On Friday we went for our scheduled ultrasound at Maternal Fetal Medicine. Nothing new to report, which is good! The sonographer said that our little guy is very photogenic. He better get used to having his picture taken.... Right now they're estimating his weight at 1 lb 3 oz. He's in the 33%ile for weight. Kinda small, but nothing to worry about. His ventricles (that's how they measure the water on his brain) are 14mm and 15mm. A little on the high side but pretty much the same as last time, so that's good. All in all, we were relieved when leaving the apointment.
Our next stop was the NICU where he'll be staying for probably a couple weeks after he's born. Dr. Knee, one of the neonatologists took us through what the first weeks of his life would be like. Honestly, from reading other people's stories, he really didn't tell us anything we weren't expecting. Then he left us to talk with the social worker. She took us on a tour of the NICU. It seemed pretty nice. No private rooms though. She told us we were a few years early for that... they're building a new children's hospital but it won't be done for a couple years... oh well! She also said there are 2 housing options for us while the baby is in the NICU. One is attached to the hospital and the other is 2 miles away. Each are only $25 a day, which is great! I know that Muskegon doesn't sound like that far to drive, but it would be at least 1 1/2 hours of driving each day... that would get old really quickly and I think we'll just want to stay close. Too bad we probably can't bring Gauge... although I'm sure he'll manage without us!
The social worker seemed nice and is there to help with anything including insurance issues that may come up. The only thing we noticed (and this happens a lot) is that these people talk to us like they're at a funeral. We certainly don't feel like we need condolences, we're very excited about having a baby! The world is not coming to an end just because this baby has spina bifida. When I look ahead 5 years, I don't see myself crying myself to sleep at night because this little boy is different, so why should I have that attitude now? Spina bifida won't define him and it certainly won't be the most exciting thing about him. So we're not in mourning. If you had asked us the day after that first sonogram when we got the news, our answer might have been different. But at this point our plan is to take it one step at a time and deal with each problem as it comes up.
Ok so after our apointments we did a little registering while we were in Grand Rapids. Honestly this is what I was most disappointed about when our appt. with Dr. Foody got rescheduled... I knew I'd have to wait 2 more days to go register. So registering was a little overwhelming. I think we stared at carseats and strollers for at least an hour. But it was a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll spend hours adding stuff to it online as well.
We'll leave you with some new 4d sonogram shots. One of the shots is of his little legs and feet that have been kicking me all day long! Hope he's still trying to kick us once he's born!
Coleman and Lauren
