OB Appointment

On Friday, October 17, we saw Dr. Sweeney for our regular OB appointment: I am 27 weeks now. We had a list of questions to talk to her about especially since seeing the perinatologist on Tuesday. One of the first things Dr. Sweeney told us is that she thought we should absolutely deliver Caden in a hospital with a great pediatric surgery team. She believes, after reviewing all the ultrasound reports, amnio results and talking with Dr. Van Gundy (the cardiologist), that Caden actually has a chance! In the beginning, she felt the opposite, so things are looking up!

We ended up spending most of the rest of the appointment talking logistics. She wants us to get a 2nd opinion on the diaphragmatic hernia since Tuesday's ultrasound wasn't as clear as they would have hoped. So, she is working on setting up an ultrasound with a different perinatologist group just to get another opinion about the diaphragm. I think it's a great idea and am happy to get as much clarity as possible at this point. So, we will wait to hear back from her about that.

In the meantime, she also said she would talk to some other doctors to find out where the best place for me to deliver would be. She was considering UC San Francisco, Stanford, or UC Davis Medical Center. She thought if all things were equal, we should deliver at UC Davis simply because of it's location being in Sacramento. This would be easier logistically with me going into labor, also taking into account the fact that we already have a toddler and can't ignore him. But, she said she would get back to us on what she found out.

In addition to delivery location, we talked about the need for Caden to remain inside of me as long as possible to give him the best chance of survival. That being said, she recommends bed rest starting at 35 weeks. This of course will be a challenge when I have Kyler to take care of. So, we might be in need of some assistance when the time comes. And, she said if it turned out UC San Francisco or Stanford would be the better option of place to deliver, she recommends me moving to that area at 36 weeks so I will be local in the area when I go into labor. My labor with Kyler was only about 7 hours and he was born at 38 weeks (2 weeks early). So taking both of those things into consideration, it would be a good idea for me to live somewhat near the hospital where I would deliver in order to make it in time.

Dr. Sweeney called me early that same afternoon to tell me she had talked to Dr. Van Gundy about his recommendation on where to deliver and he strongly advised Stanford. He feels their pediatric surgery team is more aggressive and that is what Caden needs. He said there was nothing necessarily wrong with the team at UC Davis, but he just felt they weren't as aggressive and that might mean more surgeries overall for Caden. But now we just need to do some research and find out what housing options we have near Stanford, if insurance will pay for any of that, etc.

Right now, Dr. Sweeney is setting up a consultation for us with a pediatric surgeon at Stanford so we can start making our final decisions. I am also working on getting an appointment for a consultation with a pediatric surgeon who is with UC Davis (I think) based on our referral from the perinatologist we saw on Tuesday. Hopefully once we have the information from the surgeons, we can submit our concerns to God in prayer. We want to seek his guidance on how to proceed. We really want to have as much information as possible, yet we also want to make sure we are proceeding in the direction of God's leading.

It's amazing to think we are in the position we are now based on where we started. In the beginning there was no hope, or so we were led to believe. And now, the doctors all seem to be in agreement that surgery is a great option and we should do it. God is so good to us and we are so grateful for his love and guidance in our lives.