Goals by the numbers

Here is a list of my "hopes". For those of you who want to pray for the specific. I get a little nervous when I ask for the specific, because I don't always want to hear the specific answer.
-8/15 Bishops Score- This determines how ready my body is. 8-9 is a "favorable" induction,
I am an 8 as of yesterday. CHECK!
- 55 or more for the Amniocentesis count- This will mean his lungs are ready to breathe.
- 3 hours of labor- The faster the better, the moment this baby starts to show signs of stress it
will be a C-section, which will make it so I can't be with him as soon. FYI: I am going all- natural again. Wish me luck!
- 8 lbs or more- A bigger baby can tolerate surgery better. I do remind Thom he still has to
come out of me, so easy on this one, lets not get too big. I think 8.4 would be nice.
- 48 hours to snuggle- IF he can tolerate the medication, he will not have to be intubated. This
means we can hold him! He can nurse, and snuggle, and meet his brother and sisters and they can hold him, what a great photo opportunity! And then ease into this big painful world. They do not want to do his surgery for 48 hours, so to check all body functions are flowing. This could be our
FAMILY TIME we have been wishing for!
- 2 weeks post surgery home- This one may be a little too hopeful, but you can't begrudge a
mommy for wanting all her chicks in the nest together. The average stay post-op is six weeks. The Cardiologist said they don't remember the kids who do well and he doesn't want to remember us, nor do we want to be memorable.
Thats all Folks! I am a week away from"D" day. Keep those thoughts, prayers and positive affirmations coming our way. Thank-you!
All Our Love

Reconizing Miracles

I guess I got a little wordy with that last post, but I did want to add one more tid bit. We are seeing miracles!!! Not in the way we intially hoped for- a healthy heart. But the fact that Severins' heart has compensated for the defects, sometimes creating new defects in order to survive. He is a chubby, otherwise healthy boy. We live here by Primary Childrens. The Docs. there are the best of the best, they have been given a God given talent that we get to be a part of. Technology is measured in leaps and bounds when it comes to healing hearts. Our family is being brought together in a way that I don't think could have been possiable otherwise. Our prayers ARE being heard I assure you of that. We have a strong support group. We can choose to look at the"wrong" but why? when there is so much RIGHT! Our son has the best chance of a long life. Its just about the journey we take. THANK-YOU! & THANKS TO YOU!
All Our Love,
The Quists

Perinatologist Appointment June 11

One more down. On Wednesday I had a strange and very painful "stomach" pain, I say stomach but at this point I really have no idea where any of my organs are. Anywho very painful, and then elevated (for my very low) blood pressure. I called Dr. Nance last night. He didn't seem too worried. So I decided I would lay down and see if I could relax. Well I woke up at 9:00 this morning to Neleh yelling for me. I talked to Dr. Gainer about the pain and she didn't seem to concerned either. I am not the critical one, Severin is and he only is after he comes out, until then life is good. So about this kid; He weighs 6 lbs 2 oz. !!! That is measuring 2 weeks ahead of schedule! Just for fun the tech (Keri who is my fav.) did a 3D of his face. His cord was across his lips and chin, but oh boy he is a Quist! We laughed for 10 mins! Even Keri looked at Thom and said this is definately your son. He has fat cheekies, and the Quist button nose. Thom was hoping that I could have one kid look like me. Not so much. He looks like Johnathen and Neleh and oddly enough like his Auntie Erica. No me, so good thing I know he is mine. Which brings me to my induction date. July 7 which is what I said all along. It would be an easy day for me to remember(7.7.10). Then when we found out we were having a Severin, that made it even cooler. When Dr. Gainer said the seventh I laughed, my first preminition to come true. We are playing a balance game between him being ready, me being ready and not waiting too long so he just come on his own. Dr.Gainer did say I would NOT deliver at UVRMC, if in the next three weeks I do go into labor on my own, I am to go to UVRMC and they will transport me to U of U. What a relief!! I just could not get the warm fuzzies about being in Provo while my baby takes an extremely traumatic life flight to Salt Lake. Go figure. My plans for the next three weeks is: make plenty of frozen dinners, break down and get a stupid cell phone so the CICU Nurses and others can call me anywhere, sit at the pool working on my tan because I will be indoors until next May!, get a pedicure with gel toes so I can have amazing foxy toes in delivery, get my hair colored so I can have youthful looking new mom picts., wax my eyebrows because who knows when I will get to do that again, organize my house so Thom doesn't have to call me looking for food, and just relax and enjoy my kids, Thom, and the end of my last pregnancy.
Loves,
Thom & Angee

Cardiologist Appointment-June 9

We met with Dr.Su at the PCMC outpaitent Clinic in Riverton. The good news is nothing has changed, the bad news is nothing has changed. So we are good with that. We met this appointment with a "bring it on attitude". This is what it is and the only way out is through. We are so grateful for medical advances and technology that make survival even possible. We feel truly blessed to have this little man in our life. We have been able to bond with him even before we know if he has hair. We are grateful for a strong support group-all of YOU! More info to follow on Friday YEAH !!
Loves,
Thom and Ang.

Upcomming Appointments

Cardiologist June 9 Perinatologist June 11

The 9 th will be our grand finale Fetal Echo and hopefully have the"plan" worked out the best that it can be without Severin actually being born.
Perinatologist on the 11 th will give us an induction date.
This last month I think will be the craziest. It is already getting harder the closer we get. I know he is ok right now, but once he leaves my body I loose what little control I have. Say a prayer for us!
Loves,
Thom & Ang.

Perinatologist appointment May 11, 2010

Hello All
Today we had yet another Perinatologist appointment. Severin weighs in at 3lbs 4oz. Thats measuring a week bigger then gestational age. Bummer is, it is not going to move my due date up any. I thought he would be 5 pounds for sure with how much I have grown- I guess I had better lay off the Twix candy bars at 11:00 at night. Dr. Schemmer did show us some more detail of Severins heart. It made things a bit more clear, although nothing is a " sure thing" until birth. There was not anything new just a bigger view. Next appointment I should be able to schedule my induction date. That will put a start date on everything for our family, and give us a little bit of a plan to work with.
All is well, Take Care,
Thom & Ang.

Cardiologist Appointment Tuesday, April 20

We were able to go to Primary Childrens for this Fetal Echo appointment. Then we were able to talk to Kim the Fetal Heart Coordinator and Pat the Cardiology Social Worker. We were also able tour the CICU( Cardiac Intensive Care Unit)- which is where Severin will spend most of his time, and also the U. Hospital- which is where it will all begin.
The fetal echo was not as boring as before the tech, LoriAnn, talked to us more and we had a cardio student, Dr. Hoffman, with us also. It was still long and I had to hold still. Severin was very wiggly, but tried to stay in a good position. His anatomy was better developed (bigger) so more could be assesed. The goal is to get as much information before he is born, so that the plan of action can be in place.
When we met in "the room" with Dr. Puchalski-I think that was his name- we had who I lovingly called the "groupies" in with us. Dr. Hoffman, Kim, and Pat. We discussed Severins heart anatomy. Dr. Puchalski is not satisfied with the diagnosis of HRHS (hypoplastic right heart syndrome) he wants to know why the right ventrical didn't form properly. That's great! BUT Lets back up a bit, when the cells are dividing in the embryonic period and the heart cells get together to form the heart it is shaped like a tube that rotates (sounds symbolically God like- the earth & universe rotate, a bit like eternity- a circle, IDK) and then turns and twists to form all the chambers and the arteries cross over. All this happens before you even know you're pregnant. I imagine it is like a balloon animal. Severin got a sword instead of a giraffe for a heart. It just missed a few turns. Now the Drs. and their knowledge get to figure out how to make this sword work like a giraffe. It won't look like a giraffe but it can run like one! This is when it gets a little sureal for us. We start discussing the procedures. At birth they will need to combine the pulmonary artery with the aorta making one big out flow vessel from the one big pumping ventrical. Then because the lungs can not handle the same blood pressure as the whole body, then they make either a shunt (a little connection) that comes off a branch in the aorta, or make a new vessel that plugs in directly to the ventrical. Have I lost anyone yet? Don't worry we will have pictures available at the next famliy function. LOL! And we are not done. As I mentioned before Dr. Puchalski was looking for the why. Severin also has an issue with his Aortic Arch. That's the part that supplies blood to the whole body. He has an "obstruction" or a more narrow part in his arch. To fix that it takes medication to keep the PDA open ( it is only useful as a fetus and usually closes after birth) and then take out the narrow part of the aortic arch and put it back together. As you can count that is three proceedures at once. This will be a VERY long surgery. We are back to the 60% survival rate in this surgery, it is the most critical and crucial for getting back to "working like a giraffe " kind of heart. Every Heart has it's own story, we hope Severins is a long living one. Keep us in your prayers, I know we would not have made it this far with out them. We had a lot of questions answered but there are so many more.
All Our Love to You!
Thom & Ang.