Baby is almost here

Things have seriously brightened up since my last post although they have become a hectic mess. When we went to the prenatal specialist the next day we found out that our babies condition, while it could still be severe, is not necessarily hopeless. Yes he has spina bifida but he does not have Hydrocephalus which is great and we pray it stays that way. He only has one club foot and he can open his hands. There are no signs that this is anything more than a back malformation. He could still possibly walk and he will probably be just as smart as any other children we decide to have.

My life has become a hectic mess of course though. A baby with Spina Bifida means a baby with lots of doctors. I have been hounded constantly about my choices by the MIL and its frustrating because there is no way to know whether or not I am making the right choice. I had decided to go with the OB who delivered the bad news, she has been doing this a long time and the C-section should be cake for her. I decided to go with a Neurologist from the area because I had heard good things about her and all I have heard about the amazing one at UVA has not been that great. I still have to pick a pediatrician, a urologist, and an orthopedic surgeon. I am not looking forward to it. Especially since people in the Spina Bifida Association here did not have good things to say about the urologists and othopedics in this area. I have lots of traveling with my little newborn to look forward to.

I got the recommendation for my neurologist however because my husband ended up in the hospital for his knee. (What else can we go through is what it feels like some days.) Only Jarrod would end up with a staph infection because he popped his knee hiking then got an infected midge bite on his shin. Does it get any more random. So here I was driving an hour every day to see him at the hospital when I was 33 weeks pregnant. I was too big to have to take care of someone. And yet there I was bringing him clean clothes, and books, and snacks. He was extremely frustrated because he was stuck in a bed, fully aware and awake, stuck watching tv in a bed that was uncomfortable. After a week of this he was told it would take 6 weeks to fully heal. Just in time for my C-section.

Despite his condition, Jarrod still managed to finally hang drywall in the babies room, (we are really running out of time) with his grandfather. Hopefully I will still be able to paint when the walls are ready, they still need to be mudded but there is hope now that this room will be ready when the baby gets here. Not so much for the baby but so I have a place for my mom to sleep while she is here helping me recover and deal with a newborn.

Tomorrow is yet another doctors visit and I am so excited for this baby to get here. We are nervous about what the future entails and what his condition will be but I have lots of hope. No matter what he is like he will be loved and have a warm home and big accepting family. We are so lucky to have been able to learn about his condition and get over our shock ahead of time. This way we can learn as much as possible about his condition and prepare as much as we can for his needs. I just hope that God is watching over us and helps our son to have a wonderfully fulfilling life here.