News from the OB today

We went in to see the high risk OB today for a follow up ultrasound and the baby is measuring at 5 lbs. 2oz. That's a measurement taken with his smaller stomach size, so he's closer to 5 1/2 or 6 lbs.!! Can you believe that!? Everything looked good except now not only are his bowels outside his tummy, but so is the stomach. The Dr. says this isn't going to affect delivery or his surgery, and shouldn't affect his recovery too much. Of course it makes us worry more, but we're still hoping for the best. The procedure will still be the same- the baby will be born and his lower half placed into a plastic bag so that he doesn't lose heat and hydration. When he's stable the surgeon will place the contents back into his stomach as much as possible, and whatever doesn't fit will be placed in a silo. A silo is basically a plastic tube that is hung above his belly with the intestines in it, and every day a bit of pressure is put on the intestines to get them to go into his body. This usually takes a few days to a week. Another thing the Dr. saw is that his bowels are now a bit more dilated than last time we checked. More dilation equals longer recovery time for our little guy, so now we decide that early delivery is best. The head surgeon is out of town from Feb. 6-11 so we'll be doing an amnio on the 11th to check for lung maturity, and if his lungs are ready, we will induce on the 12th. An amnio is when they stick a needle into my abdomen and take a sample of the amniotic fluid from the uterus so they can check protein levels, which will tell how his lungs are doing. So as of now, we plan to induce on the 12h of Feb. and he'll be born soon after that! Please keep us and our baby boy in your prayers so that his surgery and recovery go perfectly. If his lungs aren't mature enough then, depending on the level of maturity, we will either just wait a week and induce, or wait a week and do another amnio. We're hoping that his lungs work perfectly so that we can get him out of there and into surgery.

Thanks everyone, I'll keep you posted!