Samuel
This has been a hurdle week for me, my first baby Nick not only started kindergarten but turned 5 as well;
I was really hoping that I could stay out of the hospital until this week is over and it looks as though I met my goal. Although, in reality there is no good time to go sit on your behind in the hospital, eat the food, and be watched ALL the time. So, you might be able to understand my apprehension when Dr Shields wanted me to have my blood pressure checked at the appointment this week and the relief I felt when he told me that it was perfectly normal. We had the same technician we were blessed with two weeks ago when we did not have any pictures so, this week when she handed us seven pictures we were elated but later found out that they were all of Samuel.
Dr Shields had a new assessment of Joshua this week. He told us that there was still no fluid and he still can't really see the kidneys but one more sign that there is something wrong is in the way that his rib cage is developing. The screen showed that the ribs start out very narrow toward the top but then flare out as they go down toward the belly. This might mean that the lungs have not been able to develop do to the lack of amniotic fluid. The way that I understand it is a baby breathes in the fluid stimulating lung growth and Joshua has gone for so long without fluid that we have to assume his lungs have not been able to develop at all.
The next thing on the schedule was for us to get a tour of the NICU and then meet with one of the three neonatologists at our hospital. So, we headed over to the hospital only to realize that we had to pick up Nick from his first day of kindergarten in about 30 minutes. We did a quick walk through of the OB ward and the NICU fighting back emotion and memories of our sweet boys Matthew and Zane. We were ushered into the office of Dr. Turbow, who will be taking care of our three babies. True to his name and with the added incentive of our time crunch, he did a lot of talking and we did a lot of listening. He told us about his background and that he was the rookie neonatologist on the floor with only 20 years of experience. He also told us that it would be best if we could get to 34 weeks before delivering which I thought was very optimistic of him but I think he was speaking more in terms of David and Samuel's post-partum development. He asked us to not tie his hands in regards to Joshua and both Rob and I thought that he meant we should just let Joshua go but to our surprise he clarified saying that a lot of parents just want to hold the baby when there might be something that he could do. We asked what the order of things would be and how much time he thought we might have. Obviously he was not able to give us a time frame but he did say that the first thing he would do is try to get a breathing tube in so that he could get Joshua over to the NICU for an x-ray of the kidneys. It is very possible that due to the lack of amniotic fluid and lung development, he will not be able to find any lung tissue for the tube to go into and we will hold Joshua right away through his last seconds. We also found out that a baby has to be at least a year old for a kidney transplant so if he cannot find anything in that area then he would stop all efforts and give us the chance to say good bye. The last thing we asked was about Joshua being an organ donor and the doc told us that it was a very political thing but he would look into it for us. He thanked us and then we had to literally run/waddle very fast to the elevators.
It was quiet on the way home partly because we were rushing and partly because God gave us peace at least for this week. We are praying for a miracle and asking everyone else to pray as well, but we also understand that even if we don't get to bring Joshua home with us, God has already used this little life for His glory and that is a miracle in its self.
The next thing on the schedule was for us to get a tour of the NICU and then meet with one of the three neonatologists at our hospital. So, we headed over to the hospital only to realize that we had to pick up Nick from his first day of kindergarten in about 30 minutes. We did a quick walk through of the OB ward and the NICU fighting back emotion and memories of our sweet boys Matthew and Zane. We were ushered into the office of Dr. Turbow, who will be taking care of our three babies. True to his name and with the added incentive of our time crunch, he did a lot of talking and we did a lot of listening. He told us about his background and that he was the rookie neonatologist on the floor with only 20 years of experience. He also told us that it would be best if we could get to 34 weeks before delivering which I thought was very optimistic of him but I think he was speaking more in terms of David and Samuel's post-partum development. He asked us to not tie his hands in regards to Joshua and both Rob and I thought that he meant we should just let Joshua go but to our surprise he clarified saying that a lot of parents just want to hold the baby when there might be something that he could do. We asked what the order of things would be and how much time he thought we might have. Obviously he was not able to give us a time frame but he did say that the first thing he would do is try to get a breathing tube in so that he could get Joshua over to the NICU for an x-ray of the kidneys. It is very possible that due to the lack of amniotic fluid and lung development, he will not be able to find any lung tissue for the tube to go into and we will hold Joshua right away through his last seconds. We also found out that a baby has to be at least a year old for a kidney transplant so if he cannot find anything in that area then he would stop all efforts and give us the chance to say good bye. The last thing we asked was about Joshua being an organ donor and the doc told us that it was a very political thing but he would look into it for us. He thanked us and then we had to literally run/waddle very fast to the elevators.
It was quiet on the way home partly because we were rushing and partly because God gave us peace at least for this week. We are praying for a miracle and asking everyone else to pray as well, but we also understand that even if we don't get to bring Joshua home with us, God has already used this little life for His glory and that is a miracle in its self.
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