specialist, surgeon and a tour of the NICU, OH MY!!

Whew! What a day! After another two hour visit with the perinatal specialist, John joined me and we were off to meet with the pediatric heart surgeon. As with everything else, it will all come down to how Caleb does after he is born as to whether he will need any kind of surgery. The surgeon mentioned not wanting to do the complete reconstruction surgery until he is as close to 1 year old as possible. The heart will be stronger and most of the tissue they need to work with will be much better to work with then when he is first born. So even if Caleb does not need a surgery right away to put the shunt in the smaller vessel, he may need it somewhere in the first year, just to tie him over until he does have the complete "repair".

From there we got a tour of the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit). This is where Caleb will spend his time in the hospital. He will not be with me in my post labor room as he needs to be closely monitored. They will do a sonogram of his heart and keep a close eye on his oxygen levels, etc. there. So I guess we will be spending most of our time in the NICU. The hard part will be that his big brother (& sister) will not be able to see him as you have to be 12 to be allowed in the NICU. :( That will make for an interesting recovery. Heart surgeon agreed that there is not immediate need for a c-section at this point. He said to try for a regular delivery and see how he does. We just hope it does not cause him any unnecessary stress.

In the end, the OB specialist put me on the schedule for my induction to be on August 11th!! So we have 2 1/2 weeks to get ready....wheee...let the fun begin!! It feels like such little time to prepare ourselves, let alone Ryan and Sara for their time at home with grandparents...how does one write out your child's schedule as if mom was still here to take care of them?!