Hangin in there.

I got to meet my beautiful son officially this morning around 4:30. I did see him after the delivery when I leaned up on the table to get a quick peak before they intubated him. He looked so pitiful at first. His heart rate had been kinda dropping the last few pushes and when he was born he was purple and his little mouth was open without any sound. At first I was worried he wasn't alive, but he pinked up and he was doing very well when I met him this morning. His blood gases were good. According to the doctor he is doing "great"... he said that twice, once when we spoke at 4 and once at 8, so I am assuming it is true. His sats were between 96-100 with the vent and he was really breathing over it. He is still trying to breathe over the vent. They have him on fentanyl but he is pretty stubborn and isn't wanting to rest too much. His pulmonary hypertension is doing well with the nitric oxide they are giving him.

I just saw him again about 30 mintues ago. They put a PICC line in this morning. They also had to add some dopamine for his blood pressure. Overall, they are still telling me that he is looking "great". I feel very relieved to hear this and am so glad to see him looking so well. Apparently the surgeons met this morning and think that if he continues to do this well they may do surgery on Saturday. I was very suprised to hear this and wasn't thinking about surgery talk at all.

Hopefully I will be able to get out of the hospital tomorrow. I am looking forward to going home and getting some rest and of course, coming back to see my little Hoss. He weighed 8 lbs 11 ozs last night and was 20 3/4 inches long. I appreciate all the prayers everyone has said and feel so lucky to have such a good support system. Plan to update tomorrow unless something happens tonight.

Maxton's arrival

First let me say this is Ashley's dad and we appreciate all the prayers and concerns for Maxton. May God Bless You. Maxton arrived in this world at 11:30pm 3-3-09. He weighed in at 8 pounds 11 ounces. As of this blog he was being examined. Everything went fine. Ashley is resting comfortably. I will update you tomorrow. Again from our family thanks for everything!

Reflections of an almost new Mommy :-)

So today I have been a bit of a basket case. I am very excited about finally meeting Maxton, but everytime he kicks I wonder if it will be the last one I feel. He hasn't been too active this last week. Earlier he had the hiccups and I was wondering if it would be the last time I felt them. Despite everything I have enjoyed being pregnant.

At my first appointment in July (7 weeks gestation) , I was told that my placenta had a bruise on it. The doctor was not too worried about but decided to do a follow up ultrasound in 4 weeks. At the follow up ultrasound at the end of August, I was told that the bruise had healed but that there appeared to be extra fluid around the babies neck. It was a Wed. and they had a follow up appointment with a high risk doctor scheduled for me for Thursday. I knew it must be serious if they had an appointment for me the next day. When I went in they tried to do a nuchal fold test, but Maxton would not show them the part they needed to see. Anyways, we were told that based on the pictures of the babies neck we were likely looking at either a Down's baby or a Turner's girl. The doctor was pretty certain that the baby would be a Turner's syndrome baby. Anyways, I opted to have a CVS based on this. The Fish results came back a normal boy, as did the final results. This was the beginning of Sept. I remember how happy we were. My husband high fived me so hard my hand swelled. We felt so blessed and excited.

Then about 7 weeks later in October I was told that the baby had a possible hole in his diaphragm. I came home and googled everything I could and found CDH. It was a Friday and my follow up was on a Monday. I had read tons of things about CDH and found that when I went to the appointment I knew everything the doctor had said. I knew before they told me that my baby would have CDH. I had a sort of peace about it that I felt God would only have given me if I had to face CDH.

Of course, Maxton has also been potentially diagnosed with coarctation of the aorta. It's been one heck of a ride. I must say since the coarctation appointment, I have mainly gotten good news, which has been good!

I really feel that Maxton will be a fighter. He has made David and I so strong and even though we are scared for him, we cannot wait to have him home with us and teaching us more about ourselves.

CDH has already changed my lives. I read other blogs and I cry with strangers who really aren't strangers at all. My family has grown by at least 50 people with the addition of just one child. I feel blessed to know this people and although I wish that I didn't have to deal with CDH and that I could bring my baby home on Thursday, I am so grateful to the mothers who have come before me and to those who are currently expecting. I always felt like I wanted to work with children with cancer.. that has been my dream job. My new dream job is to work with CDH families and babies and make lives better for the CDH community. Maxton isn't here yet, but I know my purpose in this.

Please continue to pray for us. Pray for Sky and Carla who lost their beautiful son, Joseph this past week. Pray for Charlie, Davis, Addison, Oakley and other CDH babies fighting to live as we speak. I love each of this families and though I may never meet them personally they have all touched my lives in ways I cannot explain. Tomorrow by this time, little Maxton should be here. We hope to update tomorrow night so be looking. :-)

38 weeks

Yes, I am still pregnant. Maxton is determined to prove me wrong and is holding out for the 3rd. I am not complaining as I know that every day he is in there is good... but I am definately starting to get restless and uncomfortable. Today was my last day of work so I can prepare for the baby now.

I had a pretty rough appointment this morning. To start it off, my doctors offices moved locations over the weekend so they are now in a new location. It is closer to my house, but you know how things go when you are in a new office... lots of things unorganized. My BPP was at 9:30 and my appt. with the OB was at 10. So I got there around 9:15. At 10:30 when I still hadn't been called back I asked to make sure I was checked in. Of course, I was told "yes". So.. at around 10:45 my pager went off (yes, the new office gives you pagers like they do at a restaurant.. it's crazy). So I go up there and it is the nurse. I explain that I don't want to see the doctor until AFTER my ultrasound, which they were suprised I hadn't gotten yet. Finally, at around 11 (after being paged by the doctors' RN twice) I was called back for the BPP.

The BPP started out okay. My AFI was 16.8. Maxton had not gained too much weight and was weighing around 8.6. At first I wondered why he wasn't packing it on, but they said not to be worried because he is at a good weight.. and of course, I was glad that he wasn't the 10-12 pound baby I feared he would be! During the BPP Maxton was pretty lethargic and not moving much. We "buzzed" him a couple of times and still nothing. He was not practice breathing like he should. So, I sat in there for 30 mintues while we waited to see if he would practice breath.. Of course, he never did. So then. I had to go do a non-stress test. It's around 11:40 now. I get in there and get all hooked up and Max's heart rate it really high.. like in the 170s. The tech finally decides maybe he doesn't like me laying on my back and has me lay on my side... which brings him down to the 140s-150s. Once his heart rate is stable, we waited for him to move to we could see the heart rate go up and then come back down... of course, he is still sleeping or something and it stays in the 150s for about 10 minutes straight. Then she brings me something to eat.. still nothing... Finally, she buzzes him and he went nuts! He was moving all over the place... and his heart rate was finally doing what they were looking for. So.. it's like 12:30 by now. I finally get in to see the MD who checks me and tells me I am still about 3 cm and now 80%effaced. He said that I shouldn't go in on the 2nd at night and to just come in on the 3rd, which makes me happy cause now I can watch The Bachelor next Monday. :-) It was 1:15 when I finally got out of there. Thank goodness this was my last appt. til Max gets here!!!!! :-)

I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying/thinking of us. We are so blessed to have you all in our lives. I feel especially lucky to have so much support from other mothers of CDH children. Your stories have truly inspired me and I feel blessed that you all share you lives with me. I feel like I have learned from the other mothers and am as prepared as I can be for what is to come. ( i know you can never truly be prepared). My mom is coming down on Saturday and staying for two weeks, which I am super excited about! I will try to update again before Maxton gets here, but if not, please keep him in your thoughts next Tuesday as that is the induction date and my Hoss will be here!!! :-)

37 weeks

I went in for my BPP Today. MY amniotic fluid was back up to 24, not too bad. Maxton was doing well and the BPP took about 5 minutes. He has been very wiggly all week after not moving too much last week. I like it when he wiggles cause I can see it move across my belly, plus I know he is okay in there. Anyways, then I met with the OB. I am dialated to about 3 and 50% effaced. So who knows, Maxton may be here sooner than we think. The plan is still for the 3rd ( I go in on the 2nd at night). Anyways, hope this find everyone doing well. Thanks for the prayers!!
Ashley

36 weeks and a baby?

So last night was the full moon and alas, I am still pregnant. My mother in law just knew he was going to come, but Max decided otherwise. I am kind of glad.. as the day gets closer I am getting pretty scared for him. Anyways, this morning I went in for a BPP and OB appt. The BPP went well, though they had some trouble finding the "practice breathing". Maxton was very wiggly at first and again gave a thumbs up. I have a cute picture of it. He was also doing the "hang ten" sign and I think he tried to kick the probe off of my belly because we saw his foot several times. :-) I tell you, I can already tell he is going to be a handfull. The odd news from today is that my amniotic fluid went from 33 last Wed. to 17 today. This seemed like a big drop to me, but the doctor wasn't too worried, thought she did say maybe they measured wrong today.

Max has started to drop some but isn't all the way there yet. I am dialated to about 1 but the doctor said that his head was "still pretty far up there". She said she didn't think he would be coming "too soon". I decided that means he will probably be here today. :-) I think babies like to prove doctors wrong. I am hoping Maxton will wait until at least next week, so we will see.

I came across a few stories of babies with CDH born at Vanderbilt this week, so that has been helpful. I am supposed to speak with surgeon tomorrow on the phone. According to Children's Hospital he has been trying to call but the caller ID shows no calls from them except one, which I answered and was a reminder of my appt. today, so hopefully he will really call. He is planning to go over the MRI with me, though the OB already told me the report. Hopefully there isn't anything new and he is just wanting to see if I have any questions.

As always, thanks for reading and for prayers. David, Maxton and I really appreciate it. I have faith that Maxton will pull through all of this and I know part of that is due to many prayers.

35 weeks and counting!!!

I am now 35 weeks pregnant and had an appointment today with the OB at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. First off.. little hoss is now graduated to just hoss as he weighs.. drum roll please.... 8.2 pounds!!! seeing as how he could be in there another 4 weeks, I can't imagine what he will weigh at birth! We have set up an induction date of March 2nd. I am really doubting I will get there, but we are hoping to not have to do a C section, so if I go into labor earlier, it's okay. My amniotic fluid was still high, at 33, but they weren't overly concerned. The cool thing today was that Maxton had the hiccups. I assumed that since he hadn't had them yet, that his diaphragm was probably not big enough to have them (since that is what causes hiccups). During my ultrasound I could see him moving and feel it and was told that indeed- he had hiccups. :-)

Now on to the MRI results- Maxton's liver is completely down. The OB said that she had never read an MRI reports that said "entire liver is down". She said that this was very good news and from my research, I already knew this. I almost cried when she told me because I had prepared myself to hear at least part of it was up. :-) His small intestines, large intestines, and I think she said part of his stomach, not all, are in his chest. Thanks for all the prayers for Max. :-) I am still going to for BPPs and to see my primary OB but I will not be going back to the OB at Children's.

One last note- another CDH baby has been born, Joseph. Please keep his family in your prayers. His page is listed on the right.