Week 34

34 Weeks!

I went to my regular dr. appointment with our perinatoligist Dr. Beauchamp today. She has been monitoring the baby's condition and watching for changes related to his NTD (neural tube defect). The last couple times I have seen her, she has told me that my baby's hydrocephalus (hydro) has gotten worse. I knew from beginning with all this that there was a good chance that my baby would need a shunt placed if his hydro was bad enough. Today she informed me that his hydro is already bad enough that he'll need a shunt placed when he is born. I don't know how soon after, but probably quite soon. I think they will want to make sure that is taken care of before it gets worse. Babies with spina bifida suffer from hydrocephalus due to an impairment in circulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). A shunt is basically a drain that is placed in order to remove excess CSF. After the visit it really sunk in that this is yet another thing that my baby will have to deal with. While shunts have been used for years and are quite successful, there are still things that could go wrong with it I have heard. It's hard to take in more bad news, but I am glad that we have ways of treating his condition as best we can. I pray everyday that he won't have any complications when he is born and that he'll be okay.


Other than that news, everything else is looking good! Our appointment today went really quick because all the things they wanted to check checked out good; his practice breathing, movement, fluid,  everything checked out great. He even got hiccups during the ultrasound, which is a first, and that counts as practice breathing apparently. What a good boy!

 

Malone is still looking for work. All the places he has tried he hasn't heard anything. I think he has kind of slowed down looking for now just because we are so close to having this baby come now. He has basically told a couple places that he wont be available till baby comes so, I think he is just going to hold off really looking for now. I am hoping that after the baby comes the timing will work out and he'll find something. It would be such a great miracle if he did! As of now we are planning on me going back to work part time until he finds a job. I would rather be home with our little guy, but with the way our finances are right now it's not an option. It sucks because we have worked so hard for so long to prepare for this and nothing has worked out the way we had planned. But isn't that just how life is sometimes? I guess we have a lesson to learn about making plans haha.

 

In the meantime Malone and I are having a little fun on the side. We got together with our friends Deidra and Kacy at the Blackfoot Fair last Saturday. We got there around 5 and wandered around and looked at animals, 4H stuff, and stuff at the commercial building, as well as partaking of some delicious fair food of course! We left around 9 or so, and I was exhausted! By the time we got to the car I could barely lift my legs to get in the car, I was so sore. I spent the next day vegging out on the couch all day, which was great. Malone and I had a great time with Deidra and Kacy, as usual!