Reporting

On Wednesday, we packed up our bags (bathing suits and all) and headed to Syracuse to spend a couple days with some good friends of ours who happen to have a big house, a terrific yard, a heated 40' long pool, a swing set (which is quite novel to my children since we don't have one), and built-in babysitters. Aubrey and I both had appointments scheduled for Thursday morning with specialists, so it seemed like a good time to take these friends up on their offer to give us a mini vacation.

I can't believe I forgot the camera! I have rarely seen my children so thoroughly enjoy themselves for 2 days straight and I totally lost the opportunity to capture any of it. They were humored non-stop the entire time we were there: play-doh, freeze tag, swimming, movies in bed, swinging, and more.

Thursday morning, Daniel, Aubrey, and I left Gabriel, Bronwyn, and Jackson with our friends to begin our round of appointments at the physicians' offices. Aubrey was up first with the cardiologists, and she got a rave review! Her O2 sats (the level of oxygen in her blood) have been holding steady around 85% for the past 6 months, which is still a very comfortable level. She's now 20-1/2lbs, just below the 3rd percentile for her age, and is 32" tall, just below the 50th percentile for her age. (Danica, Dad thinks we should just average William and Aubrey out and call it even!) The cardiologists don't care what her weight is, so long as her growth is steady-- which it is-- so Dr. Byrum was very pleased. As any of you who see her regularly well know, her color is great, her activity/energy is high, and one would never know by looking at her that there's anything wrong with her heart.

Dr. Byrum said he doesn't feel he needs to see her again for 6 months! This will be the longest she's gone between appointments since birth. Dr. Byrum also said that if her health continues to be as stable as its been, he could easily see them holding off on any "intervention" for another 3 years! (We are, of course, praying for a miracle so that she never has to undergo reconstructive surgery.)

After Aubrey's appointment ended, we had some time to kill before my level II ultrasound and genetic consult, so we headed up to the NICU to visit with some of our favorite nurses. Not all of them were there that day, of course, but we got to see a few familiar faces and they were delighted to see Aubrey. Most of their exclaimations had something to do with either how healthy she looks and/or her red hair.

Then it was off for my/Baby's appointments.

We didn't get any pictures other than this one because the baby's hands were over his face almost the whole time. Even in this profile shot, you can see a hand right above the nose/mouth.

The level II ultrasound went great. Dr. Silverman, the perinatalogist who looked over the film, was very pleased. Growth is right on track and the placenta is posterior (nowhere near the scar tissue from the c-section). And, most importantly, this initial look at the baby's heart shows nothing abnormal.

Our genetic consult was brief. And amusing! I mean, it's not often Daniel and I get a barrage of questions along the lines of whether or not there's any chance we might be related. ("Well, I guess it all depends on how far back in history you go, right???")

The last thing we did was get the fetal echocardiogram with the pediatric cardiologists scheduled for July 20th. After that, this pregnancy should get a "normal" status. I can't wait!

Oh, and no, we didn't find out whether we're having a boy or a girl. I wasn't even remotely tempted. Having done it both ways now (we didn't find out the first 3 times-- though we did try with Bronwyn and weren't successful-- and then we did find out with Aubrey), I can say from experience that it's much more exciting to find out on their birthday! At least, it is for me. I will say that, for what it's worth, both Daniel and I are guessing boy at this point. Even though I'm 0 for 2 (I honestly didn't even have a guess 2 of the times) Daniel is 4 for 4, so it would be surprising if he's wrong.

After our morning and afternoon of appointments, we returned to the pool and continued to be waited on hand and foot by our gracious hosts until we left yesterday evening after dinner. It was a great couple days and we feel very, very blessed by the appointment results.