Quick update!

Ok, so I'm behind on the updates, but that's ok, because it mostly brings good news.
I ended up hearing from the cardiologist on Wednesday. He confirmed that the baby has a complete AV canal defect. The hole is still there, its between the lower chambers of the heart (if I remember correctly from the u/s) and its still going to need surgery to fix it. Here's the good news. He recommends surgery between 3 and 9 months old. If all keeps going in the direction its going, he sees no risk to me delivering in the hospital of our choice when I go into labor on my own and bringing the baby home in about the same timeline as a healthy baby gets to come home. We'll obviously have to keep monitoring this to make sure there are NO risks to the baby and we will have to also do echocardiograms (heart u/s) to assess the baby's heart after birth, but its looking good SO FAR. (I can't stress that enough, everything is still up in the air for now. SO FAR is the best I can offer until we are about 6-10 weeks further into the pregnancy). He also said that he has rarely had to repeat the surgery so one shot and we should be all good to go. Its still open heart surgery and obviously there are still MAJOR risks (infection, the repair doesn't take, heart doesn't restart, etc), but knowing that there is rarity in repeat surgeries is a good thing. I'm still able to see my OB (she's closer, I know and trust her, and she's communicating everything back and forth with the clinic and the hospital) and still able to do all the routine stuff there in Little Falls. We still have monthly appointments in St Cloud and might have some more appointments with the cardiologist (hopefully he'll be there this time!), but its all looking like the prayers are working in our favor.
I can't say it enough. THANK YOU for your prayers. Please keep praying as I feel its having some effect. And its also nice to know that there are people out there thinking of us and wishing for the best outcome possible. Thanks be to all the people out there who have taken to praying, good thoughts, and best wishes. But I can't thank everyone and leave out God for his part. God, you already know how this is all going to play out, but I thank you for your blessing of this beautiful baby growing inside and the blessing of good drs and good news. I pray that you continue to bless us and give us an amazing outcome for this journey. We trust in you, believe in your miracles, and are eternally thankful that you have done so much for us so far. I can never thank you enough for what you have given us.

Now, I want to address something before it gets out of hand. Yes, there is still a chance this baby could have Down's. I've never made a secret of it and yes, I do have some fears with this probability. I want to come out and say it to anyone who thinks otherwise. Adam and I are NOT upset that there is a chance for Down's. The Down's is such a minimal worry of ours. We don't worry about the condition itself, we worry about the complications that can and often do come with it like bowel obstructions, heart problems, fluid in the lungs, mental restrictions, and of course how the world will treat our miracle, should it come out with Down's. I have had comments made to me about the Downs that disturb me and I've done what I felt best at the time to address those comments. No, we obviously won't terminate at any time if Downs becomes a certainty. We won't freak out over what could come our way with this condition. I want others to understand that Down's is NOT a horrible thing. I'd have a lot more issues coming to terms with a condition like spina bifida, autism, cerebral palsy, or anything else that is totally life altering. Those conditions take a lot of work (all of them do, really) and in some cases, their condition will mean a shortened life span.
For now, our focus is on the baby's heart, watching for bowel problems, keeping an eye on the fluid around the lungs, and any other complications. Let's leave the future in the future and not worry about what we don't know just yet. Let's not start worrying about quality of life because of the possibility of a condition like Down's. Its not even a for sure thing and we aren't worried about that. The other health risks that come with it, of course we worry about those. But let's not start worrying about the other crap. Let's focus the good energy on the baby and making sure we are doing all we can and praying for the things we have no control over.

We have another appointment next Wednesday in Little Falls with our regular OB and at that appointment, we'll be addressing the pains in my belly (painful Braxton Hicks?), the sciatic problems, and all the other discomforts that I don't remember from last time. Since it wasn't really made an issue at the appointment in St Cloud, we'll make sure our OB checks us out head to toe on that.
I also have my Glucose Tolerance test coming up. I don't mind the test itself, really. When I was pregnant with Anthony, I believe I was told to not eat anything from about midnight on until after the appointment, but I was allowed all the water I wanted. Yay. Starve a pregnant woman. Never a good idea. Well, good news this time is I just can't eat anything super sweet in the hours leading up to the appointment (which is a morning appointment so I won't suffer long). I don't mind the stuff you have to drink. To me, its like a more concentrated orange soda. I have heard horror stories of it being flat, no taste, thick, warm, and there being a LOT of it to drink. I guess I got off scott free last time because mine was ICE cold (YAY!) and I didn't think it was a lot to drink (you have like 5-10 mins to slam about 8-10 oz I believe), wasn't thick, and tasted like super sweet orange soda. Now, the effect on Anthony was CRAZY! He went NUTS! He became a super hyper little turkey. Kicking, punching, wiggling, spinning, and stretching the whole time until the sugar wore off. HOLY CRAP it was nuts. I know this baby won't be any different (well, maybe more hyper) but we'll see. This baby goes crazy over a little bit of chocolate, so we'll have to hang on tight and see how we handle it. The worst part of the whole test (in my eyes) is a tie between the fasting before and the blood draw. UGH, I HATE needles. I hate seeing them go into my skin, I hate seeing them in my skin, I hate the thought. Distract me the best you can. I also hated having that IV in my hand when I gave birth to Anthony, so you can imagine how thrilled I am when they have to draw blood (or for the IV for the delivery!). Oh well, its all for a healthier baby, so I'll do it. Anything for my kids.

And what kind of mom would I be if I didn't put on some stuff about Anthony. The kid is growing FAST. He's stretching into a lot more of his 18 month stuff and now weighs about 22 lbs. I would say the 23 that the scale said, but he had a wet diaper on when we weighed him. The diapers are about .5 to a full lb when fully wet, so he loses credit for that.
And the personality has grown EVEN MORE! I didn't think it was possible! We had apartment inspections this past week so we had to make sure the apartment was looking good and they could get their inspections done without incident. Anthony took the opportunity to embrace the empty living room (void of the toys EVERYWHERE) and started really using his ride on toys. The kid is crazy! He makes the car noises when he's cruising along on his sit n scoot, rides Leo the Lion while slapping Leo's nose (it makes his nose light up and he sings and makes noise), and he throws his balls all over. I got him on of those bigger playground balls that isn't as big as a yoga ball, but its bigger than the regular playground balls. I came in the door, handed the ball to the kid, and he took off running with it in his arms and totally ditched saying welcome home to me. He then played with it for the next 2 hours before bed. He threw it around, tried to lay on top of it, kicked it, played catch with us (mostly the ball just bounced off his head, but he loved it), and wouldn't let it far out of his sight. He'd get up on the couch with the ball, sit down like a big boy, then throw the ball off the couch and go chase after it. He has NEVER played with just one toy so intensely before. He couldn't even be distracted by a sippy! I got the idea to get this ball after MaryAnne had one at her house when we had her watching Anthony. He did the same thing with the one at their house. Carried it around, threw it, kicked it, climbed on top, the whole nine. So, that was probably the best $3 toy that I've bought him yet! Its so cute to watch him try so hard to climb on top of it, lay on his belly on top, and then suddenly the ball rolls out from underneath him and he goes flying in one direction or another to the floor. He always looks up at us and smiles and goes back for more. Gotta love the drive this kid has. Does NOT give up at all.
I've noticed more words. Me thinks its time to watch my language as he's saying an S word that sounds like a naughty word, but he also could be saying Sit. He also has started saying Boo (BUH!) when playing peek a boo. He'll say it in hopes that you say it soon after and giggles like a fiend when you do say it back. He knows what a banana is and seems to be saying nanana. This could be a form of him saying neh neh like he used to when he was hungry, but we'll have to see where nanana ends up going. He also seems to be catching on to "What's this?" (wah dis), and in return, we will tell him what he's pointing to or what he has in his hand. He seems to love this game. He doesn't say it often, but he will acknowledge that you told him what the object is. His Bah (Ball) is coming along well too. He likes the kind of balls that have the little spikes on them. He really likes it when its of a smaller size and we can roll it all over his head, chest, legs, and belly while saying Ball!. He'll bust out laughing and start saying Tika Tika! (Tickle tickle). He'll even walk up to one of us and say Tika Tika! and we'll take it upon ourselves to start nibbling his ribs or blowing on his belly to tickle him while saying Tickle tickle! Oh how he loves that. He'll laugh until he's breathless. He has gotten back to saying Mama and dada with an occasional papa. Adam likes Papa more than Dada, but papa seems to be more work. Anthony does know that Papa and dada are the same person at least!
Anthony also recognizes the sound that the shower makes when you are flipping the lever for the shower and turning off the water. He starts laughing and gasping his OOOOO! in anticipation for a little peek a boo with the shower curtain. This is often when he'll start saying BUH! Buh! in hopes of telling us he wants to play peek a boo. Who can say no when he asks like that? He sometimes recognizes the car (the muffler is falling off again) and knows that his papa is in the parking lot, but he ALWAYS knows the sound of the keys in the lock. He'll go RACING (no kidding, full speed run) down the hallway to get to the door. Once we have the door unlocked, we'll pop it open just enough that he can pull it the rest of the way open and let you in. But he doesn't just let you in, he grabs your leg and PULLS you in. Many times he'll take off running into the hallway once he has you in the door. If he doesn't take off, he's amazing at closing the door. He really doesn't like an open door at all. He'll pull everyone in the same room and close the door. This past Wednesday, Adam was getting ready for work (he closes every other Wed. so he goes in later) and Anthony wouldn't let Adam leave the bedroom. He kept chasing Adam down, pulling him in the bedroom, and closing the door. Finally, Adam managed to get out the bedroom door and had to grab a gate to lock himself into the bathroom away from the little turkey. You can imagine that this didn't sit well with Anthony. He was very conflicted on what to do. He tried to chase Adam down, but seeing the gate, he knew he couldn't get to his papa. So he would start closing the bedroom door, but then thought otherwise and opened it again. He went back and forth for about 5 mins until he decided the door needed to be closed and slammed it shut. He also doesn't like being ushered out into the hallway so we can put up the gate and go into the living room. He'll scream bloody murder and its hard to get him refocused on going and playing in the living room to start the day. And yes, he climbs the gates. He'll throw things over the gate to have the excuse to start climbing. And yes, he has gotten over the gate. He ended up almost cracking his head open while I was doing dishes one day. Doesn't stop him from trying though!
We've been working on taking down the barricade so he has more room to run, which makes for more work for us since that is what keeps him out of the dvd tower, the dining room table, the garbage, and the kitchen. He knows where he can squeeze his scrawny self through and get into the kitchen, but luckily, he gets so excited, he makes a ton of noise and we figure out whats up pretty fast.
He's really gotten into facial expressions even more too. That kid can give a MEAN side eye (I do this to him as my evil eye and to tell him I mean business) and he's copied my gasp. He'll do a deep intake of air while doing his OOOOOO!!! face and then when I bust out laughing, he scrunches his whole face up and laughs like a little fiend. Its the funniest thing ever. He also does the gasp and giggle as I give him each section of his daily orange. Its like giving a kid the most prized of toys...that is, until he bites into that poor orange and brutally rips it apart, juices flying all over and dripping down his chin and chest. He loves his oranges. He'll eat a whole orange all by himself and gets REALLY upset if I steal any for myself. I bought strawberries the other day (OMG PERFECT color, size, and flavor!!) and he even gave me the side eyed look to get me to cut some up for him. Now, he likes his chocolate like any kid would (small amounts every once in a while unless I'm eating another cadbury egg...I get attacked!), but he LOVES his fresh fruit. Bananas, oranges, strawberries, mango, grapes, cantalope, berries, you name it. He'll eat it if it was frozen (and warmed), but he loves fresh. I think he likes the huge mess it makes all over. He's gotten more than one bath after a meal just because he was so sticky from the juice. But, since its something so healthy (and hasn't given him any issues at all!), who am I to deny him something he loves so much. He's still pretty keen on his veggies too. Mostly cut carrots and peas (ooo the squish!), but he'll eat just about any. He doesn't get much refined sugar, so he loves his produce. All the better, right?
Well, I'm going to head to bed. Its been quite the day today and I'm starting to feel REALLY stiff. Its going to take a little longer for me to get up and going for bed so I'm going to start now.
In the mean time, keep up the prayers and happy thoughts and keep checking back for more updates. I promise I'm going to try to get to a regular weekly posting. Things have just been chaotic. Possible teeth coming in again!