Long update-MRI results

Its been a while since I've posted (I'm sorry) but its for several reasons. First, because my router for my laptop crapped-out on us and we just got it fixed last night. And secondly, its been an emotional week for me and my husband and we needed some time to sort through some things. Let me explain.

I went to TX Children's Hospital for the results and didn't exactly get good news. The MRI & ultrasound concluded that my baby has Schizencephaly (pronounced Skiz-en-sef-all-ee). The pediatric neurologist showed me all the digital images of my son and he pointed out a spot where our son has a small "dip" on the outter side of the left ventrical in his brain. This brain anomaly can not be repaired with surgery, its a malformation in the tissues of the brain. The dr. said that our baby can and will live, but there is a great possibility that he may suffer from paralysis on one or both sides of his body, have a decreased muscle tone, and/or have a seizure disorder. Oddly enough, of these three things the seizure disorder is the only one that doesn't scare me. Because I, myself, suffered from Epilepsy for 10 years. This December will be 13 years that I have been seizure-free and med-free. So if my son is going to have similar issues with seizures I know I can help him and we will be able to get through it together. The pediatric neurologist that gave me these results is partners with MY old pediatric neurologist that still practices in the same hospital. So he said that seeing that I was successfully treated, and my seizures were controlled with meds, there is a good chance that our son's will be too. I asked if my past with Epilepsy had an influence on this pregnancy, and he said "As easy as it may seem to connect the two, no. And there's no real way to know if he'll have seizures (or any of the other neurological issues) until he's born, and he begins to reach mile stones." So basically, we'll just have to wait and see. (Which seems to be the theme to this pregnancy...)
During the appt the dr. told me that he is currently caring for a patient (15 month old little girl) that was diagnosed in-utero with the same kind of schizencephaly (unilateral cleft) on the same side of the brain as my son. And she is walking, talking, shows no sign of having seizures, and she is fully funtioning as a "normal" 15 month old little girl should. She does have a slight turn-in on her right foot when she walks, but its nothing that needs surgery or corrective braces for. It just may be that since she just learned to walk, she may be a little lazy on keeping her feet perfectly straight and she'll more than likely straighten it up on her own. But even if she doesn't, its not very noticeable and it doesn't inhibit her from doing anything. Hearing this positive outcome about the little girl does give me some hope that my son just may beat the odds too. I just pray that this is the last scare for this pregnancy. I can't tell you all how much I just want my son to be here and be ok. We pray every night out loud so God and my son can hear us and know that all we really want is the best for him. We are just going to have to do our best to give him the best life we can, like any other parent would.

I don't doubt that God knows what He's doing, I just wish He didn't have to test us so often.

Since the results appt. I've had an Ob/gyn appt that went ok. I did have protein in my urine and I also had an elevated blood pressure. (Beginning signs of pre-eclampsia) And today I had an appt with my Maternal Fetal Med. Dr. for an ultrasound and my urine tested clear but my blood pressure went a little higher. Which she's associating with my nervousness about the schizencephaly diagnoses. The ultrasound went well. My SIL & 12 yr old niece went in with me. The sonographer was really sweet, she took her time measuring everything, and explaining what it was that we were looking at so my niece really enjoyed the experience. She said she didn't expect to see much and she ended up getting a nice little lesson in anatomy. But anyways... The ultrasound went ok, he is still head down face down so I didn't get but only one picture, and it happens to be of his boy-parts which he's not shy about showing. And we got some video added to our new VHS tape. Ya know, I now have a full 6 hour video of all the past ultrasounds (including 2 attemps of a 3d u/s.) And this visit we started a new 6 hr tape...

Speaking of 3d ultrasounds. I went back for our 2nd attempt for the 3d u/s and he was head down, face down. She did video some of it, but we were unsuccessful in getting him to flip over to face us. We tried everything from sitting with my knees up squishing my lower tummy, to pressing on his legs & feet to make him mad and it didn't work. We didn't get a single picture that time, so the nice girl gave us the VHS video and didn't charge us. She said she couldn't charge us because we tried twice, and in the price we were suppose to get clear pictures, and a 20-30 minute VHS and DVD. And all we got were the 3 good pics (previously posted) and VHS tape. So today I took her a gift card as a little thank you, because she sacrificed a few early hours on a Saturday morning and she stayed late one Friday. Whether she was on the clock or not, I don't know, but either way we were still thankful that she didn't charge us the full price for the 2 attempts.

My next Ob appt is Aug 6th, and my next MFMD appt for an u/s is Aug 20th. And I should have 2 more ultrasounds before our scheduled c-section.