Why I'm here

I've always wanted to start a blog. But what would I write about and why would anyone read it? Well now, I guess, I finally have a purpose and reason. Although I'm still not sure I know HOW to write this blog. I want and easy way to keep family and friends updated on everything that has and is going on with baby Brody, myself, and my other boys-Ryder & Adam. I've been updating facebook pretty regularly but not everyone has facebook and sometimes I feel like my status updates are a little too intense for something such as facebook.

I'm going to go ahead and apologize becuase I write excatly like I speak. ...and use a lot of dot dot dots. :)  oh, and smiley faces too. I don't have an extensive vocabulary, I once had trouble spelling the word "of", and sometimes I get a little comma happy. I'm sure my Dad, the grammar king, would have a field day reading what I write. I promise to proof read but I don't promise to catch all my mistakes.

I'm going to start from the beginning, kinda, and pretend you have no clue what's going on...so sorry this first post is a little long-winded.

Hi, I'm Heather. I'm 28 (at least for the next 11 days) and pregnant with my second little boy. Ok, I guess everyone knows that much. ...My first pregnancy was extremely normal. My biggest complaint was that my back hurt constantly. I was blessed with a very quick labor & delivery and, most importantly, a very healthy little boy. Ryder is such a joy...smart, funny, sweet (I really could go on and on)...so much so that my husband, Adam and I decided we want more kids. I found out I was pregnant and we were thrilled that our family was growing. At 18 weeks we had a regular ultrasound to check out the baby's anatomy and find out the sex. Another boy! We were thrilled...I've always pictured myself as a mom of boys...mainly because girls scare me. But also because I want a girl (I like a challenge) but I want more than 2 kids. And I think if we were having a girl this time, Adam would say "we're done".  Back to the ultrasound...the Maternal-Fetal Specialist, Dr. Rosemond said the baby's left kidney was measuring slightly larger than the right kidney. He told us not to lose sleep over it because this is extremely common (mostly in boys) and usually resolves on it's own. Dr. Rosemond explained that most likely the kidney was enlarged because of reflux up from the bladder and that the baby would grow out of it. We scheduled a follow up ultrasound for 10 weeks later.

I really didn't lose any sleep thinking about his kidneys. I have acutally had a few friends who were in similar situations and the doctors were right...everything resolved on it's own and their babies were all born healthy and happy.

Adam and I went back to Dr. Rosemond in January-at 28 weeks. The altrasound tech scanned me before the doctor came in and I remember she was very quiet. She told us his heart rate looked good. Thank you God. Then I'm not really sure what happened but I remember seeing this large black circle and Adam said, "THAT'S the kidney??" and the tech said yes. My heart sank. The tech said she was sorry and that Dr. Rosemond would be in to talk to us in a few minutes. After Dr. Rosemond scanned me he explained to me that this was an extremely severe case of Hydronephrosis and there was probably some sort of obstruction that wasn't allowing the kidney to drain into the bladder.  He also told us the baby's right kidney had multiple cysts on it, although it was of normal size. Not only were there these isssues but the the left kidney was pressing up against the diaphragm and pushing the heart over.  The heart, having to work extra hard to pump blood, had thicker than normal walls and had more fluid around it than normal. The doctor told us he could count the number of times he had seen something like this on one hand so he wanted to talk to his "collegues across the country" and come up with a plan.  ...I held it together in the doctors office...but fell apart once I got to the car and called my mom. Thank God my wonderful, supportive husband was with me to not only drive but also to explain everything to my mom because I couldn't even speak.

So just 4 days later I went to St. Mary's Hospital in Athens for a proceedure to drain the baby's left kidney. It was very similar to an amniocentesis except instead of just drawing fluid out of the uterus, the needle went even further...into the baby and into his kidney. I had Adam by my side and the doctor, ultrasound tech, OB, 2 nurses, and several nursing students in the room as well. They drained about 120cc's of fluid although the kidney didn't shrink down nearly as much as the doctor had hoped. His heart was more midline...so that was a plus. I ended up staying the night in the hospital (I was suppose to be in and out of the hospital in about 2 hours) because I started having contractions and the baby's heart rate kept dropping after each contraction. With the fear that I was going into labor I received 2 steroid shots to help the baby's lung development. Thankfully, I was not in labor. And at an ultrasound just 4 days later the kidney was back to that huge mass it was before we drained it. Since the proceedure didn't seem to be that beneficial the doctor suggested we not do that again. He also told me that I'd most likely have to have a c-section becuase the baby didn't seem like he'd tolerate labor too well.

At this point, I was seeing Dr. Rosemond every week for an ultrasound (along with my regular OB every 2 weeks for a normal prenatal visit). The kidney seemed to be getting about a centimeter bigger every week and my amniotic fluid kept getting lower and lower as well. Early in pregnancy the mother produces the amniotic fluid, which the baby breathes in and out (this is how the lungs develop), and also swallows, digests, and then is excreted as urine. Lovely huh? But later in pregnancy, apparently, the mother doesn't produce much (if any...I'm still confused by this) amniotic fluid. It's just kind of circulated through the baby...he swallows it and pees it out...over and over. Well, since my baby's kidney's aren't draining into the bladder it only makes sense that the amniotic fluid keeps decreasing. This low fluid is called Oligohydramnios and poses a major problem...lung development...or lack thereof. Even though I had the steroids, Dr. Rosemond explained that if the amniotic fluid is low and the baby's not exercising his lungs, no amount of steroids is going to help. He said it's called Pulmonary Hypoplasia....or hypoplastic lungs. This is were the lungs are small and stiff, most often caused from some other congenital defect, and a leading cause of neonatal death. NOT GOOD. If his lungs aren't fully developed, well, there's really nothing they can do for the kidneys. And if that wasn't enough to worry about, Dr. Rosemond was concered about a "cord accident".  Amniotic fluid also cushions the baby and the umbilical cord and without that fluid there's a chance the baby could press up against the cord, cutting off the blood supply. So now I was to be monitored twice a week. I went to my OB on Mondays for an hour long non-stress test...or NST. And then back to Dr. Rosemond's office on Thursdays for an ultrasound.  My first NST sent me back to the hospital because the baby wasn't very reactive and after a BPP (Biophysical Profile) the doctor decided I needed even more monitoring which could not be done in her office. We had previously met with a Pediatric Urologist who explained to us what we could expect after the baby's born, if everything is ok with his lungs. Basically the plan would be to place a shunt in the kidney to drain it and then go from there. Apparently a baby lives off of his mom's kidney function for the first 2 days of life unitl his own kidneys kick in. So we won't know how much, if any, kidney function he has until then. The Urologist convinced us (which wasn't hard) to deliver at Northside Hospital in Atlanta since it was right across the street from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Scottish Rite. So now I had to meet with a whole new group of doctors.

The plan was to meet with my new Maternal-Fetal Specialist, Neonatologist, and then OB.  Unfortunatley the first doctor I saw was extremely concered about the no (that's right, not low...but NO) amniotic fluid and immediatley admitted me into the hospital for continuous in-house monitoring until the baby gets here. I was really hoping I was having a bad nightmare. But it's been 5 days and I haven't woken up yet.  You know, I will do whatever I need to do to make sure my baby has a chance for a normal life...but I never thought bedrest would be part of this process. I know bedrest isn't all that bad in the grand scheme of things but 7 weeks in a hospital just plain sucks. With the exception of visits here and there, that's 7 weeks without Adam and Ryder. Which just makes my heart ache. Up to this point I have only been away from Ryder for a couple of nights. And that was just this past December. I've also thought about everything else I'll be missing...work...my nieces (chilren under 12, other than my own, are not allowed in the hospital)...Easter...the 3 days of spring that we have here in GA...and I get to spend my last birthday as a 20-something here too.

Taking advice from a co-worker and friend...I'm not worrying about what's going to happen with baby Brody once he's born.  If I worry and something bad happens then I've lived through it twice so I'm giving it up to God. And because of the wise words of another friend & co-worker, I'm praying for a miracle and I believe in that miracle! Continuing to pray is really all I can do.

That's about it for now. I've had a good bit of visitors and I spend my days trying not to be too bored. It's acutally pretty busy here, especially in the mornings. I see the regular OB, M-F Specialist, several nurses, techs, food service folks, snack cart lady (she's my favorite), Chaplin, Music Therapist (she's interesting), house keepers, Nutrionist, Neonatologist, & Pediatric Nephrologist almost every day (some of these fine folks I get to see several times a day). It's almost hard to get anything done...like a shower...without being interupted.  The monitoring has been going well. I'm usually hooked up for about 30 minutes depending upon how Brody's heart rate looks. Sunday, when I had several visitors, I ended up being monitored for 2 hours. That wasn't very fun. My last ultrasound went well also...Brody was sucking on his fingers and the doctor was able to see him doing his breathing exercises so that makes me very optomistic about his lungs.

I must add that I have some amazing people in my life. I am so thankful for Adam...for everything that he has done for me and everything he is doing now that I'm stuck in the hospital. I can't even begin to come up with the words to thank him adequately. My mom and in-laws for all their help. Friends and family near and far that have sent gifts, called me, sent me cards, and who have come to keep me company for a little bit. Everyone, even strangers, for their prayers. And for Ryder, who gives me the biggest hugs and kisses when he comes to see me. And for wispering "I wuv you, Mommy" in the middle of the night last night (he and Adam spent the night with me...and even though I had a horrible night sleep, it was the best night I've had all week).

I think I've dragged this first post on long enough. Did you make it to the end? Or was I so boring you stopped reading after the fourth paragraph? :)  ...well, we'll see what tomorrow brings.