Alison is one month old today!! We had our first appointment with Dr. Barr. He did a quick evaluation of her head and her leg movement. He was encouraged by what he saw, so much so that he only wants to see us back in 3 months for another evaluation. While we are anticipating that Alison will eventually need a shunt, Dr. Barr said that they have not yet had to shunt any of the their fetal surgery patients. We'll see. We also met with the urologist and are scheduled to got back in December to do a base line evaluation of Alison's badder and kidneys.

Today was Alison's follow-up appointment with Dr. Schell. Nothing has changed. This was excellent news. Dr. Schell even commented that, in his opinion, having the fetal surgery was for the best in our case. We are going to Ann Arbor on September 16th to see Dr. Barr, who runds the Spina Bifida clinic at the Univerity of Michigan. Until then keep praying.

Alison is home!!! We were able to bring Alison home tonight. She has jaundice and has to have a Bili-light at all times (unless we are going to get blood drawn), but besides that everything is fine. We got the prelims on the CT-scan that was run yesterday. It appears that Alison's hydrocephalus is moderate, which means she will not need to have a shunt immediately. We have an appointment with Dr. Schell on September 5th for a follow up. Hopefully everything will stay the same and she won't need a shunt.

Alison is here!! She was born August 16 at 8:54 PM, weighed 6 lbs, 5 oz. and is 18 inches long. She scored a 8 and 9 on her Apgars. Although she is in the NICU and had some breathing difficulty at first, she is doing really well and only had to be on c-pap for 12 hours before being able to breathe completely on her own. She's the biggest baby in her part of the NICU nursery!!

Week 9 of HRC. It was nice not having an appointment last week. It's really a drag to hustle around getting ready in the morning so that we get there on time, only to have to sit and wait for half an hour or more. I understand that there are other women who are having a lot more trouble than I am, but it would still be nice to have at least one appoinment where we show up, get in get out and go home in less than half an hour. But enough whining.

I am 34 weeks this week. We've made it to our second goal, the average gestational age at delivery for babies who've had fetal surgery. Here's hoping we keep going and make it to 37 weeks. I had my first NST this morning. Alison passed with flying colors. I'll have one every week now, before my regular appointment. My regular appointment today was fine. My blood pressure was ok. I gained 2 1/2 pounds. Still no swelling (yay!). Alison's heart rate was in the 160's and I'm measuring 3 weeks ahead now.

Week 8 of HRC. I am now 32 weeks! We've made it to our first goal, the age Dr. Bruner gave us as break-even. The bloodwork and urinalysis of last week showed came back fine. My blood pressure was back to normal again today. I've lost a pound and a half. I think I've noticed a trend with my weight, and I wonder if it's being caused by fluctuating amniotic fluid levels. I still have no swelling (thank goodness). Alison's heart rate was in the 150's again, and I'm now measuring 2 weeks ahead.

Week 7 of HRC. Today we had some excitment, unfortunately. My blood pressure was a little high today. I really think that everyone overreacted, but I went and had blood drawn and I have to do a 24 hour urine test. It's really a pain because I drink a lot of water (in an effort to make sure dehydration doesn't add to our amniotic fluid level problem). We have a blood pressure monitor here at home, and according to it, my bp is back within normal ranges. I'm to take my blood pressure a few times and report the results to Dr. Wechter in the morning. Other than the blood pressure issue, things are fine. I've gained 2 1/2 pounds, my hemoglobin was fine (I really hate getting my finger stuck like that!), I'm not having any swelling (despite the heat we've been having this summer), Alison's heart rate was in the 150's and I'm still measuring a week ahead.

Week 6 of HRC. Another uneventful appointment. My blood pressure is still fine. I didn't gain anything, but I didn't loose anything either. Alison's heart rate was in the 140's again, and we're back to measuring a week ahead.

Week 5 of HRC. We're still plugging along. My blood pressure was fine. I've lost a pound. Alison's heart rate was still in the 140's and at 29 weeks, I'm measuring 29 weeks. Gotta love these "boring" appointments.

Week 4 of HRC. Everything is still going well. My blood pressure is ok and I gained another 3 pounds. Alison's heart rate was in the 140's again today, and I'm measuring a week ahead now.

Week 3 of HRC. Things are still going well. Nothing out of the ordinary. My blood pressure is still fine. I gained weight this week....2 1/2 pounds since last week! What was I eating? Alison's heart rate was in the 140's and at 27 weeks, I am measureing 27 weeks.

Week 2 of HRC. Another unremarkable appointment. Again, blood pressure was fine, I've lost another half pound since the surgery (though it's probably from wearing lighter clothes), Alison's heart rate was in the 150's, and we're still measuring right on track.

Today was my first appointment at the High Risk Clinic (hereafter to be referred to as HRC). We got a nice folder full of information on just about everything we will need to know, from how to measure contractions to when the gift shop hours are at the hospital. It was a most unremarkable appointment, thank goodness. My blood pressure was fine, I've lost a pound since the surgery, Alison's heart rate was in the 150s, and we're measuring 25 weeks at 25 weeks.

We have gone through an array of tests to see what lesion level we are dealing with. After visiting with Dr. Davis and getting another level II ultrasound, he is positive we are not dealing with an L1 lesion, but is unsure if it is an L2 or L3. Dr. Davis also noticed that we are dealing with myeloschisis instead of myelomeningocele. So instead of having the bulge, we have a open hole. That means that when the closure is done, it will be necessary to make small incisions on the baby's sides so the doctor can pull the skin over the opening together. The flank incisions will then be covered with a skin graft. They sent us down to try the 3D ultra-sound to see if we could get a better picture of the affected vertebrae. That was really cool. We still didn't get a good reading of the defect, so we are assuming it is an L2.

We are leaving for Nashville today. Tomorrow we begin two days of testing and counseling. Unless we learn something that makes us change our minds, the surgery will be May 8. We are going to stay will Traci and Kevin while we are Nashville.

Today we went to see Dr. Wechter for a level II ultrasound. We got some very bad news. It appears that the baby has a neural tube defect at L1. Dr. Wechter told us about in utero surgery to close the defect.

Today we went to see Dr. Wechter for a level II ultrasound. We got some very bad news. It appears that the baby has a neural tube defect at L1. Dr. Wechter told us about in utero surgery to close the defect.