Another Cardiologist Opinion

Today, December 1, Greg & I had another fetal echocardiogram with a different cardiologist. Dr. Chyu, the perinatologist we saw last week, wanted us to get another opinion on what we were looking at with Caden's heart. He did a very thorough echo and discussed what he saw with us when he was done. In his opinion, everything looked really good. The only concern he had is the potential for aortic coarctation once Caden is born. However, he said this can't really be predicted ahead of time. He said it's possible everything will be completely fine and it's also possible that the coarctation will occur and surgery will be necessary.

He asked where we were planning on delivering and we told him we were planning on going to Stanford. He said that would make the most sense because if Caden was born in Sacramento and an echo showed a coarctation, they would transfer him to Stanford for the surgery anyway. So, he thought it best to not take the chance and deal with the transfer, and just deliver at Stanford in the first place. It reaffirmed the decision Greg and I made to deliver in Stanford.

After we were done with the cardiologist appointment, we headed to Sutter Memorial for me to have a NST and amniotic fluid test just to make sure everything looked good with Caden. After registering, they did the ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid level and it looked great. When that was done, they hooked me up to the monitor to make sure Caden looked good. He performed beautifully and my contractions were minimal, so Greg and I headed home.

Since I've been home this evening, I've had quite a few stronger contractions, so I took both kinds of medication to get them slowed down. I've only been taking one of them that I was prescribed because it seemed to be working fine. But last night, and again tonight, the contractions have picked up and gotten stronger, so I took a dose of the other medication as well. I think the problem for today is that I had to go to two different appointments and it was just too much for my body. So I really need to take it easy tonight and tomorrow!

This week is going to be busy with trying to pack for “moving” to Palo Alto and arranging housing for our stay there, etc. Today I talked to the social worker handling our case at Stanford to let her know we were planning on coming there to deliver. And, I made her aware of my pre-term labor symptoms as well. So, she contacted Ronald McDonald House (RMH) to see if they could possibly get us in there next week instead of waiting until the 21st. They will have a better idea Wednesday afternoon as to what might be available next week. But it seemed like it was a possibility so that is good and she will get back to me late Wednesday afternoon. If that doesn't work out, we'll have to check into other options for temporary housing until we can get into RMH. We'll keep you all posted on what we find out and how things progress. Thank you for your prayers!