Another day at the CAM building

We had a snow day at school today. That was really nice, because its a day of appointments that I won't be using one of my treasured sick days for. I have 44.5 sick days right now. With all of the snow days that we've had this year, I think I'll need about 42 days. I am trying to schedule things on days off as much as possible. I have a ton of appts. on the 16th which is President's Day. The next day is Pulaski Day. After that, I think I'm only going to use up 2-3 days. I'll be cutting it really close. I'm trying not to go over because they deduct my pay for every day that I go over.

Anyway, we had the ultrasound first today That was fine. I love seeing glimpses of my little girl! Erik actually got to go to this one, which was nice because he had to miss the past two. They are doing so many ultrasounds to make sure that Cora is growing normally, because a lot of times, HLHS babies don't gain a lot of weight. So far, Cora is already 3 lbs and 11 oz! She was only 2 lbs just 4 weeks ago! I just hope that she continues to grow normally.

After the ultrasound, we were able to go get lunch. We came back for the OB appointment. This was the 2nd OB appt. in two weeks! I had to go back this time to get my rhogam shot because I have a negative blood type. I am O negative, which is nice because I am a universal donor. Everyone can receive my blood. Erik and I are planning to go to the Red Cross as soon as we figure out what's going on with Cora. We would like to donate blood for her to use in case she needs it. Anyone else can donate too, and when it gets closer, I can give info for that. The blood would be earmarked just for her, but if she doesn't need it or can't accept it, then it would go to someone else.

On another note, we started setting up Cora's room last week. I am posting some pics of the paint job and the bedding. I fell in love with the bedding, and really love the way the paint colors went together. We took the border to Home Depot and did a color match. I was worried at first, but it dried nicely. I used some of the extra border to make outlet covers. It turned out great and was really easy to do! We don't have everything set up, but you can get a good idea. Don't mind the mess, it will be all cleaned up soon (we hope!!!)

Another round of appointments

We had an ultrasound, OB appointment, and fetal echo last week. The ultrasound showed that Cora is growing normally, she's already two pounds! We got some really good 3-D pics of her. The OB appointment was fine. He just wanted to check in and see that everything was progressing normally. He told me that I'm now on the "3,3,2,2,1,1 plan so I go back on the 21st. The fetal echo was normal also, nothing new. That is both good and bad to us. I keep having this hope that the sinusoids will go away. Its so hard to think about my little girl waiting around for a heart, with her health getting worse the more she waits. If the sinusoids go away or turn out to be small, then she can have the Norwood, Glenn, and Fontan surgeries. That would make me SO happy!!! The good news was that the valve betwen the left and right chamber is still wide open, allowing the body to mix red and blue blood and pump pruple throughout the body. If that closes, it gets really hard to treat, and she'd have a much smaller chance of survival. We were suposed to meet with a cardio-thoracic surgeon and have so many questions for him! Unfortunately, he was performing a Norwood procedure at the time, so we'll have to wait until Feb. We met with a neonatologist who will be caring for Cora right when she's born. He was so nice, and we really liked him!!! He asked all kinds of questions and seemed genuinely interested in everyting. He then wrote a letter to everyone involved explaining us and our family, Cora's condition, the complications, and the expected care that she will receive. The letter was so nice, I may have to scrapbook it later. He told us that right when she's born, we'll get a few minutes with her and then she'll be taken over to Children's for an echo, cardiac cath, other tests, and medication to keep her heart open and able to pump blood to the body. He said some things that made me cry for the first time in a long time. The closer we get, the harder it is to deal with everything. He told me that Erik's job will be running back and forth between Children's and Barnes, relaying all kinds of info to me. My job will be to stay in bed and try to recover from the C-section as fast as possible so that I can get up and go see my little girl. I lost it at that point. It is going to be so hard for me to sit in bed without being able to see Cora and make sure that she's okay. I know that it won't take long for me to get up in a wheelchair to see her, but its going to feel like an eternity. I also know that Erik will do everything he can to make I know as much as possible about Cora while taking care of me in bed. Its just really hard to think about right now.