Quick Ultrasound

We are currently at the doctor's for a routine schedule and were able to get in a quick ultrasound. News soon to follow...

Hiatus is over...

Hello all.  We are still alive.  We have just not had much to report these days.  Michelle's belly has popped out quite nicely and we can actually see Karsie kicking without feeling Michelle's belly.  

We do have a few doctor appointments to report coming this month.  We have one this Wednesday with our Bakersfield OB.  We're not exactly sure what all is going to be done then.  It could be as simple as getting a urine sample from Michelle and going on our way, or it could be a full on ultrasound checkup.

We do have another slew of appointments happening at the end of May.  Some of the dates are tentative.  May 22nd we have a pretty big appointment in San Diego.  We will get our second fetal cardiogram which will test Karsie's heart again.  We had great results the first time at UCLA, but this time Karsie's heart is much bigger to see all of the little vessels, so we are praying for the same good results.  

Secondly, we have an appointment that following Tuesday to meet with our new perinatologist to go over the test results, and we may have news about dates this summer like C-Section and hospital admittance for Karsie and such if they are able to give us those. 

Keep checking for updates even though they have been scarce.  They will start to get a little more frequent the more we know.  We also have some news to come about another couple we have been in contact with in New York also having a baby with an omphalocele.  We just need to check on a couple of things before we post.  Things are looking good for them so far, so hopefully that is a sign of things to come for us.  

Talk to you guys later. 

The pseudo-finished room!

Okay... so we keep giving you snap shots of the baby room, and now we are mostly done with it... so here is the view.  

First, the picture of the quilt is to show the baby bedding.  That quilt will go on one of the walls as well. 

Now, imagine a big black crib on the first empty wall.  Then, where there is a dining room chair, imagine a comfy brown chair-glider and ottoman.  At some point we will probably add an area rug to the middle of the room.  And there is a large black shelf in the corner that still needs to be hung.  We have gotten as far as we can without having the crib and rocker to really get a feel for where we want to hang things!  

As for any new medical news, we have an appt with the OB up here the week of the 11th just to check on Michelle's progress.  Then on the 26th we will have our first appointment with the new perinatologist in San Diego.  This will be the doctor that sees Michelle through the rest of the pregnancy and delivers baby Karsie.  Hopefully, we will be able to meet the pediatric surgeon in early June as well.  We have signed up to take our child birthing classes with some friends, and we are getting things all finished up to get ready for the temporary move!  

Baby Owen Botts (Part II)

We would like to take a break from Karsie for a moment to share the arrival of Baby Owen David Botts (a possible future boyfriend to Karsie) who was born this morning at 6:52 weighing in at...are you ready for this...11 lbs. 4 oz!!!  No wonder he looks like a toddler already.  Sarah, you are superwoman!  He was 21 and 3/4 inches long.  

To our friends Sarah and Mike:  We are so happy for you two adding this precious new baby to your family.  We have been blessed to have you as friends and are excited to have shared the "pregnant experience."  Good luck with the new addition!

Baby Owen Botts (Part I)

Just before Owen was born.  Our friend Sarah pregnant with Michelle.

Karsie's Room..."The Bird's Nest" (Michelle can explain later)

One Month to Five Months

                                                                      Holy cow!!!

test

Just trying to see if we can post from our mobile. This would help for delivery day.

List of Things to Do...

1.  Stain the bedroom furniture to match the crib

2.  Wait for the crib to arrive

3.  Paint the walls

4.  Wash paint off of Kevin

5.  Fix the painting that Kevin did

6.  Put up panelling

7.  Multiple trips to Goodwill

8.  Trip to San Diego to meet with doctors

9.  Meet pediatric surgeon

10.  Tour hospital(s)

11.  Temporarily move Michelle to San Diego

12.  Go to lactation classes

13.  Explain lactation classes to Kevin

14.  Go to childbirth classes

15.  Find things for Michelle to do while sitting around (sewing)

16.  Wait for Karsie

And the Countdown Begins....

Since it will only be about another 7 weeks until Michelle temporarily moves to San Diego, she and Kevin have been very busy lately trying to complete things that need to get done here before then.  Today was doing the registration at Baby's R Us and Target.  (we do have to say it's such a relief to be stressed about this and getting to do some fun stuff finally).  We also have been getting Karsie's room ready.  

We're still anticipating the appointments with the surgeons and other San Diego doctors.  Hopefully we will be able to get in to see them soon.  It's such a pain that Bakersfield has no specialists here in town.

Karsie has been kicking like crazy lately, which is great!  She is supposed to be somewhere around 10-11 inches long, and if you've seen Michelle you wonder where she fits.  Good luck to our friends Sarah and Mike who will be delivering any day now.  

Friend Request

Kevin again:  It is starting to seem more and more likely that Michelle will be spending quite a significant amount of time in San Diego for the summer.  As we will probably be giving birth down south, Michelle will need to move down quite early so there is no risk of going into premature labor in an area that does not have the capabilities to deliver Karsie.  

Karsie has a fairly high risk of being born premature for two reasons.  First of all, the omphalocele is a risk alone.  Many babies with an omphalocele are born premature.  Secondly, Michelle has something called a bicornate uterus, which is a heart-shaped uterus.  This is not that serious at this point, but one of the symptoms is giving birth prematurely.  Therefore, we do not want to take any chances, so Michelle will probably move to San Diego for the summer.

That being said, for various reasons I will most likely not be able to move down as early and will be needing to go back and forth between Bakersfield and San Diego for the majority of the time Michelle will be down.  So, I would like to send out a formal friend request to visit Michelle at some point. If you can spare some time during the summer, I'm sure Michelle would appreciate the company.  Just something to think about especially if you are in San Diego already.

Dr. Appt.

Hello all, Kevin here.

Well, I wish I could say that all of our questions were answered today, but I think that day will never come.  However, both Michelle and I would like to give our formal endorsement for Dr. Owens.  He is such an optimistic doctor and has such great bedside manner, which is something that Michelle and I both desperately need now.  

One thing that he did say was that as the abdomen grows it is possible for the omphalocele to shrink.  (Remember our 'miracle' possibility early on on this blog?  It's still a scientific possibility).  We'll keep all our fingers crossed, which will look weird for a while.  

Michelle and I are on Spring Break this week and going to be going down south.  During that time we hope to be referred to a group of pediatric doctors that will eventually be doing Karsie's birth.  Owens agreed to make the referral.  It was either San Diego or UCLA, and no city can beat the August weather in San Diego.  It will make the travel a little difficult for me if Karsie has to be incubated, but it's better for Michelle to be closer to her family if I'm not there.

I was also able to feel Karsie for the first time a few days ago.  I do have to say that if strength is any indication of fetal development, Karsie is just fine.  The first time I felt her I barely felt anything.  Since then, she's been lifting weights and working on her drop kick.  I feel sorry for Michelle the more Karsie grows.  

Other than a few minor questions about health of Michelle and normal pregnancy issues, not much else was discussed.  Karsie's heart rate was 145 (which is normal) and Owens had a hard time locating her because she was moving around too much, which is a wonderful sign. However, after birth might be interesting with such an active kid with an omphalocele.  Look forward to seeing our friends down south very soon.  

Kevin

P.S. Happy anniversary to two very special people to us.  You two have been such wonderful friends and Michelle and I could not be happier for you.   

Questions Forum 4-6-09

We're going to the Dr.'s office tomorrow. This is the time we plan on asking lots of questions as that is primarily what the appt. is for. If there is a question you have that we haven't thought of yet, let us know. If we know it, we'll answer it soon.

We'll update you guys soon. Continued thanks.

Things We Don't Have to Worry About Anymore (Part II)

For this episode we will need to fast-forward about 14-16 years:

Karsie:  Mom, Dad, can I have a bellybutton ring?

Michelle:  No.

Karsie:  Why not? All of my friends are getting one. 

Kevin:  All of your friends have bellybuttons.

(End Scene.)

Where Do We Go From Here?

We are onto the next step in this process.  We called the geneticist today and she told us that at this point Karsie is being treated as an "isolated omphalocele" which means she only has her guts out but there are no other problems.  Therefore, there's really not too much more to test.  They will still keep their eyes open for signs of other problems, but seeing as the heart looks good and everything on the ultrasounds looks good it's unlikely there are any other problems and they really can't test for them anyway.  

We have an appointment on Tuesday to talk with our normal Obstetrician, so we will hopefully know where to go from there.  We have an idea what the plan is, but we will wait until then to post.  

We have also upgraded Karsie's athletic status from swimmer to kung fu black belt.

1 in 10,000

We are still here.  Sorry for those of you who check daily.  To tell you the truth, there just hasn't been a whole lot to say.  Karsie is wiggling a lot lately, but other than that no news to report.

Until today.  We got a call from the doctor's office saying that all the results (full results) are normal.  In other words, to the best of anyone's knowledge, there are no genetic abnormalities. We are still trying to see if we can get an even more in-depth study to grow the chromosomes even more, but it looks as though we're in the clear for the really bad stuff.  

There was another test that was done for spina bifida and a couple other neurological disorders that came back negative, which is even better news.  

So far, so good.  It looks as though we may just be one of those lucky omphalocele cases that occur in only 1 in 10,000 babies where everything else is normal.  We're still hoping that it will shrink to create less of a problem after birth, but we are rejoicing for the news today anyhow.  Keep praying for continued good results as we will be continuing to test random disorders that do not show up on an amniocentesis.  

Quiet Times

After our encouraging news on Friday, it has been a bit quiet around here.  Michelle has been feeling Karsie quite frequently at night.  It seems as though she wakes up early, takes a long nap during the day, and then wakes up in time for dinner.  She's supposed to be around 6 inches long at this point in the pregnancy, so she's making her presence known.

We have scheduled another appointment with our regular doctor, Dr. Owens, a week from Tuesday.  We're not sure what exactly they are going to do, but hopefully we can get a sonogram to have a little more news to share with specifics.  

Breaking News...

We received a call from our doctor today around 10:00 that told us there is no evidence, at this early stage of the review, of any trisomies (third chromosome) in the amniotic fluid. In other words, it looks as though we have passed another huge hurdle.

What this means is that neither an extra chromosome or a missing chromosome was present in the test that they performed. Keep in mind that this is a preliminary test and there is a chance that other problems can come up when they are able to grow the chromosomes much more, but this is such outstanding news for the time being. The complete test will be available in a couple weeks or so.

While we are so very thankful for the prayers that you all have lifted up, we ask that you continue to pray hard for those tests. We can't even begin to thank all of you for your diligence. We continue to get word from people we have never even met that have Karsie in their daily prayers. We are truly blessed. From the bottom or our hearts, thank you.

P.S. IT'S A GIRL!!! Confirmed.

Kevin: I also want to thank my unnamed student who offered me all of the money they had to help pay for my baby's surgery. If you ever read this just know that I will never forget your wonderful offer and that might have been the sweetest thing I have ever heard. Kids can teach us a lot about what's important in life.

Things We Don't Need to Worry About (Part I)

I'm sure that at some point in every parent's life there comes a point where the husband and wife discuss how the hospital will make sure that they don't mix up their baby with another baby. We have talked about this small possibility at times and have even brought up the idea of bringing a sharpie to mark our kid just after birth so there is no mix up (which was a complete joke for those of you who may have thought that was serious).

Well, Karsie will now have something that's a little easier to identify than a mark with a sharpie. We no longer have to worry about mixing up our kid with another.

...and that's this episode of "Things We Don't Need to Worry About Anymore."

Amnio Pain

As expected, Michelle has been pretty sore all day from the amniocentesis done yesterday.  Add on the extremely intense round ligament pain and it's been a pretty painful couple of days.  We are both anxiously awaiting the results from the test which should be coming in the next couple of days.  

Amniocentesis

We just got back from the amniocentesis today.  Unfortunately, we do not really have any news to report regarding Karsie's well-being.  Both the genetic counselor and the doctor really just wanted to reserve answering questions until we find out the results from the tests.  However, we were able to get a couple of older questions answered:

Regarding the ovaries and uterus (still assuming girl), the omphalocele will most likely not contain the ovaries and uterus.  

If this is a chromosomal abnormality, our chances of this continuing are quite low, according to the genetic counselor.  

Statistics:  25% of omphaloceles are genetically related.  2/3 of omphaloceles are either genetically related or have other problems associated with it.  This means that there is a 1/3 chance that the omphalocele is the only problem we're dealing with.  That's a lower statistic than we want, but the good news is most of the "other" non-genetic problems deal with the heart, which we are almost certain is good.  

The amniocentesis went well.  It did not take as long as we thought either.  We ordered two tests.  There is one test that is about 100% accurate that will take about 2-3 weeks to get results back.  The second test is not quite 100% accurate but is still extremely accurate that we will receive in a couple of days.  When we get that result we will post it.  

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers.

Questions Forum 3-23-09

Once again, if there's anything you would like answered or questions you have let us know.  It will help us on what to ask for later appointments.  If we know the answer we will let you know on an answer forum later on.  

Pray Tomorrow

Michelle and Kevin request your prayers tomorrow around 9:40-12:00.  Thank you for all you all have done so far.  

We also request prayer for our patience as we will probably not know any results for a while.  But we will have some information tomorrow.  

Journal Update 3-22-09: Omphalocele vs. Body

Keep in mind this is a bit of an estimation based on the size of a normal baby at the time of our ultrasound on the 13th.  

On that day the doctor said that the omphalocele was about 3.5 cm.  The size of an average baby at that time is about 13 cm.  This might not be the most accurate at this time, but it gives us a rough starting point to measuring the growth of the omphalocele compared to the growth of Karsie.  Starting measurement is a little less than 1/3 of the size of the rest of her body.   

Journal Update 3-21-09: Our Active Child

Karsie seemed to be doing backflips and somersaults yesterday.  She likes to sit right up against the front of Michelle's stomach so it has been very easy to feel her.  Even Kevin, who is not the best at feeling her, was able to.  Michelle says it feels like popcorn popping.  

Kevin also thinks she will be a swimmer when she grows up as she likes to move her arms above her head (but we could only see that in sonograms).  

Right now is kind of a lull for us.  We are still in a euphoric state since our good news on Thursday, but also feeling more and more nervous about our appointment Tuesday, even though we may not get any news then.