Late Update (6-26-09)

Everything is still looking good.  The on-call doctor had three vaginal births, 6 Cesarian births, and a heavy duty surgery all in one shift, so he didn't get to do the sonogram until way late (11:00) or so.  He comes in each time and asks "How are you my darling?"  "How is cutie pie doing in there?"  He is very warm and was very reassuring.  Karsie did have the cord around her neck, but since she's in fluid, she'll probably wiggle out of that by tomorrow.  

Good news:  Michelle gets an hour a day now to get out and tour the area....by wheelchair of course.  But we are all very excited about that because she is getting pretty antsy.  

Thank You Friends

We are approaching a week in the hospital and we wanted to give a real quick thanks to all of our friends and family who have supported us in ways they can:

We especially want to thank Carlos and Reva who have been here by Michelle's side for hours and hours.  It really helps to have Nana here with a medical background and the ability to help calm Michelle.

Kelli and Dave have been here often getting food for Kevin, visiting, and offering help.  We have been visited by friends like Megan, Amber, the Tiners, and are very excited to see our friends the Kings this coming week.  We have missed them very much since coming here a few weeks ago.

We also appreciate greatly our friends back home that have offered to look over our house and our friends in San Diego that have offered to play with our puppies.  

If you've ever needed to depend on friends and family during difficult times you know how appreciative and important you all have been to us.  Especially when stress exacerbates the problem, having friends and family supporting in all these ways has played a part in keeping Karsie healthy and inside.  You all are working to keep our baby safe.  Thank you!!! 

Karsie is 32!

Well, it's not ideal, but 32 weeks is better than 31.  There seems to be an unspoken goal (by the doctors) to get to week 34, but every doc has said that Karsie will probably do okay if worse comes to worse...however, throw in the omphalocele and then risks go up.

This week Karsie works on her lungs and practicing breathing.  The good news is that she has already shown us signs of this practice in last week's sonogram (the one that put us here).  She will be working on sucking and may be using her thumb.  Yesterday's sonogram showed her trying to suck her thumb, and if you look closely at her upper lip from yesterday's pictures you might see what might be a sucking blister that many babies have there.  (it also might be distortion from the camera or a little triceratops precipice).  

We are praying she stays in this week as this week is vital to her breathing practice and thickening.  She is supposed to be around 4 pounds by the end of the week, so she will probably gain 1/2 pound in just a week's time.  This is very important because the bigger she is the better she will cope with major abdominal surgery that she will have to go through.

Keep growing Karsie!!!