 16, 2007

Happy Monday!!!

Great news!!!!—we have a confirmed appointment at Shands for July 31st! I got the call just as I was walking into my consultation with the pediatric surgeon at UAB/Children’s. The consultation went well—I was armed with about sixty (60) questions. I let the doctor speak first—listening to everything he had to tell us. It wasn’t specific to our baby (although he had looked over our records) but more of a consult on CDH itself and what happens when the baby is born and general information on the surgery and stuff like that. He answered most of my questions—the ones that pertained to pediatrics—and then some of my prenatal questions. He was very nice and seems more than capable. After our consultation we were given a tour of the NICU and saw a CDH baby who had just had her hernia surgery. We all commented on how big and healthy she looked! She wasn’t on ECMO (there weren’t any babies on ECMO at that time) although we did get to see an ECMO machine in person—very large machine, a little intimidating.
Seeing everything in person, it is hard to imagine “living” at the hospital for a few months. It sort of made everything seem very real. All in all, the consultation is our first big step in determining the best place for me to deliver. I do feel confident that our baby will be in good hands if I “have to” deliver here (like if I went into labor early and stuff like that). We do feel like we have a grasp on how it could possibly be here and so we are anxious to visit Shands and compare the two. I have heard a lot of people say that we’ll just have a feeling about where the “right” place is for us—so we are praying that will be the case.
My next appointment is my regular OB appointment on July 25th—so there is really nothing exciting going on until then—except working on a name for Baby Rich!!!! We go back to the Kirklin Clinic next Thursday for another ultrasound and possibly to meet with the geneticist about our amniocentesis results (the more in depth ones). Then off to Shands the following Tuesday. I do feel that there is now some sort of order to all this—at least I can look at my calendar now and see progress! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Feel free to post any name suggestions!

4 comments:

Vicki Jensen said...

Liz & Rusty,
That's great news that you had a good visit with UAB and feel comfortable there and that you'll be going to Shands as well. It sounds like you'll have 2 good options available and either way baby Rich will be in good, capable hands. We were just at Johns Hopkins today and saw a baby on ECMO. I know what you mean about reality hitting! Let's just hope our little guys won't ever need that scary machine! Good luck with all your upcoming appointments and also for picking out a name. We had about 4 girl names and when we knew our baby was a boy it took us forever to decide on a name..haha.

~Vicki

krey4574 said...

Hi liz & Rusty, my name is Kevin, my girlfriend( melissa ) and I are also having a baby with CDH. I have been getting as much info on this condition as I can find . We have went to many specialists and everytime we seem to get worse news ( except from out Ped Surgeon at Colombia Pres in Manhattan. Dr. Marc Arkowitz). We were told that our babys' LHR was .7 which other doctors told us was not good . Dr Arkowitz tells us that it has no bearing on survival rate right now ( she is 22 weeks ). We were told that our baby has his liver , stomach and intestine in the chest cavity, other doctors tell us that this in combination with the low LHR rate is not good, while Dr. Arkowitz says it always has some liver there. We have read everything on this condition, including things about ECMO( make sure to ask about the possibility for a brain bleed and the if the abdomen has developed enough to hold the organs. I appreciate reading your posts and hope for the best for you and your baby. My email is krey4574@yahoo.com if you would like to contact me . Thanks again kevin

Anonymous said...

Rusty and Liz,
Just wanted to let you know that we are praying for all three of you. It is so good to hear that all is coming together with your appointments and such, keep your heads up and remember that HE is the ultimate physician and HEALER. Love ya!!
Jonathan and Stephanie Wright

Anonymous said...

hey guys...good news then...we are thinking of you every day!

we found a house and are very relieved...we hope you find a buyer...we know it will take some pressure off

you know my name suggestion!!! James Robert...then Rusty can pass down all of his monogrammed shirts!!

love you guys..the basingers