Milestones

How old is Gareth?  Well..let's have him tell you:

I'm a Whole Year Old!

It's true! Our precious baby boy is now 1 year old, and we love him more and more.  He is pushing around his walking toys with a grin on his face, he's eating ANYTHING we put in front of him, and he is a dancing fool when music starts to play.  He is a joy.

Here are his 1 year old stats for all those interested

Head Size: 19.5in (98%)

Weight: 21lbs, 13 oz (45%)

Height: 29.5in (50%)

To sum up, he has a huge head.  The doctors measured it 3 times to make sure they had it right.

Also at the Dr.'s appointment, he had five shots, blood taken, diagnosed with bronchitis (AGAIN) and cradle cap on his FACE, and we discovered that his molars are coming in.  So....I won't be sleeping much the next couple of days.  Oh well.  It's not like it's Holy Week or something.

Happy Birthday to you Gareth!  

How Things Stand

Much has happened since my last blog post about Gareth, so I'll try to be thorough and concise.
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Gareth went in for surgery on Thursday morning around 9:15.  The purpose of the surgery was two-fold: to sever the connection between the esophagus and trachea and to attach the two disconnected portions of Gareth's esophagus.  Cliff drew some pictures of this on his i-pod touch to illustrate for our family.  They are below - the first one is how Gareth's esophagus was originally, and the second is how it normally looks (and looks now after surgery).  Notice the top portion of the esophagus ended in a pouch and the bottom portion connected to the trachea.

Here was the difficulty - there was no way for the surgeons to know if Gareth had enough esophageal tissue to connect the separated portions until they were already in surgery.  Thus, if there wasn't enough, they would only sever the connection between the esophagus and trachea and then do a procedure to begin the stretching of the esophagus.  This would prolong our stay in the NICU, as Gareth would still be unable to eat and would have to wait for another surgery to connect the two ends - probably a month later.  So, you can see how stressed we were when Gareth went into surgery; we wouldn't know what our future held until the surgeon came out afterwards.

At about 1:15pm, the surgeon called us into a conference room and gave us the wonderful news that they'd been able to connect the esophageal ends with no difficulty.  He said, in fact, that our son has a great anatomy.  That wasn't a joking phrase either - we'd only recently discovered that Gareth's condition is part of a syndrome that usually includes heart problems, renal problems, spinal malformations, missing bones or hand digits and even rectal problems.  Fortunately, Gareth had none of these associated problems - we've heard our doctors on rounds say things like "oh, Gareth...he'll be fine.  He only had one problem!"

So what happens next?

Well...blessedly...we just wait.  Gareth's esophagus has to heal before we can do any oral feedings (whether by bottle or breast), so the surgical team will do a "dye test" on this coming Thursday to see if there are any "leaks" at the surgical site.  If that goes well (and by well I mean, no leaks), then we can do oral feedings, his chest tube will come out and probably his central line.  At that point, the goal will be to successfully feed, burp and soil diapers and then we'll be able to go home.  That could be next weekend or it could be a couple of days afterwards, it's really up to the doctors.  When we know more, we'll let you know.

Now we're just sitting around watching him improve.  He is no longer receiving any antibiotics or pain medication, he has increasing amounts of breast-milk fed through his NG tube (a tube that goes directly to his stomach), his hep-lock ports in his hand and foot have been removed, his catheter is out as is his ventilator, he has stopped receiving photo-therapy for jaundice, and he can be touched and handled without gloves or protective gear.  We still can't hold him (b/c of the chest tube), but that day is coming.

This last week has been at times glorious and horrific, terrifying and exhilarating.  But through it all, we are thankful to you for all your kind words and prayers.  It has been moving to stand by our son's bedside and know that the community of saints and the spirit of God is surrounding us.

Medical Update

Happy February!
I swear it was just January 1st...right?
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I've (Elizabeth) posted before about how my life has been largely devoid of medical issues, and how this pregnancy has had me running from doctor to doctor.  Well, I thought I'd update you all on some pressing issues.

1.  I do NOT have gestational diabetes.  ::Fist Pump::  Last week I took the 1 hour test and failed it and so had to traipse over to the lab to do the 3 hour version.  Which included fasting from food and water (what?!), having my blood taken 4 TIMES, and drinking the sweetest version of orange soda you've ever had.  Got the call this morning that I passed my test, thank goodness.

2. I do NOT have a heart arrhythmia.  After wearing a heart monitor for the last month, I had a follow up appointment at the Cardiologist's office today.  Apparently, I just have a high heart rate - like between 100 and 150 at all times.  (Note: for pregnant women, it's usually only in the 80's-90's).  Doc said he could give me medicine to slow it down, but that might adversely affect the baby, so there goes that option.  Good news, though, is that my heart rate should slow down by 32 weeks.  Which isn't much comfort seeing as how I'll have a baby 8 weeks after.  Another appointment in 6 weeks to check and see if things have calmed down.

3. My belly button is completely flat.  And actually, it's now starting to protrude.  Yeah, yeah, I know, this isn't really a medical issue, per-say, but its still weird to lose your belly button.  Mommas - back me up here!
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In other news, I'm 28 weeks now.  Officially 3rd trimester.  I guess I really AM going to have a baby soon!

I live at the Doctor's Office...a.k.a I'm pregnant

Growing up, I (Elizabeth) was a moderately healthy child.  When I was sick, it was usually bad (ex: having pneumonia) but even then, not that long-lasting.  Here's an example for you - When my sister had mono, she was under the weather for around 6 weeks.  When I had mono, I was only sick enough to miss school for four days.  I eeked out that last day of the week and then regretted it later when I couldn't exempt any final exams my freshman year.

All this to say, I've never really spent that much time at the doctor's office or even thinking about my health.  That is...until I became pregnant.  Now I'm at my OB's office at least once a month, and in the coming weeks, will see him once every two weeks.  I'm more aware of my body than I HAVE EVER been, mentally cataloging all symptoms, pains and questions to bombard my doctor with.  And to top it all off, my immune system is depressed because, well, it's got other things to worry about (i.e. the new human I'm growing) than my silly body.  So right now I'm taking antibiotics for Pharyngitis (a bacterial infection of the Pharynx - thanks Kristin for explaining that to me) and considering getting a Seasonal Flu shot even though I haven't had the flu since 1998.

Ah well...soon my OB visits will end and pediatrician visits will pick up, and as my mother and grandmother say, "I wont have time to get sick."  How funny that creating new life would be so...medically involved!

Oh, and before I forget.  Had my 15 week appointment on Nov. 6th and got to hear the baby's heartbeat again.  Apparently baby-kins is already a performer and did a flip while we were listening.  I'm scheduled to go back to the OB on the 20th to do my Quad-Screening and then will have a sonogram done on December 1st when we will find out the gender of our baby!  Have a guess to what we'll be having?  Make sure to vote in the poll on our blog.

No new pictures yet, but in case you were wondering....the G-R baby is now the size of an:
AVOCADO!