Update from Philly Trip in Feb

So sorry that we have not provided any recent updates. No news is good news in this case... well at least as Maya is concerned. Mommy on the other hand has been in a lot of pain. But first lets provide a Maya update:

Chris and I went to Philly on 2/6 to have a final ultrasound there and to get the word from the docs where they want us to have the baby and what special circumstances might we need to be aware of for her birth. GOOD NEWS! The tumor had not grown since early January, and Maya has grown. She weighs approx 5lbs as of the 6th of Feb, and they are not wanting to move my due date any earlier from April 7th. BIG BABY. So from a technical perspective, the left good lung is 28 cu cm and the right good part of the lung is 24 cu cm, so there is only a 4 cu cm difference in good lung tissue, which they feel will lead to a intervention free birth. They feel that the good part of the right lung will do fine and not need oxygen or anything else.

So the plan for the birth is that Chris and I will have Maya at Hartford Hospital as originally planned with our original OB/GYN group. At 5-6 weeks after birth, we will head to Philly on a Thursday for a CT scan, Friday would be the operation where they will first attempt to make 3 small laproscopic incisions on the right side. The surgeon's goal is to sever each and every blood vessel connecting the good tissue with the tumor. For that reason, if they can't see everything, then they will need to open her up further. They won't know until they go in. They will be leaving a type of catheter in her for a day or two, just to make sure that all tissue seals appropriately. They said most of the time they do, but small chance they won't and the only intervention is to stay in hospital and wait for them to seal. No worries. They said if all goes well, we will be able to leave on Monday or Tuesday. Chris and I will probably stay at the Ronald McDonald house while we are there, considering it is $15 /night vs. $200 at a hotel. My mom has graciously offered to fly up from Georgia and stay with Brianna at home while we are in Philly with Maya. We are very thankful for this offer. I am sure she is going to enjoy her 1-1 time with Brianna, as will Brianna with her.

All about our birth plan. Chris and I have been taking special birthing classes, called hypnobirthing. The idea surrounding this type of birth is that babies remember their births and we want to provide a drug free, stress free entry into this lifetime. They have learned this due to studies in past life regressions where they bring individuals back to the point where they were born and people recall the trauma experienced coming through the birth canal and in particular forceps, suction, being yanked out, toweled down and poked and prodded. All of which felt shocking after having been hanging out in a warm womb. So we have been learning how the uterus actually functions when left to its own devices (like many women in other countries where medication is not only not needed, but not used). Learning how the body actually functions helps when visualizing the baby being born. We will attempt to not use any pain medication and hope not to have to be induced, which causes unnatural labor, which actually hurts. Our OB/GYN practice has heard of this and has preliminarily accepted this approach. We will see what the hospital staff have to say, especially since Maya is considered high risk still in their minds.

How mommy has been feeling lately...

Mommy has had lots of pain in the right upper abdomen, which wraps around the back. At first it was just the abdomen (3 months ago), then it started to wrap around the back (2 months ago), then it went from once in a while (1 1/2months ago) to 75% of my day, including nighttime. So now I have been experiencing sharp shooting pains almost all day and night. The doctors checked my gallbladder and other organs twice just to make sure it wasn't something else. They finally concluded it was just a big baby with her butt jammed into my ribs. They said there is nothing they can do for me, that I need to just manage with it. So for those of you who haven't heard from me or when you have I have been cranky, you know why. Of my other pains, heartburn at night has gotten increasingly worse. At a recent Dr. appt they said to take pepcid AC at night before bed, followed by liquid maalox to coat the stomach (this is in addition to zantac 2x a day and tums when symptoms appear) So I asked Chris to get the box of pepcid down from when I was pregnant with Brianna. He did, but he also took some other stuff out of the medicine cabinet at the same time. He put some pill bubble pack on top of the opened box of pepcid. It happened to be the size of the box, so I didn't look at it and just started taking those pills each night... and each night I would continue to wake up every 2-3 hours almost vomiting from the heartburn. I was cursing the pepcid AC, which had worked so well when I was pregnant with Brianna. 7 days later when I was down to the last pill in the packet, I finally looked at the pack. To my surprise it didn't say pepcid, but rather Zelnorm. I freaked! I yelled to Chris to look up what class of drug it was, which ended up being class b safe for pregnant women. It is medication for IBS, so needless to say, my bowels had moved well that week. So now that I am actually taking the pepcid, it has made a huge difference and now I only wake up about 2x a night b/c of heartburn. I guess this is all mother nature's way of prepping me for not sleeping when Maya is born.

On due date...

The doctors say that they will not change the April 7th due date, which they made based on an early ultrasound (at 6wks). My original due date was March 26th, which I think is closer to the real date Maya will make her entrance into the world. Sorry for all those rooting for April.

So now we are being treated like every normal pregnancy and I actually don't have a Dr.'s appt this week (first time since November!) I am going to go this week for a pregnancy massage and to a chiropractor that specializes in pregnant women. I will share how that goes. I need some pain relief and I am sure that Chris who has taken the brunt of my grumpiness is looking forward to that as well... Have I mentioned he is a saint? Well he is.

That is all for now and sorry for the long delay.