Lots of Doctors

On Friday we had a long appointment at UNC hospital. We were there from 11am until almost 430pm. Thank goodness we had our case worker Maya with us every step of the way to bring us to where we needed to be.

First up was a meeting with one of the pediatric surgeons. Dr Erickson us told about their side of the practice and what their role with be with Bean's omphalocele (om.). She explained a lot of possible options for surgery if certain factors are present. Again, it was a lot of hypotheticals because we won't have a true picture until Bean is born. UNC employs the "paint and wait" procedure. The organs contained within the om. will have a membrane covering. The "paint and wait" is a method of encouraging skin to grow over the om. and also is a way to bind everything.

Our second appointment was with Dr Bose, one of the heads of the NICU. I liked this man a lot. He reminded me of my late Uncle Charlie. Dr Bose said the  NICU staff will be focused on Bean at the time of birth. He also assured me there would be doctors taking care of me and not to be worried by the number of people in the delivery room. Daren has a very important job as well. He needs to make sure I start pumping as soon as possible. If there are any breathing problems, Bean will be put on a ventilator. If there are digestive issues, there will be an IV placed for nutrition. I was fine as we discussed all of the medical details. It was when Dr Bose started bringing up the emotional side it got tough for me. The estimated minimum amount of time for Bean's stay in the NICU will be two weeks. Dr Bose said it would be hard for us to leave the hospital knowing Bean can't go with us. Also, Dr Bose wanted to stress it was nothing I did, ate, drank, or was exposed to which caused the om.

Our third stop was a tour of the NICU which was led by Maya. We will have 24 hour visitation capabilities. Friends and family have the same ability, but they need to be signed in by either Daren or myself. We are limited to only two visitors at a time. The hospital supplies everything while Bean will be in the NICU. We don't need to bring clothes, diapers, bouncy chairs...they have it all available to us. I inquired about needing a larger sized car seat due to the supporting of the om. Maya gave us two suggestions - wait or purchase a car seat and leave it boxed up for potential return. If we need a bed to transport Bean home, it will be provided by the hospital.

By this time it was after 230pm and so we headed for our third anatomy scan. I think this tech was my favorite. She had some spunk and was not happy with Bean's decision to hide from pictures. Everything looked good during the scan. Bean weighs an estimated 1 pound 10 ounces.

Our final stop was meeting with Dr Vora, our high risk OB. Nothing much new. She did ask a lot of questions about my heart condition and how it was initially detected. The estimated date for the c-section will be 39 weeks. That is around the end of the first week of November. I'm heading back to the hospital on Wednesday for the gestational diabetes test and we have another ultrasound scheduled for September 7th.

We snapped a quick 26 week picture before heading out the door for church. So far, I've gained around 16 pounds. I'm still participating in the coaches workouts at UNC and the doctors have said I'm fine to continue.

26 weeks