Very Good!

The words Dr. Roberts (neurosurgeon) used when giving us the overall prognosis for Davis...Very Good! Yay! He didn't really tell us anything we didn't already know, which is good. At this point, I like hearing nothing new. He said at this point, for him anyways, we just wait and see. After Davis is born, Dr. Roberts will do the surgery to close his back within 24-48 hours. The sooner, the better...the "sac" part is the lining of his spinal cord and brain. The longer it's out, and open, the higher the risk of infection. He wants to do the surgery within 24 hours. I told him, my biggest concerns are his brain and infection. Always have been. He said once his back is closed, they'll watch his brain for about 5 days. They'll do ultrasounds daily (and a CT scan or 2) to make sure there are no changes. If fluid starts to build, we will NOT wait to see what happens. He will go in for a shunt. Every moment there is excess fluid on his brain, it's causing damage and I already see too much of that at work. I know the outcomes...it isn't worth waiting to see. He said looking at his brain right now, there is a very good chance he won't need the shunt, but it is a possibility (again, something we already knew). I asked about a "timeline" for his NICU stay. Dr. Roberts said that if he does not need the shunt, he could likely go home after only 5 days! I'll be in the hospital for 4! That makes me happy! We're praying that's how it goes. However, we're realistic. There is a very real possibility he could be there longer. If he does have to have the shunt, Dr. Roberts said he could still be going home somewhere around 7-10 days. We are happy with this news. Of course, the shorter the better, but we don't want to take him home too soon either. It was a good appointment, and we won't see Dr. Roberts again until April. He even said he was supposed to be in town that week. Phew. But, even if he isn't, Dr. Honeycutt and Dr. Donahue are both outstanding surgeons as well. Now we wait. I've never been very good at waiting! I'm learning! :)

Specific Prayer Requests:
-Continued protection of his brain!
-That he'll have full function of his bowel and bladder (almost always a problem in spina bifida - no matter how low the lesion)
-HEALING!
-That he'll keep cooking until at least 38 weeks. The week of April 12th is where they want us to get. If it looks like he'll try to come earlier, they will do the c-section early. Like Dr. Roberts said, "it's like a good stew. the longer it cooks, the better the outcome." I loved that. He needs to be as big and strong as possible.
-Me and B. We're doing better than I ever thought we would...no doubt a peace that comes only from a God who knew LONG ago we would be walking this road. As stressful as it is, we are comforted to know that HE is in control...always a tough lesson for this Type A personality! :)

Thank you all for your continued prayers! We need them and sooooo appreciate them! I go back to see Dr. Tabor January 15th. We'll get to see him again, and as always, we'll know more then.

One last thing...HAPPY BIRTHDAY CANNON!!! WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW!! And, Dr. Roberts said hello! :)

Our Christmas Eve in Numbers

We can laugh about it now, but here's our Christmas Eve in "numbers"...

6:00am - time my alarm went off to go to work
3 - number of patients I saw
8:30ish - time it began SNOWING! :)
3 - number of patients I had to cancel
10:30am - time we left Weatherford to go "home" to Clyde
45 - minutes it took to get to Eastland (half way)
2 1/2 - hours spent sitting in THE SAME DARN PLACE IN CISCO! Just 30 miles from Clyde
4 - people who had to get out of their cars around us to let dogs potty
2 - people who got out just to play in the snow
15 - mph we drove once we exited to go to Cross Plains (then to Clyde from there)
5  - hours between bathroom breaks on the road (My pregnant bladder thought it was going to explode!)
6:00pm - time we finally arrived at my parents house in Clyde
7 1/2 - hours it took to make the 90 minute drive to Clyde! Ugh.
4 - inches of snow in Abilene/Clyde
5 - inches of snow in Eastland
0 - amount of snow my sister got to see! :( She wanted a White Christmas soooo bad! But, no snow in Longview! Maybe next year!
22 - weeks pregnant!

Ugh. What a day! It was long, and we were both sooooo tired when we finally got home! My back hurt SO bad! It was snowing like crazy the whole way, but the roads had NO ice on them from Weatherford to Eastland. As soon as we got to Eastland, it was like there was a "line." It went from NONE, to completely covered in ice! We crept from Eastland to Cisco, then just SAT. After 2 1/2 hours of sitting in the same exact place, we crept a little (because everyone was bailing off the road...then getting stuck), then drove up the shoulder to the next exit. We were exactly 30 miles from my parents exit, but had to go 23 miles over to Cross Plains, then up hwy 36 all the way to Clyde! SO FAR OUT OF THE WAY! We can laugh about it now, but Thursday was NO fun! However, I LOVE the snow and wish it would happen MUCH more often!

Before we left the house, we took my 22 week pictures! We went outside and took one in the beginning of the snow too! The baby is approximately 11-12 inches long, and weighs one whole pound! Here we are, along with some pictures of our drive to Clyde and some from Christmas day! Warning: picture overload!

The wind was blowing SO hard!

Just sitting...this was before everyone gave up and turned the car off.

Just sitting...but so pretty! B disagree's! He HATES all things cold!

Finally getting to my parents house...just as we pulled through the gate.

Christmas morning!

Good thing the sign wasn't completely burried! :)

View from the Game Room

My dad even helped clean up after lunch! :)

Hope everyone had a Very Merry Christmas celebrating the birth of Christ! And, if you made it this far, congrats...this was a long one!

We have an appointment with the neurosurgeon (who will close Davis' back) on Wednesday, 12/30. I'll update about that when I get home that night. Thank you for praying!

30

Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderful husband who will be an even more wonderful father!! When I watch you with other people's kids, I love you even more! For example, these three boys think you hang the moon!

LOGAN:

AUSTIN:

CANNON:

Happy Birthday, Babe! I love you more than anything!!

(Scroll down...I've posted 3 times in 3 days!! I wouldn't get used to it though!)

GOOD NEWS!!!!!!

Today, we went to see Dr. Tabor, then cried tears of joy! He reviewed the MRI and did another Level 2 ultrasound, and said that "there is NO neural fiber in the sac!" Dr. Tabor had as big a smile as we both did! There is still a sac, and there is still spina bifida, but the spinal cord is inside where it is supposed to be, and thus far, so are the nerves (as much as they could tell). YAY!! If it stays this way, we're looking at a less severe form of spina bifida, and we're MORE than ok with that! :) His brain continues to look great. Dr. Tabor said "we have a perfect baby brain." That made this speech therapist VERY happy! He also looked at his feet, and said they are also "perfect." They don't turn in, or out, or back towards his shins...all common in spina bifida. He said that the sac itself is still the same, which is good. And, it's ONLY in the sacral spine and down into the coccyx (tailbone). Just how low, we still don't know. He was cooperative, but not quite enough for more exact readings. All of his spine above the sacral region looked "perfect." Perfect is a word Dr. Tabor used A LOT today...and I loved hearing it!

There was one piece of "info" that wasn't so good, but wasn't bad either. He said that the previous doctor had misdiagnosed something...a cystic hygroma (on the back of his neck). He said that typically it's a sign of another issue, unrelated to the SB. That's the bad. The good is that the things it's typically associated with Down syndrome, trisomy 18, heart defects, turner syndrome, and nunan syndrome. I say good, because all of these things have been ruled out!! Especially turner syndrome because it's found in girls! :) He said he thinks it's just a cyst and will go away on it's own, or can easily be "drained" at birth. He may have some extra skin on the back of his neck, but that can ultimately be removed as well. Like Becci said, he could be like a puppy...maybe he'll just grow into the extra skin! :) Either way, we'll know more next month. Dr. Tabor is checking with a geneticist to make sure there isn't something else...as far as chromosomes/syndromes are concerned...that we should be checking for, but he was VERY positive about this as well.

Dr. Tabor said that at this point, he would say at the worst, we're looking at possibly ankle braces to stabilize any weakness in his ankles when he starts standing/walking, and possibly some physical therapy, but that's it! I can do that!! There is also a very small chance that the bladder and bowel can be affected, but we don't yet know for sure. Again, we wait and see! I'm just thrilled we're looking at a normal brain, and therefore likely normal development!

There are still 4 months for things to change, and 4 months for nerves to poke their way out into the sac, etc, but for now, we are taking good news as an early Christmas present! We will go back to Dr. Tabor in a month, and will get another look, but for tonight we're praising God for good news, and now looking forward to Christmas! And, I know we'll both sleep much better tonight! Like I said, there is still alot of time for things to go either way, so please keep praying!

20 Weeks = Halfway

Ok, so I said I would post yesterday, but I was so tired, I couldn't keep my eyes open. Forgive me. :) First,  I wanted to say that he has a name! DAVIS BROWN WYATT! Long before we knew whether the baby was a boy or a girl, we chose names...thinking it would save the "discussion" once we knew. Brandon chose the girl name, I chose the boy name. I had originally planned to name him Davis Wayne (B's middle name), unless he was born on April 21st, which is my Popper's birthday (his middle name is Brown). As soon as we found out it was a boy, Brandon said he liked Brown better as a middle name and I wasn't going to object! So, Davis Brown it is. Thursday, while we were in Vegas (a post for another day), was the 20 week mark (And, my daddy's birthday! Happy Birthday Daddy!). According to all of my information, he is now measured from the top of his head, to his heel. Until now, he was measured only down to his bottom. He should be approximately 10 inches long, and weigh approximately 10 1/2 ounces. His digestive system is starting to work, and his bowels are beginning to build up meconium (first poop). Before we left for Vegas, B made a 20 week sign, and we carefully packed it. Here we are on Thursday:

I don't know why blogger insists on turning this picture around. It's the right way on the computer. Oh well...tilt your head.

We had the fetal MRI last Tuesday before we left, but havn't heard any results yet. Ugh. We go tomorrow for the appointment with Dr. Tabor...the new specialist;  the one who will deliver Davis. I'll update tomorrow night about that appointment. Keep praying!!

Pardon my absence...we have been in Vegas!! We are back and I will update tomorrow night (saturday).

A Long Day

UPDATE:
We have some appointments scheduled! YAY! We are going for the Fetal MRI Tuesday, December 8th at 3:00pm so we can find out EXACTLY what everything looks like. We have an appointment with the NEW specialist for me...one we like much better...who will deliver the baby (Dr. Tabor). This appointment is Monday, December 14th at 10:15am. And...we have an appointment with the Neurosurgeon who will close the baby's back after birth (Dr. Roberts) on December 30th, at 11:00am(I think).

ORIGINAL POST:
We spent 4 hours at the doctor this morning. It was a long, draining 4 hours. First, I will say that we are absolutely certain the baby is a BOY! He was not even a little bit shy...and didn't stop moving the entire time we were there (I didn't feel most of that movement). He does, however, have spina bifida. When the doctor was scanning the spine, I thought I saw it and almost threw up. She said we can't say for sure which type it is at this point, but she is almost certain it's myelomeningocele. That being said, there is a very small chance there was a layer of skin covering it, which would make it meningocele spina bifida. She measured the sac sticking out of the back and it was 1 cm x 2 cm, and it appeared to be only in the sacral spine (the bottom). She said the location, as it looks on ultrasound, and the size are VERY good, and VERY small. If you are going to have a lesion in the spine, that's where you want it...the butt. The lower the "spot," the less can be affected...less nerves, less of a chance the bowel or bladder will be affected, and less of a chance for his legs to be paralyzed. The doctors are in the process of setting up a fetal MRI, and it will tell us exactly where it is. First we pray it's gone, second we pray it's WAY down towards the bottom! One piece of VERY good news is that at this point, the brain is NOT affected...praise God! I had an amniocentesis today to test for the 5 most common chromosomal abnormalities as well...I don't need any suprises at birth. We should get the results of that in 3-5 business days. I'm not sure what they're testing for. We already tested negative for Down Syndrome and Trisomy 18, which are the 2 most common chromosomal abnormalities, so I assume they are testing for the next 5 on the list.

Other than the MRI, there is nothing else we can do at this point. Now, we wait until April. I will have to have a c-section, which does NOT thrill me. I hate surgery, but going through the birth canal would paralyze him. We don't want that! They'll take him out, and he'll go straight to the NICU. After about 24 hours, he'll have surgery to close his back, and then we wait some more. Well, wait, and start physical therapy...just in case. If I didn't mention it before, he was moving both legs...drawing them up to his chest, and kicking them out. That could be uncomfortable in a few months, but a VERY good sign! :) He was also playing with the umbilical cord...that was kind-of cute. :)

Oh, I almost forgot. They said this spina bifida is NOT related to a vitamin deficiancy (I already take 8 mg's of folic acid...only 1 mg is recommended), and there is NO genetic component. They said the odd's of finding 2 babies in one family, in one year for sure, doesn't happen...certainly not in cousins considered "5 relations apart," which is what they said this baby and Cannon will be. Those "statistics" (there were numbers involved) did not make this person who likes to have reasons for things feel better. But, like Allison said...they'll have each other!

I think that's the "highlight" version of the visit. Now, a couple of pictures. I can't get the scanner to work right for pics, so I took pictures of the pictures. These are the best we got. Like I said, he was constantly moving, which was good/fun to see, but made it very difficult for the sonographer to get good pictures.

Here's the money shot. For some reason, blogger feels it needs to be turned this way. Whatever. That's his right leg and the arrow points to the obvious. :)

This was one she caught of his left foot right before he kicked her. I LOVE baby feet!

I think that's everything. If I did forget something, I'll add it later. Again, Keep praying! We need it and we can feel it!