LAST DOCTOR'S VISIT!!!!!

You guessed it....today was our last doctor's visit before Pearson arrives! Everything went great! They did another NST (Non Stress Test) where they monitor his movement and heartbeat, and he passed with flying colors! Everything is scheduled and ready to go for the c-section on Tuesday.  Several of you have been asking what time the c-section will be, but unfortunately we don't have a time yet.  All we know is that we have to be there Tuesday morning and it really depends on Dr. Kays (pediatric surgeon) schedule that morning.  He may be tending to other babies, so they will not deliver Pearson until he is available.  I know alot of you have tons of questions about what will go on next week, so I'll briefly explain what I know so far.

To first set the whole scene up for you in the delivery room.... it will be Me, Matt, my doctor, Pearson's doctor and about 20-30 other doctors and nurses.  They have promised me that it will not be chaotic, as everyone in the room has a job and knows exactly what to do.  I can't imagine no chaos with that many people, but I'll take their word for it! Dr. Kays will already have the ventilator, I.V.'s and everything else that Pearson will need already set up next to my bed.  As soon as he comes out they will immediately stick the tubes in his mouth, hook him up to the I.V.'s, etc. Dr. Kays doesn't even want to give Pearson a chance to show him that he can't breath, especially since his lungs are so underdeveloped.  He likes to play it safe, so he will put him immediately on the ventilator.  Depending on his condition, we will possibly get to give him a quick kiss before they take him away. Unfortunately, it will probably be atleast 2 weeks before we can hold our sweet little guy. This is because of all the machines he will be hooked up to. We don't even realize the smallest things we take for granted like holding our baby when they are born, until you are in a situation like this.  That will be a day I can't even put into words how happy we will be. We already know that Pearson is considered on the critical side for a baby with CDH since he has both his liver and intestines up in his chest.  He is also predicted to be missing about 90% of his diaphragm, which is why these abdominal organs have herniated into his chest, preventing his lungs from being able to grow and develop properly.  CDH babies have what the doctors call a "honeymoon phase" which is how they describe the first 24 hours, give or take, of their life. They call it this, because the babies seem to be doing pretty good during the first hours of thier life, but sometime in the first day or two everything will start to go down hill and this is where the roller coaster begins.  It is literally an hour to hour process.  You have no idea the changes that will take place from one minute to the next.  He can be doing really well one minute and the next he could be struggling for his life.  He will have surgery to fix his diaphragm and put the liver and intestines in the abdomen where they belong.  They hope to be able to do this in the first day or two, but it all depends on how stable he is. They predict the first 4 weeks to be the most critical, and Matt and I are so fortunate to be able to be here together during this tough time. I don't think one of us could do it without the other. God has truly blessed me with the most amazing husband and the most wonderful father for our baby, in the world. 

With all this being said....Matt and I want you all to know that we are doing really good at this point.  God has given us the greatest peace about everything, and we know without a doubt that we will be bringing Pearson home to meet you all one day. We are very positive and so happy about getting to meet our beautiful son in 4 days!!!!! We were very scared and nervous, but we are more happy than anything and we want you all to feel the same way.  We know that God has heard all of our prayers and we know he is going to answer them.  He has already answered so many and Pearson isn't even here yet.  We absolutely can't wait to show him off when we get home!!!!!

This may be my last post before the big day on Tuesday, since our family will start arriving tomorrow! I've been gone for 5 weeks now, so I have ALOT of catching up to do when everyone gets here.  I can't wait!!!!!! We have the greatest family and set of friends EVER!!!!!

This is a picture of me today at our last doctors appointment.  I have to sit on this machine for 20 minutes, so Matt had some fun with the camera and yes...the video camera.  He's starting early with the videos! I'm afraid he's going to want to video tape Pearson's every move once he gets here! LOL! I'm hooked up to the NST in this pic! Some of you wanted to see how big my belly has gotten too, so here you go! Matt and I also had some maternity pictures made a couple of weeks ago, so I'll try to post some of those in the next few days when I get them!

I see more people have found our blog! We are so elated to see that so many people care about the three of us! We love you all and thank you again for the comments! Your kind words mean so much to us!

Lunda and B.B., Matt appreciates the yellow jacket idea, but I definitely think he needs a bulldog too, Connie!!!