Appointment # 1

Not much happened. We met with doctor Owens for a routine checkup. He listened to Karsie's heart which read as completely normal. Karsie was again rolling around and kicking everything in sight.

Owens also said that while Michelle's sugar was technically high it was barely above the level they do a second check on.

Next appointment is this Friday.

First in a Slew of Appointments

Hello all. We are currently waiting for the first appointment of three happening in less than a week. This first appointment will probably be our last in Bakersfield until Karsie arrives. We will have two more in San Diego over the weekend. We don't know exactly what the appointments are for other than meeting the docs, but we will update you all when we find out.

In less than happy news Michelle's sugar levels were higher than expected and will need to go back in to take a longer test to see if she has gestational diabetes. Unfortunately if she does that is yet another risk of premature labor. We are praying she does not.

News to follow...

Growth and Showers

So, we have made it to the six month mark here.  As you can see... Michelle's belly button is looking like it could pop out at any given moment!!  Karsie continues to amaze mom and dad with her strength!  She is approximately 14 inches long and weighs a little over a pound.  She is making good growth progress.

Michelle had her first baby shower yesterday too!  Karsie was spoiled by all her Bakersfield aunties and friends.  Michelle's mom and grandma were able to be there too which made the day very special.  Thank you to all our friends who helped plan the shower and to everyone who attended and were so generous with your gifts.  
A special message onsie for our little "gut" baby!  

Two More Weeks...

We are two weeks away from hitting the magic 28 weeks!  As far as Karsie's well-being, the 28th week is typically the "safety age" for most babies.  In other words, she can be born any time after that and will probably make it.  This is, of course, a rule of thumb age and we obviously want to go to term, but it's a prayer that we have been praying for a while and it's right around the corner. 

Happy Mother's Day!

We would like to make a special Mother's Day shoutout today.  Michelle is enjoying her first "sort of" Mother's Day while sharing it with Kevin's mom and sister.  Hope the rest of the day goes well for the rest of you.  

Clarification

We have had numerous people come up and ask us if we are moving to San Diego for good.  The answer to that is no.  We are planning on temporarily moving to San Diego just for the summer until we give birth to our daughter and a little after until she is ready to move back to us to Bakersfield.  We felt we needed to clarify for any worried that we're bailing on them without saying goodbye.  Michelle will be leaving in the next few weeks while Kevin will be making some sort of back and forth trip all summer.  Hope this is a little clearer.

Appointment cont...

Sorry about the delay from yesterday.  It took longer than we thought and then we had a ton of stuff to do.  

The good news:  We are still seeing all the signs that this is an "isolated" case meaning that the omphalocele is the only thing wrong with Karsie.  The technician, Gennifer, told us that the hole in the abdomen is about an inch at this point.  Karsie is around 14 or so inches long (we're not sure where she fits in Michelle) and about a pound.  At this point in the pregnancy she is mostly gaining weight.  Very soon she will stop growing longer and just be getting heavier.  Karsie is kicking at extreme rates.  She's pretty feisty.  When Gennifer and the doctor put the ultrasound scanner on Michelle's belly, Karsie would immediately kick back.  But the movement is an excellent sign.  In fact, Gennifer said that she was the most active of the day and one of the most active she has seen.  We were able to see four full chambers in the heart and all of the limbs were the way they should be.  Her ears were also where they should be (one of the associated problems with omphaloceles has an indicator with the ears set low).

The cautious news:  Karsie's omphalocele has not shrunk nor has any of it gone back in.  (From now on we will call the omphalocele Bob  because it's annoying to continue to type that word). Bob is about as big as the abdomen, which is good, but it means it will be a little more intense of a surgery than a "normal" Bob.  However, our chart from our UCLA doctor said it was definitely not the worst case he has seen, so maybe we can call it an above average Bob.  We also saw another part to Bob that stuck out and is filled with fluid.  This can be a variety of things that we will not know for a while, but one of the things we are nervous that it is is part of Karsie's bowels.  This is probably not life threatening, but if it's swollen like that there's obviously a problem and will require more surgery.  

The doctor said that Karsie will be in the hospital for a week minimum, but was optimistic about the timeframe.  In other words, we could be able to take her home much sooner than we thought providing nothing weird happens between now and then.  

In a couple of weeks we have a slew of doctor's appointments:  one here and two in San Diego, so this will be a hotbed of information very soon.  Keep posted.  Thanks for the continued prayers.  

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.