24 weeks and counting...

We had our 24 week appt. on Monday(yikes 6 months already) and left the appt. knowing a little more about Baby B. Adam and I both went in extra prepared with matching notebooks full of questions(of course the journals were Adam's idea, he tries to keep me organized). Our specialist Dr. G ( I can't spell his last name it's crazy long) even noted he was impressed with our organization:)

We had another ultra sound ( I guess one perk of all of this is we see our baby every month) and Dr. G was able to locate that Baby B's lesion is L4. I'm sure many of you are thinking L4 what is that, so I'll fill you in as best as I can. The lower part of your spine is called the lumbar and it has 5 vertebrates. L1 would be the highest and L5 would be the lowest. The lower the lesion the better the mobility is for our baby. Therefore, Adam and I were somewhat relieved to to know that the lesion is lower rather than higher, we marked that down on our list of good news. We also learned that our baby has a healthy heart, lungs, kidney, etc. All good news.

We also learned that both of Baby B's feet are clubbed, which often accompanies babies with spina bifida. We are not exactly sure how our baby's feet will be treated, but from what I have read, most likely braces. As I mentioned before Baby B does have hydrocephalus and the Chari II malformation. We are not sure of the severity of either of these at this time, the hydrocephalus will be treated with a shunt, but we will not know more until we meet with our neurosurgeon on October 9th. Of course, nothing is for sure until we see our little bundle of joy, but we are thankful that we have this time to prepare ourselves for Baby B by reading, learning and talking to others.

Speaking of talking with others, I feel blessed to have been in contact with 3 other amazing parents of children with spina bifida. I've always felt that God puts people in our lives for a reason, but my thoughts were confirmed this month. Several years ago I taught a young man in 4th grade who has spina bifida, he is now in high school and is a truly amazing kid. I have been able to reconnect with his mom, which has been wonderful for me! My sister, Jill, has also connected me to another parent of a child with spina bifida who attends the Early Childhood Center where Jill works, another amazing and positive parent. It doesn't stop there, I also learned that I teach with a lady who has a 17 year old son with spina bifida. She has also been an awesome resource and friend! This has all happened within the last month, overwhelming, yes, but also confirmation that God works in mysterious ways!

On another note,many of you have been asking me to post updated photos of my pregnancy. Well I hate to disappoint, but papparazzi (as many of you call me) is out of commission for a couple weeks. I broke our camera last month and it has been sent away to be fixed. Once I have it back in my hands I will make sure to update photos!

That's about all for now, Adam has been busy this weekend painting the house and preparing the nursery for the arrival of Baby B! I will continue to post updates on our "Bunch" each weekend, thank you all for your positive notes, thoughts and prayers!