Final Amnio - More Specialists

The final results from the amniocentesis came in today. All of Beckett's chromosomes look normal and her fluids came back fine, showing that she has no spinal defect. With no abnormalities, we're not really sure what is causing the fluid/spotting in her brain OR the diaphragmatic hernia. Just some random skew in her creation that gave her these issues is the best we can come up with for now.

Our next appointment is with Breland on October 2nd. That will be to check her heart, maybe do another ultrasound and talk more about what his role will be in the progression of the pregnancy. October 8th is our next appointment at Sacred Heart in Pensacola and we expect Dr Dobak to do another ultrasound to check the growth of her organs. We spoke with his office today and had a long talk about what we could expect in the next few weeks. The ultrasound still looks abnormal and he has real concerns about Beckett, but can't pinpoint where her troubles are coming from. We can do nothing about her brain for now but her capacities will be checked after birth, hoping she makes it that far. We have an appointment with the pediatric heart surgeons in Gainesville to discuss what can be done for her concerning her diaphragm, lungs, stomach, heart  and intestines. There, they have a special machine that can circulate her blood outside of her body to keep her oxygenated. They also have the ability to inflate her lungs for her, help them to grow and even provide us with a lung transplant, given there is a suitable donor found. This is all something we've taken in stride because we have to keep in mind that she could pass at any moment. Her body may just shut down because of the issues she's faced with and we might not make it to her due date.

We'll be setting an induction date based on the rate of her growth. They don't want to let me go into natural labor because there are no doctors in town that can help with her case. We will have to be in Gainesville (or st. petersburg) to give her a fighting chance. After meeting with the heart surgeons, we'll meet with a delivery team to sort out the details. Usually, meeting with the two teams takes two separate trips, but because we live nearly five hours away from the facility, they're jam-packing it into a one day trip. Heart surgeons, specialists, neonatal nurses... I'm taking my voice recorder and notebook so I don't miss a word. I'm nervous, excited, and just a little bit hopeful.

We allowed ourselves to go shopping for baby blankets today, looking for something sweet and yellow. We couldn't find anything in that colour, but it was nice to daydream about swaddling Beckett in anything at all. Our son now refers to her by name and tells everyone about her, even strangers he meets in stores. "The baby in Mommy's tummy is named Beckett," and then he goes on to say everyone else's names in our family. It's really adorable. It makes it real when one child is excited about another child. We're lucky to have kids that are happy to have siblings.