I went back to work on my Pulmonology (Lung) rotation last week. We got the go ahead from Dr. Browne after my ultrasound showed that my fluid level returned to normal and I was no longer in preterm labor. It has been very nice seeing all of mommy's coworkers again! I met my new doctor, Dr. Sims, today who will be taking over our care once Dr. Browne leaves next week. It seems she is up for the challenge. When they were checking in on you with the ultrasound you were acting up as usual! We really wanted you to kick, but you would only kick when they weren't looking. And of course when they put you on the monitor you heart was beating away and sounded really good along side about a million kicks and turns. I absolutely loved it!!!!
I am looking forward to this week because your Grandma May will be coming to town for my baby shower on Saturday. I will take lots of pictures for you to see when you are older. So far this is the most normal thing we have been able to do together since I have had you in my tummy. Mommy's friends Katie and Hailey have planned a fun day for us and I really appreciate it!!!
Your daddy is in Portland interviewing for a job today at a very nice hospital. He said it was encouraging and we will hear if he gets the job within a week or so. He told me all about the hospital and the group and hopefully it will be a little change of pace from his residency.
Stay patient Owen bear! I need to let you grow for another 6 weeks before you will be big and strong enough for the doctors to take care of you. Until then I can take extra good care of you and keep you safe. You have a lot of love waiting for you from a lot of family and friends (and wiener dogs)!
-Love Mom
Monday, March 19, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
It's not easy
Dear Owen,
Well, little guy, we just don't do things the easy way! But that's okay, we will make it through all of this together! Last Tuesday I went into work for the night shift, which apparently you didn't appreciate. I started having contractions, yes real ones, as if you wanted to come out early. They were really close together, which scared me! I got checked out by the doctors at the hospital that I work at and where you will be delivered. They said they didn't think I was in preterm labor and did a test predicting that there is a 95% chance that you wouldn't deliver in at least the next 2 weeks. So I had to stay home from work a few days until I saw Dr. Browne again.
We went in on Friday, when you were 30weeks and had another ultrasound done by Cindy to see what you were up to. You were very healthy and might I say very CUTE! You let us take one 3D picture of your face which was amazing! We can see the hair on your head, your lips and your cute chubby cheeks. You weighed 3lbs 1oz which is normal for 30 weeks. Dr. Browne measured to see how big your lungs were, since that is what will help you do well when you are born. He showed me your diaphragm and said the hole is far to the back but on the middle right side (which is a little different than a lot of the kids with CDH). We saw the top of your stomach and some of your small intestine poking through. No liver and no spleen. You will learn what those are soon enough having two doctors as parents! This is all as expected. Your lungs filled 2/3 of your chest cavity! That is a lot!
Since I was still contracting and not getting any better we looked and saw that the fluid you are floating around in was way too much, making my body think that you needed to come out, which would be very bad for you. They rechecked my cervix which was closed and not anywhere close to letting you out anytime soon. So... I am taking Advil to try to decreased all of that extra fluid since you are having a little trouble swallowing it and clearing it out. Hopefully we can stop those contractions and keep you in for awhile. The other hiccup we have now is that I can't work until we get this under control. I luckily work for the best program, who are all very supportive and have made it possible on short notice for me to stay home and take care of you. I can't thank them enough! Toby and Henry are very excited because they get to lay around with me all day.
I just know we will get all of this worked out and get you big and healthy before you are born. Your dad and grandparents are so excited to meet you and spoil you. And of course I am absolutely in love with you!
We love you so much Owen bear!
-Mom
Well, little guy, we just don't do things the easy way! But that's okay, we will make it through all of this together! Last Tuesday I went into work for the night shift, which apparently you didn't appreciate. I started having contractions, yes real ones, as if you wanted to come out early. They were really close together, which scared me! I got checked out by the doctors at the hospital that I work at and where you will be delivered. They said they didn't think I was in preterm labor and did a test predicting that there is a 95% chance that you wouldn't deliver in at least the next 2 weeks. So I had to stay home from work a few days until I saw Dr. Browne again.
We went in on Friday, when you were 30weeks and had another ultrasound done by Cindy to see what you were up to. You were very healthy and might I say very CUTE! You let us take one 3D picture of your face which was amazing! We can see the hair on your head, your lips and your cute chubby cheeks. You weighed 3lbs 1oz which is normal for 30 weeks. Dr. Browne measured to see how big your lungs were, since that is what will help you do well when you are born. He showed me your diaphragm and said the hole is far to the back but on the middle right side (which is a little different than a lot of the kids with CDH). We saw the top of your stomach and some of your small intestine poking through. No liver and no spleen. You will learn what those are soon enough having two doctors as parents! This is all as expected. Your lungs filled 2/3 of your chest cavity! That is a lot!
Since I was still contracting and not getting any better we looked and saw that the fluid you are floating around in was way too much, making my body think that you needed to come out, which would be very bad for you. They rechecked my cervix which was closed and not anywhere close to letting you out anytime soon. So... I am taking Advil to try to decreased all of that extra fluid since you are having a little trouble swallowing it and clearing it out. Hopefully we can stop those contractions and keep you in for awhile. The other hiccup we have now is that I can't work until we get this under control. I luckily work for the best program, who are all very supportive and have made it possible on short notice for me to stay home and take care of you. I can't thank them enough! Toby and Henry are very excited because they get to lay around with me all day.
I just know we will get all of this worked out and get you big and healthy before you are born. Your dad and grandparents are so excited to meet you and spoil you. And of course I am absolutely in love with you!
We love you so much Owen bear!
-Mom
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| Owen 3D! Look at those cheeks! |
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| Birthday flowers and new shirt. |
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Baby bear,
We had another appointment today with Dr. Browne. It went very well and he had many good things to say about you. He showed us that your tummy and bowel were in the same place and not much has changed. You are growing well and are already 1lb 15oz inside my belly. We took a video of you but you were being stubborn and kept your little foot in your mouth the whole time. I am so excited about getting to meet you but you better behave and stay in for a while until you are big enough to fight! I love your kicks. Your mommy had about a million questions for Dr. Browne and he answered every one and made me feel much better that you would be a strong little angel and had an excellent chance to make it. Your dad and I are still trying to decide where to have you but we have a few months to get that all figured out. In the mean time I have already started setting up your nursery and keep imagining what it will be like to hold you in my arms and rock you to sleep. The other big news I'm sure everyone was wondering is what we have decided to name you! And we have chosen Owen. It had to be short considering your last name is so long! I love you so much and so does your daddy! Here is your first video before you were born.
-Love Mom
We had another appointment today with Dr. Browne. It went very well and he had many good things to say about you. He showed us that your tummy and bowel were in the same place and not much has changed. You are growing well and are already 1lb 15oz inside my belly. We took a video of you but you were being stubborn and kept your little foot in your mouth the whole time. I am so excited about getting to meet you but you better behave and stay in for a while until you are big enough to fight! I love your kicks. Your mommy had about a million questions for Dr. Browne and he answered every one and made me feel much better that you would be a strong little angel and had an excellent chance to make it. Your dad and I are still trying to decide where to have you but we have a few months to get that all figured out. In the mean time I have already started setting up your nursery and keep imagining what it will be like to hold you in my arms and rock you to sleep. The other big news I'm sure everyone was wondering is what we have decided to name you! And we have chosen Owen. It had to be short considering your last name is so long! I love you so much and so does your daddy! Here is your first video before you were born.
-Love Mom
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Today I finally went back to work after the long holiday. I really enjoyed my time off with your grandparents and uncle in Oklahoma and some much needed time with our friends! Today was a good day! I went to see Dr. Shuler who is a heart doctor for babies even before they are born. We took pictures of your tiny heart through my belly and saw that everything was normal. Poor Dr. Shuler had to answer all of mommy's questions and reassured me that your heart is normal and functioning well. I even got to hear your heartbeat again! For Christmas I got just what I wanted some good news about you and some very cute (I mean handsome) blankets, clothes and hats for you. Even some with your mommy and daddy's favorite school on them, the University of Oklahoma of course! These are some of the pictures of you before you were born and I also included your first embarrassing photo that was taken when we found out that you were going to be a boy. We love you so much!
-Mom
-Mom
 |
| It's a BOY! |
Thursday, December 22, 2011
The condition Little Baby Derrevere has is called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. He has a hole on the left side of his diaphragm allowing just the stomach to protrude into the left side of his chest. He is otherwise perfectly normal on ultrasound. His heart and lungs have normal structure and function. How a baby will do after birth is sometimes unpredictable, but if they have good lung volumes and a normal heart they tend to do much better. The concern is that if there is not enough room in the chest for the lungs to grow CDH may cause the lungs to be small and the pulmonary arteries to have high blood pressure. Approximately 1:2500 children are born with CDH. It is just as frequent as spina bifida or cystic fibrosis. CDH happens during the 7th to 10th week of gestation. There is no known cause of CDH except for a 2% chance of having another child with CDH. There is an overwhelming amount of information out there an not all of it is reliable. I prefer the website below for those who are interested, however the pediatrician in me doesn't at all mind answering your questions!
CHERUBS- The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support
This is a cartoon showing basic anatomy.
CHERUBS- The Association of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Research, Awareness and Support
This is a cartoon showing basic anatomy.
Dear little angel,
This is our first letter to you and many more will come. Your dad and I found out that we were going to have you in August. Since that time we can't stop dreaming of the day we will finally meet you and see your face. You are scheduled to be born on May 10, 2012 (we'll see :) I am now 20 weeks pregnant with you and it is the week before Christmas. Up until last Friday we didn't even know whether you would be a little boy or girl. I am being extra careful to make sure I am very healthy during this pregnancy. My doctors want to watch me extra close to make sure that you are growing and developing normally.
I went in last Friday for an ultrasound to make sure that all of you tiny parts are there and to see whether you were a boy or girl. Needless to say we were very excited! Cindy did our ultrasound and was very very thorough! As you will find out that ultrasound didn't go quite as expected. When looking at your cute little face and watching your heart beat, Cindy noticed that your stomach wasn't quite where it should be. So she went to get Dr. Browne who is now mommy's doctor to take a closer look. He agreed and told us that when you were just a little peanut at 8-9 weeks a muscle in your belly called the diaphragm, which will help you breath and separate your stomach from your chest wasn't fully developed. He said it had a small to medium sized hole in it allowing your stomach to pooch up into your chest. This very much worried your mommy and daddy because if your stomach was in your chest, your lungs would have a hard time growing. I was also very worried about your heart! Your mom cried and cried because she didn't know what this meant for your health and whether you would be able to be happy, healthy and run around :) Your Grandma May even flew into South Carolina to be with us.
On Monday afternoon we met with Dr. Browne again to gather more information. Your dad, grandma, my friend Hailey and I all went together. We found out that the hole in your diaphragm was only a small hole and that your heart was healthy and normal. Dr. Browne also showed us on the ultrasound (that I will post later for everyone to see) that you will be a BOY! We were also told that you would have a rough road ahead of you immediately after you were born. Because your left lung will not have as much room to grow you will likely need help breathing right after you are born. You are definitely going to be in the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital that mom and dad work. Hopefully you wont bless us with your presence early because we want to give you a long time to grow your lungs to be a big and healthy baby. We talked to all of the doctors that will likely be very involved in your care including the neonatal doctors and baby surgeons who I work with every day. They all talked about how they want to take extra good care of you and you may need to stay at the hospital for a while before you will be ready to go home. You will also need a surgery pretty soon after you are born to fix the hole. Hopefully after you recover from that surgery you will have more room and your lungs will continue to grow until you are a grownup. After that visit your dad and I were much more hopeful and I was soooo excited that I rushed out to all of the baby stores to find you a cute outfit.
We quickly packed up and rushed to Oklahoma to see Grandpa May and Grandma and Grandpa Derrevere (they haven't chosen names for you yet). During the trip back I started to try to think of the perfect name for you which I'm not even close to deciding yet. I am beyond excited and in love with you. Every time I am hungry you let me know by kicking. Your feet are so tiny but powerful. I talk to you all of the time! And your "brothers" Toby and Henry are always trying to snuggle my belly. I will let all of the people who love us read our letters to you because they care about us all so much. Hailey, Spencer and Lauren all brought us food when we were worried about you. Several of the amazing doctors that mommy works with called and prayed for us. We are now enjoying the Christmas holiday in Oklahoma!
We all love you so much and will be there to make sure you are strong and help you fight after you are born. You make us smile and light up our life and we haven't even met.
-Mom
This is our first letter to you and many more will come. Your dad and I found out that we were going to have you in August. Since that time we can't stop dreaming of the day we will finally meet you and see your face. You are scheduled to be born on May 10, 2012 (we'll see :) I am now 20 weeks pregnant with you and it is the week before Christmas. Up until last Friday we didn't even know whether you would be a little boy or girl. I am being extra careful to make sure I am very healthy during this pregnancy. My doctors want to watch me extra close to make sure that you are growing and developing normally.
I went in last Friday for an ultrasound to make sure that all of you tiny parts are there and to see whether you were a boy or girl. Needless to say we were very excited! Cindy did our ultrasound and was very very thorough! As you will find out that ultrasound didn't go quite as expected. When looking at your cute little face and watching your heart beat, Cindy noticed that your stomach wasn't quite where it should be. So she went to get Dr. Browne who is now mommy's doctor to take a closer look. He agreed and told us that when you were just a little peanut at 8-9 weeks a muscle in your belly called the diaphragm, which will help you breath and separate your stomach from your chest wasn't fully developed. He said it had a small to medium sized hole in it allowing your stomach to pooch up into your chest. This very much worried your mommy and daddy because if your stomach was in your chest, your lungs would have a hard time growing. I was also very worried about your heart! Your mom cried and cried because she didn't know what this meant for your health and whether you would be able to be happy, healthy and run around :) Your Grandma May even flew into South Carolina to be with us.
On Monday afternoon we met with Dr. Browne again to gather more information. Your dad, grandma, my friend Hailey and I all went together. We found out that the hole in your diaphragm was only a small hole and that your heart was healthy and normal. Dr. Browne also showed us on the ultrasound (that I will post later for everyone to see) that you will be a BOY! We were also told that you would have a rough road ahead of you immediately after you were born. Because your left lung will not have as much room to grow you will likely need help breathing right after you are born. You are definitely going to be in the neonatal intensive care unit at the hospital that mom and dad work. Hopefully you wont bless us with your presence early because we want to give you a long time to grow your lungs to be a big and healthy baby. We talked to all of the doctors that will likely be very involved in your care including the neonatal doctors and baby surgeons who I work with every day. They all talked about how they want to take extra good care of you and you may need to stay at the hospital for a while before you will be ready to go home. You will also need a surgery pretty soon after you are born to fix the hole. Hopefully after you recover from that surgery you will have more room and your lungs will continue to grow until you are a grownup. After that visit your dad and I were much more hopeful and I was soooo excited that I rushed out to all of the baby stores to find you a cute outfit.
We quickly packed up and rushed to Oklahoma to see Grandpa May and Grandma and Grandpa Derrevere (they haven't chosen names for you yet). During the trip back I started to try to think of the perfect name for you which I'm not even close to deciding yet. I am beyond excited and in love with you. Every time I am hungry you let me know by kicking. Your feet are so tiny but powerful. I talk to you all of the time! And your "brothers" Toby and Henry are always trying to snuggle my belly. I will let all of the people who love us read our letters to you because they care about us all so much. Hailey, Spencer and Lauren all brought us food when we were worried about you. Several of the amazing doctors that mommy works with called and prayed for us. We are now enjoying the Christmas holiday in Oklahoma!
We all love you so much and will be there to make sure you are strong and help you fight after you are born. You make us smile and light up our life and we haven't even met.
-Mom
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