31 weeks 3 days

So today we met with the pediatrician that will be taking care of Andrew if we are fortunate enough to get to bring him home. He explained that his role in the beginning will basically be to just check in and visit Andrew while he is in the NICU and then will be extremely involved if we get to the point of approaching discharge to home. He said that babies like Andrew are why he does his job. He's happy to take care of the healthy little guys as well, but taking care of Andrew and hopefully getting him to the point of being a healthy little guy one day is his whole reason for going into pediatrics. That was such a relief to hear as I'm sure we will get to know each other extremely well during those first few months that we get to bring Andrew home.

We also had an OB appointment and an ultrasound to check for fetal hydrops and polyhydramnios. Everything on the ultrasound looked status quo. His liver is down in his abdomen and his stomach along with a lot of his intestines are up in his chest. Duke does not do the fetal lung to head ratio that a lot of centers do simply because they have not found it to be predictable at all for how well a baby will do after they are born. We did get to see him taking practice breaths though! I would love for them to tell me that his case is not severe, but we know that there is a lot of stuff up there in his chest and this battle will not be an easy one for him.

On the ligher side- he has a ton of hair! Gene was born with a head full of hair, so he must be getting that from him. Instead what he gets from me is a huge head- great! Just what a mom approaching delivery wants to hear. Babies with big heads run on my side of the family. I am 31 weeks 3 days and his head is measuring at 37 weeks! Please don't tell me that I'm going to give birth to a 2 month old! They reassured me that this does not indicate any sort of syndrome and will do another growth and development scan in two weeks.

I have a non stress test scheduled for next Friday and another ultrasound for August 17th. We'll keep you all posted! I want to thank everyone who is checking in on us and keeping us in their prayers. We couldn't make it through this without all of your support!