Update

Monday I had an appt with the OB and yesterday I had perinatalogist and cardiologist appts. A couple of long days made worse by my fall on Sunday. :-(

Everything looks pretty good. I have cut back on my BP meds, and my BP is still lower, so that is wonderful. I am not nearly so totally wiped out at the lower dosage which has been great. I don't know what it is, but our boys do not like being listened to, and Monday, when the dr. tried to listen to Jethro's heart, he pitched a fit. It was really kind of amusing, he was all over the place, kicking and throwing his arms ~ he absolutely did not want to be listened to.

I am finding myself more and more frustrated with not having a homebirth. Obviously, that is just not a possibility this time around, but midwives are just so much better than OBs! Every single appt, I have to ask, "What am I measuring?" "What is the baby's heart rate?" There's not even any point in asking anything about the baby ~ because drs don't know how to do anything ~ like palpate a baby.

So, yesterday, we get to Deaconess for the appt with the perinatalogist. Which means an ultrasound. I was not looking forward to it. My tailbone is extremely sore, and the thought of two long u/s on hard tables was not my idea of a good time. Well, we ended up in one of the post-partum rooms and it had a wonderful, soft bed! I was very comfortable during the u/s ~ it was one of those things that I like to call a "God hug". :-) Just a little thing that let me know that God knows I'm hurting and cares. Then the u/s tech wanted to know if this baby has been breech. I said, "No. Is he breech now?" Yes, he is. Very frustrating. I told Mike, if I had had an appt with my midwife instead of an OB on Monday, we would have already known that the baby was breech. Right now, he's apparently 2 weeks ahead in growth, but I don't really pay a lot of attention to that kind of thing, because babies in utero have growth spurts just like they do after they're born. And we don't tend to have "little" babies anyway. After the u/s was done, they couldn't locate the dr., so they sent us on our way with instructions to call the drs secretary today. Baby looks good enough that we are done with the perinatalogist! So that was definitely good news.

After lunch we went over to the cardiologist's office. They were running about an hour behind, so we were able to get a tour of Sacred Heart's L&D, post-partum, NICU and PICU. Even though it was just a walk-through, it still provides a little familiarity for when Jethro is born. The co-ordinator that gave us the tour made sure that we knew we can call anytime with questions, and she will get back to us ASAP with answers. I was thankful to find out that vaccinations are not going to be an issue as far as the younger children being able to visit the baby, and especially if it looks like he won't make it, they will do everything within their power to make sure we have time together as a family. I don't think I have the words to express what a comfort that is to my Mama heart. It is definitely something that has been weighing pretty heavily on my heart.

After our tour, we went back up to the Center for Congenital Heart Defects and had another ultrasound. These u/s are totally centered on his heart ~ they don't really look at anything else. The cardiologist was encouraged that the growth of his heart is not over and above his overall growth. She is still very cautious, thinking that he will be severely affected by this defect. We are also likely dealing with Pulmonary Stenosis along with the Ebstein's. Although we probably won't know for sure until he is born. Once he is born, they will do an echo on his heart to have a better idea what exactly we're dealing with.

The cardiologist would really like to see labor induced at about 38 weeks, so everything can be "controlled". She is very concerned that we live an hour away from the hospital. I tried to tell her that after giving birth as many times as I have, the likelihood of labor catching me by surprise, and us not making it to the hospital probably isn't real likely. She suggested that we might want to stay in Spokane the week I'm due, but I know I will be gone from the children after Jethro is born, so I just can't be gone ahead of time as well.

This is something we would really appreciate prayer about. I do not want to be induced as it will increase my chances of a uterine rupture, it increases the chances for another c-sec., it means that they would have to constantly monitor the baby, so I would be tied to the bed instead of being able to move around. There are just many reasons why I would much rather go into labor on my own. We obviously want to do what is best for this baby, but within that, I want things done as naturally as possible. I hate being messed with during labor; and pretty much nothing has gone right in this pregnancy, so the thought of them "managing" or "controlling" labor makes me very leery ~ I just don't think we would have a very good outcome. So, this is something that Mike and I will be praying about quite a bit, seeking wisdom.