Wow, kinda a big waste...

But not really at the same time.
So, we had our 2 drs appointments on Monday. We were really anxious to get these over and done with because it meant we would be walking out with more answers and more knowledge. Little did we know, the day was going to be a LOT longer than we had planned. Thank God for family babysitting!
Day starts out with us dropping off Anthony to MaryAnne's house (CANNOT thank her enough for watching him!) and heading down to St Cloud hospital. I wasn't able to find the paperwork they had sent telling us what room we would be in, what doors to go in (this hospital is HUGE), and all I knew was the time to be there and the dr we were supposed to see. So, we planned on parking on the one side with the most spots and just hoofing it to where we needed to go. We went in door E and ended up having to walk to door B. Yay. I was out of breath, but just glad to be getting the day started. While waiting for them to call us in, Adam and I passed the time comparing what level of Angry Birds we were on. LOL I laugh because I didn't remember that the day before I had cranked the volume on my phone so that Anthony could play with the Toddler lock, scream, and still hear the music it was playing. WHOOPSIE! Sorry, other people!
We get called in and I get a gooey belly going on for the lady to do the echocardiogram. Basically, a ultrasound that is probably more high powered than the usual ones so they can see the baby's heart. The lady barely said anything the whole time and when she did talk, it was like talking to Captain Obvious. Yes, I know that looks like a blue candy cane and that looks like a red candy cane. I know you are checking out all the valves and vessels. Talk to me about something else too! The room was SO dark and the fans from the computer and the sonogram machine were just loud enough to make decent white noise. Mix that with a belly massage (she wasn't poking and prodding hard at all) and I'm in and out. Adam zonked out too. This lady had it about as dark as our bedroom at home. We never stood a chance (plus I don't think either one of us slept really good despite going to bed much earlier than normal). I kept having to flip and flop from side to side to my back to get a good view of certain parts of the heart.
Then I mention something about the small hole in the heart that we had been told about and she THEN takes the time to mention "Dr. Chip will be calling you at a later date after he's seen the pictures I get for the official diagnosis." Umm, EXCUSE ME?!?! I was told we would get to talk to him TODAY. WTF?!? She then tells me "He's got the day off because of a personal family emergency". Ok, I'll accept that (knowing it could be one of a MILLION things and I can't fault the guy for taking the day off if something major is going on. Adam and I were pretty upset that we wouldn't get to talk to him that day (mostly because Adam has to work the rest of the week and not knowing when the dr will call, we don't know if Adam will be there to hear what he has to say!), but we understood it as something beyond his control and tried to just cope. Well, my first appointment was at 10:30 at the hospital and the second was at 12:30 at the same clinic we went to last time. There's a few miles between and its going to be about lunch hour rush, but we thought "Eh, we'll be fine and maybe able to grab a bite between because this isn't supposed to take more than 90 mins" WRONG. This lady let us out shortly after 12 and we had JUST enough time to get back to the car, drive to the clinic, and check in there.
We did check in early, but you have to remember, I'm running on fumes (an apple, a banana, and some grape juice for each of us around 9), Adam is ready for at least a snack (and neither one of us wanted fast food), so we PRAYED this appointment didn't run long and we could get our stuff done and get some food. OMG Wrong again. Since we checked in early and they took us back early, we ended up having to wait about 15 mins for the ultrasound tech to come in and get us after the lpn did her thing with the weight, blood pressure, etc. This is where we were asked what dr we had seen at the hospital. When we mentioned we hadn't because Dr Chip was out, she mentioned that "Yea, he's out on a personal day. He found out on Thursday that him and his partner are able to adopt a baby. Today is the day they get to pick the baby up."
Wait. WHAT?!? Ok, we find issues with A LOT of this. Let me clarify first and foremost, we are happy that he was able to adopt a baby like they had been planning. Its an exciting time and we can't be upset with him for that. What we are pissed about is that he found out on Thursday about this going to be happening on Monday and NO ONE called us to reschedule or even let US know!! Kinda a big deal because we had a sheet FULL of questions we had written down to ask him! We wanted to get a diagnosis! We wanted to be together when we heard the news, not have to hear it over the phone whenever! Need I also remind you that adoptive parents are privy to the same rights as birth parents. They are able to get 6 weeks of leave to get everything settled with the baby. I'm not going to wait 6 friggin weeks to get news on my baby! Why weren't we told about this chink in the plans? We could have at least prepared, if not rescheduled for a time when he would be there. Again, NO hard feelings toward the Dr, and Congrats to him and his partner. His office should have pulled their heads out of their butts and told his appointments for that day that he wouldn't be in and we could figure out a better time to meet with him.
ANYWHO, we had to wait about 15-20 mins for the tech to come in because they took us back like RIGHT AWAY when we got there. Finally get the tech in and YAY!!! its the same lady! She was so awesome last time so I was feeling pretty good. You know the feeling. When you feel you can trust someone because they don't talk over your head with medical jargon, they laugh with you, you can crack a joke or two, they just make you COMFORTABLE.
She gets to measuring and makes sure to tell us to close our eyes in time (still team GREEN!) so we don't see any body parts we shouldn't, and takes all kinds of good pictures for us. I swear she's obsessed with profiles because she gave us a few of those, I believe. Really great lady about our age. Baby is measuring on target to about a week and a half ahead for some measurements. NOT a bad thing at all. The bigger (and most anyone will understand what I mean when I say this) the baby, the better they fair when it comes to health issues. You don't want a smaller baby to have to deal with some bigger issues. Baby behaved and EVERYTHING so she was able to get her share of the appointment done fairly easily and then stepped out to get the dr and compare the measurements from last time to this time. She left me all goopy just in case the dr wanted to do a few scans of his own. 30 mins passes. No dr.
45 mins passes, still no dr, but Cassie (the tech) checks in and lets us know we haven't been forgotten and that if we need the bathroom or whatever to go for it.
60 mins pass, no dr.
I kid you not, Cassie ended up checking in on us like 3-4 times. Each time apologizing for the wait and letting us know we haven't been forgotten, the dr is just in with another patient. Ok, that's fine I guess. What else can we really do except wait?
90 freaking minutes pass and STILL NO DOCTOR. Ok, this is stupid. First appointment we don't get to talk to the dr because his office staff have their heads in the clouds and aren't thinking of the people who had planned (and made appointments JUST SO they could speak to the dr!), and now we have to wait an HOUR AND A HALF for the dr to NOT show up and talk to us. I understand he's a busy man, but he couldn't even be bothered to tell the nurses how much longer he would be with this other patient. Mind you, its 2 pm. Neither one of us had eaten, we are stuck in a room with no tv or anything like that, no food, and no information. We were pretty pissed off. Luckily Cassie came in and told us since we had been waiting so long, they were going to comp us for our time. We took the cafeteria comp and got some food. OMG it felt so good just to have the friggin food in my hands. I was starting to shake, I was so starved!
We knew that once we got back up to the floor we had just come from that they would probably call us back right away because that's just how it ALWAYS happens. Sure enough, they call us back, but this time they take us to a room and the lpn sets up for the dr to show us something on the computer and tells us he should be in shortly. I'm half way through my pretzel when he FINALLY shows up (like 2:30 or so for crying out loud!!!). He said he had just gotten off the phone with the lady from the hospital and was going to talk to us about what she had found and what Cassie had taken photos of.
Basically, no NEW news. Which is a good thing because its not more bad news, just more of the same, things we had learned from research, or a glimmer of good news. Join me as I recall it.
The hole in the baby's heart puts us in the category of a complete endocardial cushion defect. Pretty big news, but the hole is not big. Still won't heal on its own, but its not like I had pictured in my mind. Surgery is still needed, but if we keep on this track (its too soon to tell one way or the other, we are cautiously hopeful), we won't need surgery right away. We will keep up with our monthly visits with this dr so he can keep monitoring the progress that is or isn't being made. We are encouraged to keep up our regular appointments in Little Falls (THANK GOD ABOVE!!) and its looking hopeful (keep that word in mind, its HOPEFUL) that we can deliver on our own (Go into labor on naturally) in Little Falls (same hospital and dr we had for Anthony, GREAT dr and nurses!) and quite possibly be able to go home in a reasonable time frame without extra equipment (ie, oxygen, monitors, etc). Of course this is ALL depending on what we see at weeks 32 and 36. We can't make any for sure plans and have to keep it in our minds that delivering in the Cities still could happen. Nothing is for sure either way right now.
They are looking at the possibility that there could be underlying issues that we just can't see yet. There is also still a chance that the baby has downs (which carries certain health risks too), but we can't be sure until baby is here. With downs, there is a chance for bowel problems (obstructions around the duodenum, fixable with a fairly simple surgery) and the fluid around the lungs needs to be monitored too just in case it could lead to issues with baby's lungs. Again, too soon to tell.
But a fair amount of news that left us feeling a small weight lifting. We had some answers and some answers for now (we'll have to revisit some questions, obviously), but nothing was really upsetting. We were warned that baby very well might end up being born small (babies with heart problems typically are), and that is a big reason as to why they are going to try and let us get to full term and go into labor on our own, as long as there is NO risk to the baby. Heaven forbid they see ANY risk to the baby, its time to take the baby before I would go into labor on my own. Obviously the bigger the baby, the better they do on the outside, so that's why they are going to let us go as long as its safe. That was comforting, since I was having fears that they would have to FOR SURE take the baby sooner (our OB thought they could possibly take the baby 1-2 weeks early) or that I would FOR SURE have to be induced.
Now, it might seem that we are being left to hang in the wind, but we really aren't. The defect is still there, nothing has really changed, we just got more info and some things got cleared up for us. We had basically started to accept the worst case scenario where I would have to deliver early in the Cities, surgery very well could be right away, I'd be induced, baby would be sick from the start (low pulse Oxygen numbers) and I would have to stay down in the Cities for at least a week, spending time away from family and ESPECIALLY my boys. But now we have more possibilities reopened for us. We don't know anything for sure and won't for about 8 weeks or so, but at least we have been reassured that so far, so good. No changes that put anyone on alert YET. There's still time for things to pop up for us, but for now, all is good. Baby looks healthy, moves a lot, and is measuring just where we want.
Now we just need to hear from that pediatric cardiologist Dr Chip. Pray he calls tomorrow when Adam gets home. I'd really like to have Adam here so we can all talk together.
I'll update more on the pregnancy and Anthony in the next post. For now, I'm going to go chill on the couch for a little bit. Please keep praying and take heart, I think that its working in the sense that we have NO MORE BAD NEWS for now. I do feel I can let loose a few happy tears.
Thank you, God. We appreciate your gift and don't take for granted its size. We are thankful for no bad news and a glimmer of cautious hope. We pray that you keep your hands on our family and keep them all safe and healthy. We also pray for more progress and no more health issues with the baby. As for the other things I pray for, I continue praying. I won't say it here, but you know what I ask for in my heart. I pray it all in your name and give MANY thanks to you!
Amen! Hallelujah!!