Chase Update

We had an appointment this morning with the Fetal-Maternal Specialist, Dr. Greig. They do weekly ultrasounds to gather information on how Chase is growing and developing. I was really hoping we wouldn't get the same ultrasound tech we had last time. Not only could she see scans of the table I was laying on with how hard she was pushing on my abdomen with that durn probe thingy (I was sure I would be bruised by the end of it), she made a comment that REALLY upset me! There I was, at 30 weeks with a baby diagnosed with HLHS, and she makes some horribly inexcusable comment about how she's just "looking for signs of failure" as she gathers measurements n' stuff. I couldn't believe she would say something like that to a patient. I specifically asked NOT to have her as our tech today, and we lucked out!

So during the ultrasound today, Chase was not the most cooperative thing ever -- no surprise there! He was laying on his left side, making it impossible for the tech to get any pictures or measurements of his heart. Typical stubborn boy! But she was able to gather other measurements, which was good. We asked her what his weight was estimated to be and she told us 4 pounds. We were quite surprised because 8 days ago when we were at MUSC for an ultrasound, they too estimated his weight to be 4 pounds. So that tells me he hasn't gained any weight in 8 days! Surely that can't be good!

Later when we met with Dr. Greig, he gave us another piece of interesting news. He said that the growth of Chase's abdomen was not on par with the rest of his body. His abdomen was only in the 16th percentile, which is much lower than his other growth percentiles that are in the 50s to 70s. I was majorly concerned about this, coupled with his apparent lack of weight gain. Dr. Greig's only suggestion was that I eat more. Ya. That's it! Eat more! He didn't seem overly concerned about it, but I couldn't help but worry a little bit.

I emailed Dr. Graham, the Pediatric Cardiologist we saw at MUSC last week to see if he had any different thoughts on this, whether or not it's normal or expected to see this in an HLHS baby, etc. I'm hoping and praying everything is still okay with my sweet baby boy and that he won't have any additional complications once he's born.

Please be praying for Chase, for his continued growth and development, for his weight gain and for him to be born as healthy as possible so he can be prepared for the surgery that awaits him.