Almost here!

So I imagine your all wondering what with this video I have posted. I learned today that Shaun White who is the best in his field was born with a congenital heart defect. One much more severe then what little A has been diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot. A heart defect that is a combination four defects, he had two surgeries before he was one years old and look at what he can do! It sure didn't hold him back!

Or how about the little boy in this commercial? He was also born with tetralogy of fallot! I'm glad to know that medicine has advanced so much that others whom would not have lived can survive and thrive now!

Now this coming week isn't going to be easy not in the least, but will do what we must and survive this next month. Wednesday I go in to be induced. I am a little nervous about being induced, but that's nothing compared to what will happen after my little A is here! That part is where I am nervous. I think I'm ready.. as ready as I'll ever be. I know I'm about done being pregnant. I feel huge right now! Between 5 day doctor appointment I went from measuring at 37 weeks to measuring 39 AND gaining 3 pounds! My body is about done with this pregnancy. Its hard to get in and out of bed just getting ready to go to the store tires me out and my hip keeps going out, slowing me down even more.

 I did have a small laugh the other day. We were being audited and one of the auditors asked when I was due I mentioned I was being induced next Wednesday she had this look on her face and was like and your here??? Well where else am I going to be? Yeash. Even my mom has said she's amazed at how I'm doing this all. I go to work then go home and take care of Connor. Am I tired yes. Sire? yes. Dead tired? Of course! But I have to do what I have to do and I only have to do this for a few more days... um little under 3 days now. Oh boy!

And it all catches up to you.

What an eventful week it has been. Wednesday was very stressful at work. Kept getting calls that night from a co worker trying to get short holds to work. (Only good part of Wednesday was having a snowball fight with my son in the garage :). He never did So I got up early the next morning to try and figure out what was wrong. I didn't figure it out, but I think we got a bad batch of chemicals which can't do much about that! So after trying tell about 9:15 I left for my non stress test and Doctor appointment.
While they were doing the NST I had to have a second monitor to monitor my heart beat rate which was in the 130s the entire time. Apparently my heart rate was so high that it could mask little A's it didn't and he passed the test. So they sent me off to see my Doctor. Who was much better then the last one I had. She automatically came in and said that we need to get my induction date set. So I have a date now! My little guy will be here March 14th! Anyways I left went back to work wasn't there or more then 10 minutes when I got a call from the hospital saying I needed to come back right now! Apparently my heart rate being in the 130s was not good. I of course knew why it was that high, its called lost of hours at work and stress! Anyways go back it was about 2 hours since they had checked it and it was still in the 130s. They had me do blood work and an EKG to check my heart. Well both of those came back fine and my heart rate had dropped to the 110s, still considered high by the time I got the EKG. I was sent home to rest and was told to rest on Friday as well.

Burnt

Sorry I haven't posted been way to tired now but thought I'd try to type something up. Work has been... crazy. I've put in so many hours that yes I'm tired and frustrated. Need to get things done around my house but to tired to deal with it when I am home. Not that I'm home often. Last weekend I worked Saturday and Sunday! So since Sunday I've worked 50 hours and I have to go in tomorrow :/. Been irritable, exhausted... and just want to spend time with my little boy!

That's an old picture but felt like posting one. My doctor appointments have been so much fun right now! Keep seeing different Doctors who give me different answers or who apparently don't even take the time to check my chart before coming in and ask me how far a long I ma. Yeah its a joy. Well found out I'm positive for umm strep B.. type of bacteria that when giving birth need to be given antibiotics so baby doesn't get it. One more thing to add to my list becasue the person I was talking to was like.. if you have to go up to the U before your scheduled induction you'll have to tell them that you tested positive.  Not that a date or anything has been set up. Person on the phone asked if its been setup and aid to get that done at my next app. No idea who I talk to to get that done! I'll just ask around until something gets taken care of. Only good news my insurance has been approved as in-network. So there's that I guess.  They also mentioned I should start doing kick counts.. which I'd love to but I don't have the time. I don't have time to lay on my side for an hour and count kicks. If I'm on my side I'm sleeping! And suppose to be when he most active, guess where I am when his is? That's right work :/.

A day at Primary Children’s Medical Center

I feel him kick, I feel him move and my thoughts go back to where I was standing a few days ago. He feels so normal but I know he is different, special. You could say. Another echo done and the same prognosis spoken, though this cardiologist was more upbeat, he said he believed it was Coa but not nearly as bad as other cases he has seen. Hubby felt better because the first echo he saw nothing wrong no narrowing, but this time he saw it. It wasn’t much but it was there.  The Doc seemed hopeful that maybe it wasn’t as bad as we all thought, that there was a chance, one I’ll be honest I did not want to hear that he may not need surgery. I’m assuming that he does I don’t want to grasp on to possible false hope because I need to be strong for my baby I need to be prepared for him to need heart surgery.  I will try to ignore is goodbye “I hope I don’t see you again!” Me to buddy me to.

Saw New Doctor.

Ok went to my new Doc, well a Doc there not sure who I'll be seeing next week they asked if I cared which one I told them who was ever available. They had me do another ultrasound they wanted to make sure that the did not see other abnomrailities. Appaerntly its common to have otehr problems with a heart defect. Well other then his ine heart defect they saw nothing else wrong. I will be going in for another echo on Friday. What I did learn from teh US is that he's about 5 pounds, has lots of hair and is already in the perfect postion for birth. What a relief! I'm hoping that part goes well so i can have a vaginal birth and not get stuck in the hospital for to long after he gets here. I don't won't to be stuck in my hopsital room the day he has his surgery.

I will be seeing the high risk Doctor once a week now and taking a stress test (they check his heart) once a wekk as well. I would have posted this earlier but I ended up sleeping the last 2 hours. Work is getting to me right now. its crazy. I've done a bit of over time and 14 hours.... worked the last 3 Saturdays, looks like this coming Saturday is going to be me working as well. Can't keep this up I'm almost 35 weeks pregnant! Tired emotional and with a  three year old in the mix its hard.

Only other news I received is they want to induce sometime at 39 weeks. Which little nervous about not that the fact that its 4 weeks away, but because I was a little over a week early with Connor. I better not go into labor before he my induction date... whenever that is! Ok well going to go get my son to sleep so I can go back to sleep still feeling a little dizzy from the long day!

CHD awareness week

Its strange just a month ago I wouldn't have thought about congenital heart defects, but all that changed very quickly. this week is CHD awareness week I wanted to post some of the statistics of CHD. I was rather amazed at how many babies have this, its so much more wide spread then I would have ever imagine. The following facts were taken from The Chirlden's Heart Foundation .

• Congenital heart defects are America’s and every country’s #1 birth defect. Nearly one of every 100 babies is born with a CHD.
• Congenital heart defects are the #1 cause of birth defect related deaths.
• Congenital heart defects are the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States.
• Each year approximately 40,000 babies are born in the United States with a congenital heart defect. Thousands of them will not reach their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood.
• Each year over 1,000,000 babies are born worldwide with a congenital heart defect. 100,000 of them will not live to see their first birthday and thousands more die before they reach adulthood.
• More than 50% of all children born with congenital heart defect will require at least one invasive surgery in their lifetime.
• There are more than 40 different types of congenital heart defects. Little is known about the cause of most of them. There is no known prevention or cure for any of them.
• In the United States, twice as many children die from congenital heart defects each year than from all forms of childhood cancer combined, yet funding for pediatric cancer research is five times higher than funding for CHD.
• Congenital heart defects are common and deadly, yet CHD research is grossly under-funded relative to the prevalence of the disease.
• Only one penny of every dollar donated to the American Heart Association goes towards congenital heart defect research.
• Of every dollar the government spends on medical funding only a fraction of a penny is directed toward congenital heart defect research.
• The NHLBI has stated that Congenital Heart Defects are a serious and under-appreciated global health problem.
• In the last decade death rates for congenital heart defects have declined by almost 30% due to advances made through research.

Starting Over?

So much has happened since  learning about Little A's heart defect and things just keep on coming! I got a call from my OBGYN today and I have new appointment with a new Doctor. So goodbye to Dr. Thackeray and hi to Dr. Richards. And ouch! the echogram is going to cost us about 480 dollars and I have another one in a few weeks :/. Not sure how were going to this have another expense on top of it all have to replace out garage door opener its completely broken :/. Only good thing is it'll all come off of our deductible and it'll be almost gone before little A gets here.

Heh my mom just called and told me that they are getting us a garage door opener for Valentines day/ Easter. That will help us a lot!  Trying not to stress about money, but its hard not to. I need to do our tax return I'm going to need it soon :/.

I'm aslo not trying to be upset at the fact that my original appointment was the 10th and now won't see a doctor until the 15th. Long wait when I'm this far along.

Complete change of perspective

The diagnosis of my son has truly changed my perspective on everything. I use to go to a board a lot that had other women who are due at the same time that I am. Now I avoid it. The questions and fears of the women on this site seems so petty and well silly.  One goes off on her hubby for not getting up and getting her food in the middle of the night.  Another stressing over what kind of diaper brand to use. And another post there stressing over the fact that thought they have 8 weeks to go the clothes they bought for baby hasn't been washed. I can't handle going to that board anymore! because I know I'm going to snap at one soon. especially the mother who doesn't want to hold her baby right after he/she is born. That post I have been close to going off on!

So what things am I stressing about? Well being able to hold in for only a few minutes has been a really hard thing to think of. After they take him how  long will it be before I can see him again? My heart aches at that thought and I know it is needed it still a hard thing to think of! I also am very much hoping to not have to go c-section becasue if I do I may not be discharged in time for his operation! Will I be stuck in my hospital room when he's being operated on?

How am I going to handle seeing him with all those tubes and not being able to hold him after he has surgery. Of course I know he can't be held and all of this is for the best its still a hard thing to think about and that time he will be in the NICU I imagine will be one of the hardest times in life. The hardest being those hours that he is having surgery. I know in the end I will find the strength to get through all of this. I need to find it, I have no choice. It will be what it will be.