PreOp and Neonatologist Visit

As of 12:15 this afternoon, I'm officially on maternity leave!  I spent the afternoon in various medical appointments, which was exciting and exhausting.  I had my last prenatal OB visit first, complete with a nonstress test and then a visit with the doctor who will be delivering Chimi.  As I checked out, the receptionist told me I was the best patient, "You've been on time for all your appointments, and that never happens with physicians."  My parents would be shocked to hear I was never late.

From there I went over to the hospital and had my preop labs done, and completed everything for registration, and got my final pre-op instructions.  I then met with a neonatologist.

I think I've neglected to mention that they've been following something with Chimi on all these ultrasounds I've had, something that's probably nothing, but is enough of a something that neonatology is now involved.

At about 20 weeks, they noticed a few little calcifications in the liver.  This is usually a benign and isolated finding, but sometimes associated with trisomies or congenital CMV.  So I had the Materniti21 test done, which was normal, and had my CMV titers rechecked (I was positive before, but they double checked my IgM to be sure I hadn't had a reinfection, and it was negative.)  They've stayed the same the entire pregnancy, and no other ultrasound findings have popped up to raise suspicion for either CMV or an undetected trisomy.  Then with Finn's history, there's always the concern for a mass, even though both the genetic counselor and Finn's oncologist have both said there's not a genetic link with neuroblastoma, and Finn and Chimi only share 50% DNA, and neuroblastoma would not be expected to show up as a primary tumor in the liver.

But, they still want to be sure that everything is ok. So neonatology saw me today, and talked about what they would do - plans for a full physical exam, a blood count and an abdominal ultrasound. If all those are fine, then there's no other worries.  But worse case scenario - he may need more evaluation such as an MRI, a CT or other interventions.

We also talked about the stuff that all c-section babies may face, mainly respiratory issues, and of course possible issues like low blood sugars because of my gestational diabetes, that might lead to a NICU stay.

After all that, the neonatologist (who had a wonderful dry sense of humor and was just wonderful) suggested that I take a NICU tour to familiarize myself with it, and "to ward off evil spirits" he then looked me straight in the eye and said, "and I really believe that."

So once we were done, I got a tour of the NICU, which is just amazing.  It's ALL private rooms, and each room has a comfy chair, a bed, and a breast pump, so that parents can actually stay with their babies day and night, and they encourage this, no matter how sick the baby is.  It was a lovely, calm place.  And I hope I never set foot in there again.

Both my perinatologist and the neonatologist reassured me that they don't think I should worry too much, but "if there wasn't anything to worry about, we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation."

I'm scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 5:45am on Friday morning, and will have another nonstress test, and get prepped for surgery, then am expected to be in the OR at 7:15.  The c-section probably won't actually happen until around 8, and then if all goes well, we should be in our room by 10 or 11am.  I'm hoping to be eating a hamburger and a chocolate shake with Reese's cups in it by around 1pm  (yes, food ranks up there as one of my biggest priorities!), and updating my blog at some point in the afternoon  The nurses told me today that the OB group I'm with has a great standing protocol for getting patients up and moving, and for pain management, so most of their patients do great with pain control, better than the other groups' patients.  Which was very reassuring to hear, and has me feeling more confident that this recovery will be better than my last.

I'm so ready for this baby to be born, and really hoping that all his tests are normal.  It would be lovely to have a child with no major health issues.  Amazingly lovely.