Stanford Update

A lot has happened since I last posted a blog entry. On Tuesday, December 16, we packed everything up and drove over to Palo Alto to move into the Ronald McDonald House (RMH). We checked in around 4:30 pm and were placed in a temporary room (it is the weekend manager's room). So, on Friday, they will be moving us to a more permanent location. In the meantime, the room we are in is quite small, but it is adequate for a short-term basis. We have been very impressed with RMH and the amenities, services and programs they provide. They provide a continental-type breakfast every morning, and 4 or 5 nights/week, various organizations provide dinner. In addition, the kitchen is stocked with a supply of non-perishable food items which is available to all house residents. Overall, we are quite happy with our accommodations.

On Wednesday morning, we went to our appointment with the perinatologist. She did a cervical exam and determined I was dilated 1.5 cm. This was a change since Monday, because when examined then, my cervix was tightly closed. So, because of the dilation and the contractions, she wanted me to go to labor and delivery at the hospital for extended monitoring. In labor and delivery, I wasn't having a lot of contractions and the doctor came in to check my cervix again after I'd been on the monitor for a couple hours. She said I was now dilated to 2 cm and because of that, she wanted to check me again in another couple hours to see if I was continuing to progress. In the meantime, I had an ultrasound appointment to go to. So, they took me up in a wheelchair for the ultrasound and said they would come pick me up again when I was done.

The ultrasound went well. There was nothing new to really talk about. The pediatric radiologist thought the diaphragmatic hernia looked relatively minor and the outcome was probably going to be good. But, she said, as they all do, that you never really know until the baby is born how the lungs will function and how baby will do. We asked her about the heart and she thought it looked good, but again, it wouldn't be possible to really tell until he is born. The only thing that came up during the ultrasound that caused us any concern was his size. It appears he weighs only about 4.12 lbs. This is only the 14th percentile and is a little concerning because the doctors have said it is best if he weighs at least 6.6 lbs when he is born. But, the umbilical cord is only 2 vessels instead of 3. This isn't necessarily a problem, but it can be associated with decreased growth.

When we were done with the ultrasound, a nurse from labor and delivery came back up to get me and wheel me back to their unit. I went back on the monitor and at this point, I started having more contractions. However, when the doctor came back in to check me, I told her I would really rather not have her check again because I didn't want to stir things up and speed up the dilation process. She said that was fine, but if they didn't check me, they would want to keep me overnight. Also, they were worried that Caden's heart rate had been dipping periodically and they wanted to be able to continue to monitor that. I told her I thought it was only because he was moving around so much that the monitor wasn't picking up the heart beat consistently. It turned out that was the case, because as soon as they adjusted the monitor, he looked just fine. No problem there.

Anyway, because I didn't want her to check my cervix again, they admitted me for the night and said they would reevaluate in the morning. Greg stayed with me until a little after 8 pm before he headed back to RMH for the night. I was actually able to get a pretty decent night's sleep in the hospital. They had me in a private room. It was definitely small, but it was pretty quiet and I had it to myself, so I didn't care how small it was. The nurse woke me up a couple times during the night to give me medication, but otherwise I slept pretty well until about 7:30 this morning.

I had a fetal echo scheduled for 9 am and got ready to go to that. In the meantime, the doctor came in and checked my cervix again and thankfully I hadn't progressed. I was still at 2 cm. She told me they would take me down for the echo and when that was over, they would bring me back. She wanted to talk to one of the other perinatologists about my situation to make sure he thought it would be okay to send me home.

So, we went in for the fetal echo and Caden wasn't cooperating very well. He was moving a lot and wasn't in a great position for scanning. The technician had me roll onto my right side and that seemed to help her get better images. When Dr. Silverman came in, he looked at the screen and said things still looked really good. He said it was impossible to tell if Caden would have a coarctation or not. But if he had to guess, he would say no. But until he's born, there is just no way to know either way. We told him we had decided to deliver at Stanford and had already relocated to the RMH so we could be here when Caden was born. He thought that was fine and at least we would be here in the event that there was a coarctation. The surgery for it is considered vascular surgery, not heart surgery and they would go in from the back between the ribs to do the repair, if necessary. He thought it looked like a relatively good outcome for us.

Once done with the echo, they wheeled me back to labor and delivery where I waited to see the doctor again. Three of the doctors came in to consult with us and they decided they would discharge me because there hadn't been a change in my cervix for close to 24 hours despite all the contractions. That was fine with us because we figured we are staying about a mile from the hospital and if I go into labor, it's not going to take that long for us to get here so we should be fine. We were out of the hospital before 10:30 this morning and headed back to RMH for me to lie down.

The only downside for me being at RMH is we are not allowed to have any food in the rooms. It makes sense because they have many children staying here with suppressed immune systems and they can't risk having pests in the rooms. They can't spray to get rid of pests due to the risk of causing harm to other residents. We understand and respect this, however, it does mean that I have to be up more. I have to walk to the dining area, eat, and then walk back to our room. So, it just means I need to be extra vigilant about staying down the rest of the time.

Anyway, after the drama of the last couple days, it is nice to be able to relax in our room at RMH. Greg is going to pick Kyler up today and bring him to stay with us for a night or two. We really miss him and look forward to spending some time with him. Then, on Sunday, we'll have a family Christmas celebration here at RMH with Greg's parents, his sister, and my parents. It will be nice to at least have some sort of Christmas since we have to be away from home and away from family on the actual day.

Thank you all for your prayers. We still need them as we want to ensure that Caden stays put for a little longer. Although I am 35 weeks now, he is just not big enough to come out just yet. That is the latest update with us. Hopefully we'll have an uneventful weekend and I will not go into labor.