A good day

I know people are anxious to know about our day, and I apologize if you are one of the people that called us today that we didn't call back.  We were at St. Vincents until almost 6:00 pm and we were a little pooped, so we thought we'd wait to talk until later.  We had a good day!  Several things we learned today were good news and very encouraging.  Some highlights for now:

1) Our hospital stay looks like it won't be quite as long as we expected.  We are looking at more like one month instead of two months.  Of course, everything is up in the air, because they won't know for sure how Caleb does until he is actually born.  But as of now, his birth won't be as critical or dangerous as we anticipated.  Dr. Abraham, the surgeon, said that he expects Caleb to be fairly stable when he is born.

2) I might not have to have a C-section!  I had one with Jonah and at Henry Co they don't do a VBAC, but the ob/gyns at St. Vincents DO perform VBACs, and Dr. Harry today said that it is a possibility.  We will be talking more about this at later appointments.  This is very exciting for me because my own recovery would be so much quicker.

3) Caleb is a big boy!  The ultrasound tech asked me today if Jonah was a big baby.  I laughed and said no, he was scrawny and asked why she wanted to know.  She said, "Because this baby looks like a big one!"  We were thrilled!  The bigger Caleb is, the stronger his heart and the easier things will go for him.  I know people have prayed specifically for this, so it's exciting to hear my boy's growing big and strong.

4) Here's the big news of the day... after spending time in a consultation with the surgeon and a tour of the wing where Caleb's surgery would be, we had our actual appointment with our pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Abarbarell.  She looked at Caleb's heart and said there's a good chance he will not have to have immediate surgery when he is born.  Needless to say, I think my mouth came open.  She said that the blood flow in his heart is surprisingly strong and sometimes when these babies have good blood flow, surgery can be delayed for several months, which would be HUGE.  Not having to have surgery at 3 days old would be a huge advantage for Caleb and make such a difference for our family.  His hospital stay would be more like 2-3 weeks and he would get to eat without a feeding tube, and be held by his parents, and do all the normal things a newborn does.  We were thrilled when she said this was even a possibility, but again, it's not for sure.  She did say though that at this point she would guess Caleb will not need that immediate surgery.  YAY!!!  He would still need the later surgeries, but it would be SO good if he could just have a normal birth experience and first few months of life.

Now we know more things to pray for!  Please pray that I could have a normal delivery instead of a c-section, and of course PLEASE pray that Caleb's heart would pump blood at such a perfect balance that surgery can be delayed.  The doctors will look at him in another month and see what they think.

Thanks for your prayers today.  We felt them and are going to bed tonight worn out, but at total peace.  Good night for now!