Scheduling

So I went in for my steroid shots last week. The hope is that within 48 hours of receiving the first shot, the baby’s lungs would become more developed. I was so nervous to receive the first one. It probably didn’t help that I when I was waiting to receive the first shot, I could hear a lady down the hall screaming from labor pain. Yeah, that can rattle your nerves a bit. Anyway, they weren’t as painful as I had expected, and I’m glad that I am past the 48 hour mark with still no signs of going into labor.



Last week I also spoke with the pediatric surgeon. I’ve been a little disappointed that there seems to be some lack of communication in coordinating schedules for the upcoming delivery. Since I also still had some questions for the surgeon, my doctor advised me just to contact him directly. When I called his office the first thing I found out from his receptionist was that he was going on vacation the week of March 24-30. I immediately started to panic. Originally, my doctor was talking about inducing me during this week. He is one of the most critical people involved in this whole process, so I definitely didn’t want to be induced if he was out of town. Luckily, there was a cancellation on the same day I called and I was able to talk to the surgeon for about an hour about the induce date and many upcoming issues surrounding the birth and surgery. After speaking with him, I felt better. He said that he was going to be on vacation, but would still be in town and could be consulted or possibly come in to assist with the surgery if the baby was born early. He also said that he typically doesn’t operate for this condition until at least three or four days after birth because he wants to make sure the baby is stable and can handle such an intense operation. So really the neonatologist and NICU staff are the most critical players in the first few days of our baby’s life.


As we went on to talk, I found out other details…like the surgery lasts for about 2 ½-4 hours. The baby is completely out for about 8-12 hours during this time and won’t eat until a long time later. He also mentioned that if the baby and I are life-flighted to Portland (because Boise doesn't have an ECMO (heart/lung) machine) than we would most likely be there for about a month. At one point, I asked about how cautious I need to be with germs/illness/etc. I’m a bit of a germ freak anyway so I didn’t want to be too over-the-top. He told me that when I take the baby home that I definitely shouldn’t allow anyone who is sick to be near the baby. He said if a friend or relative wants to visit and they have been exposed to someone who has been sick that he would tell them to wait for two weeks to make sure they weren’t carrying any viruses before they came to visit. Then he went on to say, if it were him, he wouldn’t allow any children into our home except for our daughter for at least 6 months and possibly up to 2 years depending on the baby’s health. Katelyn was with me at the time; he looked right at her and said she might not have many playmates except for her sister for the next few years. I couldn’t help but think about how extremely lonely the next year may be for Katelyn and me. No mom’s groups, limited visitors, hardly any association with other kids….It is going to make me rethink a lot of child care possibilities. In a time when I’m desperately going to need help caring for Katelyn, I’m going to have to be extra cautious that she isn’t exposed to sick kids. Even having her in the church nursery might be questionable.


Anyway, as we ended the conversation we scheduled the tentative induce date for Monday, March 31st (his first day back). He was going to call my doctor and officially set up the date with her. At 5:30pm that night my doctor called me and told me that she is going to be out-of town the week of March 31-April 4. I couldn’t believe she was going to be out-of-town because I have asked her multiple times if she had any traveling plans that would prevent her from being at the delivery. Anyway, she agreed that it was probably more critical to have the surgeon on-duty than her deliver the baby so this week I’m going to meet with one of her partners that might end up being the delivery doctor. This week I’m also going to meet with the neonatologist again. I think I may freak out if he tells me he also has a vacation planned during this time. All this said, I’ve been realizing more and more how completely out-of-control I am in regards to our baby’s health and delivery. Chances are I will most likely go into labor early so an induce date may not even matter. No matter how much coordinating I try to do, I don’t know which neonatologists or other doctors and nurses will be on-call or working when I deliver. I just hope that God will work out all the details. If you are praying for our family here are a few items to pray for:


(1) The best possible team of doctors will be present at labor and delivery.


(2) Bryan will complete work assignments/deadlines early so taking off time won’t be stressful. Also, that there will be no more layoffs at his work…on Thursday they laid off seven people.


(3) Katelyn will be cared for and loved during the next year when so much of our time and focus will have to be on caring for the new baby.


(4) Our baby’s lungs will continue to develop and she will be much stronger and healthier than previously thought possible.