February 21st, 2014- The Update

On Friday yet again I left work about an hour early to make the drive back for my appointment at MFM.  Russell met me there, as usual.  It didn't seem as busy as normal, and we didn't wait long this time to be taken back to the sonogram room.  We had a different tech this time, which I was a little disappointed in- one of the things our doctor had said to us was that our sonogram techs would be able to kind of 'get to know' our baby and be able to tell if and when something seemed different or didn't seem right.

The sonogram didn't take too long, and after she checked with the doctor to make sure all of the images she had gotten were adequate she took us to the doctor's office.  I was disappointed yet again- our regular doctor was out sick so we were seeing a different doctor that day.  It was especially disheartening because we would be getting the results of the MRI and I really wanted to hear from our regular doctor since she has dealt with our case exclusively there.

The other doctor was very nice and answered all our questions.  He told us that the MRI really didn't show us anything significant that we didn't already know.  The one new piece of information that we got was that Ally does appear to have her corpus callosum, but it appears to be small.  Again, they will get a better idea of this from imaging she will have done after she is born and we will have to just wait and see how it may effect her development as she grows.

From the sonogram images from that day we learned that Ally's head is, of course, still measuring large.  The doctor told us there are 2 ways to measure head size- across the top from ear to ear, and then the entire circumference.  From the circumference measurement, Ally's head size is in the 97th percentile- meaning her head is measuring larger than 97 percent of babies at her age.  He told me that he would not be at all surprised if she was delivered by C-section (sigh).

One of the last questions we asked was when we would know about the date of the delivery.  We keep being told that delivery would be scheduled for sometime between 37 and 39 weeks, which is anytime between March 21st and April 4th- a fairly significant window of time.  Apparently I am getting a long term sub for my current position at work and I need to let my administrators know approximately when I will be out.  I would personally like to wait to as close to 39 weeks as we can get, because that means less time at the end of the school year I will have to return for after all of my leave runs out.  The doctor told me that at this point they would probably wait until closer to 39 weeks since there are no other significant issues but that would be more likely determined at my next appointment in a few weeks.

The next day Russell and I attended a prayer summit gathering our church was holding.  At this gathering we both confronted some issues God brought up with us, both together and for each of us personally.  Also, our church body came together to pray for us and for Ally during this time as well, which was very moving for both of us.  As a result of this time, I have come up with 3 things that I am personally  praying for in dealing with the path life has brought us to at this point.

1.  A natural (though induced) delivery at around 39 weeks.  I am not a naturalistic, at-home birth, anti-intervention type of person, it's just that natural deliveries have gone so well for me in the past and honestly the thought of a C-section is scary to me.  It would also mean a longer, harder recovery and some complications with my leave and ability to work when I need to.  I am still holding out hope and praying that a natural delivery is possible. 

2.  My job.  Right now there are so many 'what ifs' about work next year I am so confused about what to do and how to feel. At the same time we have been toying with the idea of one of us staying home next year to care for Ally.  I go back and forth about how I feel about all of the possibilities and am torn to pieces about making the right decision for me, for Ally, and for our family life in general.

3.  I feel really silly about sharing this one, but it's the truth- a close friend.  Not to say that I don't have friends, but I feel that it's been a few years since I have had a 'best friend' to share with and do things with.  My closest friends from high school and college are across the country and across the globe, my Mom lives 3 hours away, and my husband is great but he's also a guy (love you Russell!).  I am praying for God to send someone close in proximity and close in life to me that I can relate and share with.

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and support of us.  This next week should be pretty quiet and then we have an appointment with Terry next Monday and with the neurosurgeon Tuesday to look over the results of the MRI and what it may mean for Ally's hydrocephalus and shunting possibilities (though I have a feeling they are going to say that there's nothing definite they can tell us right now...) and then we head back to MFM on the 17th.