A More Complete Plan

We met with the doctors this morning after the ultrasound and we have what one could refer to as a "best-case" birth plan for Jonah. The doctors we spoke with advised, based on all available factors, that Kelly deliver the baby at the 38 week mark. So mark Thursday, March 26th on your calendar. The exact specifics of the plan are tentative at this point, but the date is essentially set unless Kelly goes into early labor. They would not stop labor after 34 weeks so it is possible that he is born earlier than that, especially since pregnancies with low or no fluid can tend to go early.

It may seem counter-intuitive that we would actually feel better knowing that we have five weeks left, but it is good to be able to form a plan and be able to make preparations for whatever time we will have with Jonah. The running guess is somewhere between one hour and a few days; it will all depend on the lungs and how much oxygen they can deliver.

We also received what I would consider the final verdict on the kidneys, which is that they are not in complete failure yet, but also that delivering now would not help them in any way. That really means that they will fail, quite possibly before he is born. We did not get any new information on the lungs, just a repeat of the fact that they can not determine how well they will function until he is born. We also discussed options for what care is available after birth with the focus on making him as comfortable as possible.

There is a couple small pieces of positive news from the ultrasound. The tech mentioned that it does not look like he has "clubbed feet" which can occur when babies get compressed from the lack of amniotic fluid. This is the name of the condition when the feet get turned upward and inward from the pressure. He was also doing what they call "practice breathing" which is a good sign because babies in distress do not do this; they are typically quite still as they are in "survival only" mode and conserving their energy. So, at least it looks like he is not worse for the situation and is not under duress.

During the ultrasound we also recorded ten seconds of his heartbeat on a device we bought from "Build-a-Bear." We are going to pick out a bear later with Evan and put the recording inside the bear so that when you squeeze him, you hear the heartbeat. After much consideration, we have decided to include Evan in on the whole process so that he gets some time with his little brother and we can all share in the memories when he is older.

I am not sure at this point what the schedule is going forward for appointments or where they will take place but I will update the blog when that picture is more clear.

John & Kelly