As of last Friday we are officially in the third trimester and this Thursday we have our first lineup of appointments at St. Louis Children's Hospital since about 8 weeks ago...man has time flown by! I know a lot of parents of heart babies typically look forward to these appointments so they can see how baby is doing and monitor growth and progress, but its not really my cup of tea. While I am certainly excited to see our little guy and learn about any changes, I also find these appointments extremely exhausting and adds to my anxiety as we approach his birth. It is certainly a blessing for us to have found out about Baby P's heart challenges beforehand, especially since we were planning another home birth. It is also nice to have the ability to plan ahead as much as possible. However, it is in many, many other ways a curse. Ignorance certainly was bliss.
So, what have we been doing with the last 8 weeks?
1. Growing our faith--We absolutely could not get through this without God, our growing confidence in Him, and prayer. We have been praying, sometimes at odd times or places, sometimes without even knowing what to pray for...just praying like crazy for a miracle. There are so many people across the country that are also praying for Baby P with us. This process we are working through with our new son has gone beyond what we can handle at times and I'm not sure we would be making it through so well without prayer from others.
2. Spending lots of time with Evan--He has grown so much over the last couple months. He has developed preferences, learns a couple new words every week, LOVES reading, and continues to be a light in our lives. I am so thankful Baby P will have him as a big brother!
3. Researching housing options for our stay in St. Louis--Our main priorities are proximity to the hospital and having a place of stability for Evan. Not knowing exactly when baby will arrive leaves us needing to be in St. Louis full time by 38 weeks and because of the nature of heart defects, there is no way to tell how long we can anticipate needing to stay.
4. Staying as healthy as possible--yoga, walks, stretching, drinking tons of water, building our immunity, and sanitizing the house. I also began a morning ritual that includes thinking of something positive that has come from this experience...it helps get the day started off on the right foot!
5. Stocking up on everything! I have been couponing like a crazy woman on diapers, wipes, toiletries, non-perishable foods,...we will basically be on lockdown once he comes home to protect him from getting any kind of illness. Even if he gets a common cold it could mean several weeks in a hospital. And it just so happens that the period of his highest vulnerability falls in line with the peak of flu season, I am not taking any chances.
6. Finishing big house projects--Finishing our basement, remodeling the backyard landscaping, and possibly partially remodeling the kitchen are all being scheduled for completion BEFORE baby arrives. They most certainly will not be priority afterwards :)
7. Lining up possible care options for our house, dog, and occasionally Evan...I feel like I am already forgetting things!
8. Breaking out the baby gear from storage--It wasn't stored away for long was it?
9. Enjoying our numbered days as a family of 3--even though I already consider us a family of 4, we will likely not have the freedom to be quite as spontaneous as we are with Evan these days.
10. Planning a short weekend away as a couple--It will likely be a long while before we feel comfortable leaving baby P anywhere. It took me several months before I spent even an hour away from Evan and well over 8 months before we ever even considered hiring a babysitter, which we have done only a total of 4 times since he has been born! I thought it would be easier to "let go" the second time around, but in this case it most definitely will NOT be.
And last but not least, we have been preparing for this next round of appointments. They have us scheduled for the works...another ECHO and pediatric cardiologist appointment, another ultrasound, a consultation with one of the two possible pediatric cardiothoracic surgeons that would perform the open heart surgery, a regular high risk OB appointment, meeting our assigned social worker, and also meeting with one of the NICU docs to ask questions and possibly tour the unit and acclimate ourselves to our "new normal". Its going to be a looooooooong day, better get some shut eye.
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