Thursday, May 21, 2015

The New Team

So first of all, I promise this won't become a "Helena's Medical Saga" blog (I'm working on a new post filled with swearing, judging and my usual snark) but it's just the easiest way to update those who are interested in updates. If you're not, well screw you jerk! Kidding, kidding. Just move along if you don't want an update today. I'll bring the snark next time, I promise.

We spent a good chunk of the day at the hospital yesterday meeting with everyone we'll be working with from here on out. We had an ultrasound which showed that everything but Helena's heart looks great. She's right where she should be size-wise and she's growing and developing well. Apparently she's about 3 lbs 9 oz which is significantly less than I've gained so crapballs.

We met with my new OB and got her up to speed on everything that goes on with ME in pregnancy. I have to go get them some updated bloodwork and then I go back in two weeks for my normal OB schedule. I was kinda meh on her, but whatever. In the grand scheme of things who weighs me and checks my BP and then catches the baby isn't really what's important here. She seemed nice and like she knows her shit, I just liked my regular OB's better. Not a big deal.

We had a lunch break (whoever decided to build a Portillo's next to the hospital - bless you good sir, bless you), and then met with the pediatric cardiologist who we really liked. She saw all the same things our other cardiologist saw and completely agreed with his diagnosis. We got some good news in that her lower right chamber seemed to be not as small as it was in the other ultrasounds, which is what everyone was hoping would happen. It sort of resolved itself and caught up to the rest of her heart which was great. There was still some stuff that was iffy on the ultrasound that is kinda big deal, but they're hoping once she's born and they can do the ultrasound directly on her (rather than trying to see a tiny baby heart through me) they'll get a better look but in general it was a good appointment confirming what we already thought was the case (no surprises is a good thing!). We're going back for one last ultrasound before delivery (I'm almost 31 weeks), and at that time we'll also get a tour of the NICU, pediatric cardiac recovery floor and the maternity ward.

The best thing that came from the appointment is that the cardiologist recommends me being induced at 39 weeks to ensure that everyone we might need available at Helena's birth is at the hospital and ready to jump in if needed. My husband and I have said that our ideal situation would be delivering at the Children's Hospital, but being induced so that everyone is there and ready to go, so this is perfect for us. I was induced with both My Guys and it works well for me (I don't just... go into labor like some people, please) so it's a great plan.

All in all we're still scared and nervous and stuff, but we're feeling better that a solid plan is coming into place and we're going to be with the right people at the right place for Helena.

And apparently we only have about 8 weeks to get our shit together to get ready for this baby, so we gotta get on that!

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Change of Venue

We will be officially delivering at the Children's Hospital. Despite what the surgeon originally told us, our cardiologist feels that as we cannot say with 100% certainty that Helena will be ok to breath on her own after birth we shouldn't take any chances and just deliver there.

I am relieved.

The more I thought about it the more I didn't like the idea of delivering at our local hospital for this very reason. Sure, she might be totally fine when she's born and able to breath on her own and getting enough oxygenated blood but if she's not, she'll need a procedure done that our local hospital cannot do. That'd mean a transfer 30+ minutes away to the Children's Hospital and then I would be at one place and she and my husband would be at another. I wouldn't be able to see her, or be involved in her first few days of care and it would make what I imagine is going to be a complicated situation even more complicated.

My blood pressure tends to skyrocket near the end of my pregnancies (full blown pre-eclampsia with My Big Guy, just really high BP with My Little Guy) and lord knows I'll already be scared and nervous about Helena's delivery - knowing that we're in a place that has all the care she could possibly need immediately available gives me a bit more piece of mind.

So next week I'm off to meet with my new high risk delivery team, and the pediatric cardiology team at the Children's Hospital and get them up to date on our situation. It's slightly annoying that my OB appointments will now be 30+ minutes away instead of 5, but it's a small price to pay to know that Helena will be born in the place she needs to be born in for the best care.

I looked up the doctors I'll be seeing and they are quite impressive, so that's reassuring as well. Everyone tells us that this hospital is THE place to go for pediatric heart issues - apparently it has quite the reputation for it. All these things bring us a bit more comfort in knowing we're doing all we can to help our baby.

But the best sign/omen/whatever you want to call it for us is that the high risk OB I'm seeing is named Helen. Seriously. It's like Helena has one of her angels watching over her already.