Yesterday

Yesterday was a very good day... and in many ways a perfect example of how our world has been a series of ups and downs since that first ultrasound so many months ago.

Amanda and I went to St. Louis for several appointments with doctors and surgeons there. If I havent said it before Barnes Childrens Hospital is one of the most fantastic places I have ever been. Around every corner is a unique something or other designed to make the lives of the children they treat more comfortable.

My parents took the boys to Columbia so that allowed Amanda and I to leave about 5:30 AM to make our appointments.

This time we navigated to the childrens parking garage in perfect form and actually made it to the 1st appointment about 15 minutes early. The appointment was for a fetal ecchocardiogram. It was very hard for me to watch. I had no idea what she was looking at most of the time... The tech was very thorough... but before she finished she said she wanted to get the doctor in to look at the results. My spidey senses detected deception and nervousness in her voice. 5 minutes later the Dr. came in and told us that the tech had detected an abnormal tilt and possibly a small defect (hole) in Bayta's heart. After 10 minutes of her running the ultrasound she told us the following. Bayta has a VSD a small hole near one of the valves. It is a normal defect, and one not one that should require surgery... in essence it will heal itself. Normal, Healthy kids have this condition and most of the time it is not detected until after they are born.. because they dont have a million pictures/procedures done on them. As far as the tilt? She simply didnt see it. THe heart looked healthy and in the right position. By finding the small hole in Bayta's heart it prevented us from having a scare after her birth when the doctors eventually heard the murmur.

One down.

The next meeting was an ultrasound. It showed no patent defects. The Doctors were unable to locate the hole in the ultrasound... but they were not specialized enough to detect defects so small. The Dr. who came in at the end of the ultrasound said that it looked like the omphalacele was all liver (no bowel) and that the liver was mostly inside Baytas Chest... They also gave us a card saying that she had grown over a pound since the last ultrasound to 3 pounds 9 ounces. It confirmed we were at 31.6 weeks and that the due date remained October 26th 2009. Bayta is now ranked in the 20th percentile for growth. To put that in perspective our boys were both running about 5 to 10 percent.

The final appointment was 2 hours late. The Dr. was swamped... it was the same Dr. that interpreted our ultrasound during our last visit and Amanda and I both liked him a LOT. Despite being seriously delayed he took a lot of time to talk to us and finally pushed Amanda to agree to deliver at Barnes.

We tentatively agreed to have the baby on Monday October 19th. (My Mothers birth day) We will continue to monitor the baby in Springfield until the 19th or she starts showing distress.

This means that we will be all lone in St. Louis for possibly several months... but it also means that the baby will be getting the best possible care.

That night we went to "the hill" to have dinner and talk about the events of the day. It was a relief to finally have a plan that we could start to put into effect. For the first time in a long time I got to look at my wife. SHe is so incredibly beautiful. At some point she laughed at one of my stupid jokes and it occured to me how lucky I was to have married such a wonderful woman. The boys and I are truly blessed.

Somewhere over dinner she mentioned Sophia as a middle name... "Bayta Sophia Hemphill?" I asked. She said "I always liked Sophia." I smiled and allowed myself to briefly imagine my litle girl and all the days I will not let go to waste if God chooses to give her to me.

That night Amanda slept in the car as we drove back to Springfield. I smiled the whole time.