Doctors Appointments

Today we had 4 doctors appointments at U of M. What we have realized through this ordeal is that each hospital wants to perform its own testing (for several reasons), so today was our turn to have a round of testing done at U of M to see where we were at since the last time we were at U of M in late March. The four appointments were an MRI to measure lung growth, a fetal echocardiogram to measure the baby's heart, veins, and arteries, a high-risk OBGYN appointment, and a standard ultrasound. Once we got through those appointments we had a meeting with the surgeon and one of the doctors to review the results for the day. To summarize, here is what we learned today:

1. There is evidence of lung growth from the balloon procedure. The lung volume (U of M considers this more important than LHR for us) has increased from 3.5 in March to 19. Most of this was due to the baby growing in size, however some of it is also related to the trachheal occlusion. To put this in perspective, a normal baby at 32 weeks would have a value of 60.

2. It appears the amniotic fluid is leaking through the incision in the uterus used in the last procedure to remove the balloon. The doctors are not optimistic that this will heal and expect that the amiontic fluid will remain low for the rest of the pregnancy.

3. The arteries going from the heart to the lungs and back are now a normal size. In March the left side was slightly smaller than expected and the right side was extremely small.

4. Due to the lack of amniotic fluid the doctors are extremely concerned with the umbilical cord becoming compressed. Due to this, Rosie and I have to go get the baby checked out everday (it started today) at U of M hospital until the baby is born.

5. If the cord compression lowers the baby's heartbeat, we will deliver the baby very soon. If cord compression does not become an issue, we will deliver during the 34th week due to the cord compression issue.

With all of that said, there is still a lot of uncertainity with all of this, especially regarding the outcome. The trip to San Francisco did help and we are hoping it helped enough to help make a difference in the upcoming days, weeks, months, and hopefully years.