Baby B a.k.a Dean

Since our last post there has been weight gain, swelling, stretching, growing and several Dr. appointments. At my ultrasound on 8/9 I was informed that they found a small mass on Baby B’s lungs. They actually saw it during my previous ultrasound but hadn’t told me since the Dr. wasn’t in that day. The techs do not tell the patients anything. It’s always the Drs. who share the information. During my ultrasound on the 9th they were checking to confirm what they saw previously. The Dr. came in and explained what she saw. Also, she had to take more pictures and video. She saw that there was a blood supply going to that mass and she was trying to figure out where it was coming from. Once she had enough information she explained everything to me. To spare you confusing details, I’ll just say that the blood supply going to the mass was coming from the heart. She said she wanted me to see a Pediatric Cardiologist for an echo in order to determine exactly what the issue was.

We met with the Cardiologist (Dr. John Stock) at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Dr. Stock is a wonderful Cardiologist! He put us at ease and did an excellent job of explaining everything in terms we could understand. The whole appointment lasted about 3 hours and we walked away feeling more comfortable about what to expect. Here is the easy-to-understand version…

Baby B (a.k.a Dean) has an extra vessel branching off his right atrium. These vessels don’t belong there at all, they are just extra. We don’t know what the mass is and we won’t find out until after he’s born. Dr. Stock said he thinks there will be an option of two procedures once Dean is born. 1. They will make a surgical incision on his side, cauterize the vessels and remove the mass. 2. Using a catheter, they will travel up and insert a coil into the vessel to stop the blood flow and then remove the mass. So, either way, a procedure will be done to stop the blood flow from the extra vessels and remove the mass. Dr. Stock will consult with the Thoracic Surgeon to confirm this. We will then meet with the Thoracic Surgeon to go over his recommendation, followed by a meeting with the Neo-Natal Dr. and a tour of the NICU. The hospital where the boys will be born is close to our home, but the hospital where the procedure will be done is Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Unless or until this issue starts to cause other problems for Dean, we don’t yet have a date scheduled for the c-section. I’m monitored at my weekly ultrasound appointments to see if the mass is getting bigger, more blood is flowing to the mass or his heart is becoming enlarged. If any of those 3 things occur, they will schedule the c-section right away. As long as those don’t happen, the boys get to remain wombmates a little longer. I’m hoping to make it as close to the end of September as possible. We’ll see if that actually happens or not! At 34 weeks I’m not experiencing contractions and I’m not dilated at all. That seems like a good sign to me that the boys will stay put a while longer, which is good news. We still don’t have everything ready! We hope to have new carpet installed by the end of next week. We have to hang a couple things on the wall to make the nursery actually look like a baby room and I still have to wash and put away all their clothes! I hope they realize this and are going to cooperate with our schedule! The only way to find out is to check back here and see if the next post has newborn photos or nursery room photos.