Checkups and a Name

The four of us went to Bertram July 3rd to hang out with my family for the holiday weekend.

We went bowling

Watched the fireworks

Looked precious sleeping

Made cookies for Captain

Then the girls stayed with my parents the following week because I had several doctor appointments over the past week. Also, I wanted to try to get a few things done around the house since I hadn't started working on the nursery yet.  I repeated the three hour glucose test last Monday and failed it this time, so I've been adjusting to checking my glucose levels four times a day and modifying my diet.  It hasn't been as hard as I first imagined.  

My sister-in-law, Sarah, asked me in December to make the baby bedding for our new niece...only seven months later, I finally got it done!  With finishing school, being pregnant, and finding out right after I graduated that the baby has CHDs, I had been a little swamped.  I'm so happy to have it finished and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

I got that done and started cleaning out the playroom and the girls' room while binge watching How I Met Your Mother to finally start getting the nursery ready!  Can I just say how thankful I am that instant streaming Netflix and smart phones didn't exist while I was in school?  I would have never studied.  

Stephen went to North Carolina for some training last Thursday through Saturday, so I had the house completely to myself which was WEIRD AND LONELY.  I realized my time limit away from the girls hovers around three days before I miss them painfully.  Stephen flew back into Dallas on Sunday, and I met him at the airport.  We had a mini-vacation in Dallas over the weekend, and I had doctor appointments Monday and Tuesday.  We went to the Rangers games Saturday and Sunday.  We sat between right and center field Saturday, so we had a great shot of the bullpen. 

And Friday we sat on the face of the sun eight rows up behind home plate for twenty minutes before I had to retreat to the shade. 

The seats were so hot that I couldn't put my arms on the arm rests because it was seering my flesh off.  Once we moved to the shade, we were fine.

I had an appointment with the cardiologist Monday afternoon.  Dr. Kao said everything looks the same as it did last time and the time before that, and she expects he won't need surgery immediately after birth.  I don't have to go back to see her for six weeks!  Tuesday morning we had an appointment with the perinatologist to do a growth ultrasound.  He's still growing great and tolerating the CHDs well, and his head is still huge.

Here's his sweet little profile:

His legs were stretched completely straight during part of the ultrasound and his feet were in my ribs, which sounds about right.

And this is a close-up of his heart:

The figure eight shaped part is the left side, which is fully formed.  The white line immediately above that is the septum, which separates the left and ride sides.  The triangle shaped dark spot right above that is the right side, which you can tell pretty clearly now is smaller than the left side.  Starting next week, I'll be getting biophysical profiles done on the baby every week--alternating between my OB's office here in Tyler and the perinatologist in Dallas.

During our little vacation we decided on a name!  Baby boy will be Samuel Stephen.  During the second time we visited the cardiologist about a month ago, Stephen looked up names with "heart" in their meanings.  Samuel means God's heart or asked of God, so it immediately went to the top of our list.  Emory asks me at least once a day, "Do you have a baby in your belly?  Is it my brudda?  What's him name?" and I'm SO happy to have an answer for her now!  I googled "Samuel Bryan" just to make sure there wasn't a serial killer out there with that name, and all I found was this guy:

so I think we're good.

 

 

Meeting the New OB

Yesterday, Stephen and I met the OB, Dr. Walker, who will deliver still nameless baby boy.  Her office is at Medical City, which was nice since we're already familiar with the hospital.  I had another ultrasound.  I'm 27 weeks pregnant now, and his head is measuring normal for 29 weeks--this kid has a big noggin.  He had hiccups during the ultrasound, which was really cool to watch and feel at the same time.  Then we met with Dr. Walker, and I really liked her!  She was very laid back.  She is having a baby next Monday but will be back to work in August before I need to see her again.  She was able to answer a few questions I had about the delivery, immediately after, and our stay in the hospital.  She, her nurses, Dr. Kao the cardiologist, and the NICU nurses will be in the OR during delivery in case the baby's oxygen saturation is low and he needs immediate attention after delivery.  As long as he is stable he won't have to be whisked off to the NICU right away, so we will get to see him for a little while. The baby will have to go to the NICU pretty soon after birth since he will need the medicine to keep his PDA open.  Dr. Walker said it's normal procedure for c-sections to keep the spinal block in for 24 hours, and patients get a pump to add medicine when necessary for pain.  That sounds like the worst thing imaginable to me--I want to be able to walk as early as absolutely possible for a number of reasons, but mostly so I can be with our baby!  Dr. Walker said I can refuse anything (SO happy she said this instead of some "well, this is what we typically do" kind of thing that I get from my OB here in Tyler), and I can get up as soon as I want.  I will be discharged as early as possible so I can spend as much time as possible with the baby in the NICU.  He will stay in the NICU for 7-10 days as long as he doesn't require the BT shunt, which the doctors won't be able to determine for sure until after birth.  I'm going to continue going to my OB here for my regular visits, and I won't have to see Dr. Walker again until the beginning of September.  That's actually nice because it will save lots of trips to Dallas once I have to start going every two weeks and then every week later on.

After the doctor, we went to Carter's to get some clothes for this baby boy!  

Here's the loot:

And here's the difference between what Mama chooses:

and what Daddy chooses:

Back to the cardiologist in two weeks!