Story of Elijah

I decided to make my first real post about our precious son Elijah.

In March of 2009 we found out after much praying and waiting that we were expecting! We were both so excited and in disbeleif for a while. Soon enough I began the lovely morning sickness or should we call it all day sickness, just as I had with Gabrielle. I was miserable but I knew it was all worth it. Everything was going along just fine and we were so excited for our family to grow! In July of 2009we went in for our 20 week ultrasound. We had Gabrielle with us because we were hoping to share with her if she was going to be getting a baby brother or baby sister. When the ultrasound tech was doing the ultrasound she really didn't say much. I thought the pictures looked weird because you could hardly see anything. She just said that she was not going to be able to tell us if it was a boy or a girl because of the position the baby was in. We went back into the waiting room and then I was called back for my Dr. visit. My Dr came in and informed us that the thing that stood out was that I had extremely low amniotic fluid. She did a quick test to see if I was leaking fluid and it was negative. She called over to the perinatal center to try to get me in right away. She was able to get us an appointment so we went there. Still I was thinking, Okay I don't have any fluid right now but it will come back up. I had no idea what was in store for us.

At the perinatal center one of my friends who works there ended up doing our ultrasound. We still had no idea what was going on. Then the Dr came in...our whole world fell part. The Dr informed us she was very concerned and told us all the horrible things that could be causing this and all the horrible things that could happen. It could be a chromosome defect, it could be a kidney issue, it could be a placenta issue...all of which have devestating effects. Of course we had Gabrielle with us who was in her own little world playing in the corner of the room who kept saying "so you aren't going to tell us if it is a boy or a girl". The Dr smiled and looked one more time and said she was pretty sure it was a girl but it was really hard to tell. The baby was pretty "squished". They wanted me to go on bed rest for a week and then come back. That week seemed so long and I can not even tell you all the thoughts I had.
I went on bed rest for a week and drank more water than I thought I ever could. The next week when we went back there was no change. They were pretty sure they could see the kidneys and everything else looked normal just low amniotic fluid. I then was to come back in two weeks. I came back in two weeks and we had another scan. The dr informed us that she was concerned the baby was in distress because there was fluid building up around the heart and abdomen. They wanted to do a CVS test where they basically put a needle through my stomach and take out a sample of the placenta. They would then be able to test it for chromosome disorders. I had no idea what to do. There were risks with the procedure and it would not change our course in trying to do eveyrthing we could to help our baby. On the other hand if the doctors had answers they could be more prepared for what to do. All I could do was cry and could not think straight. So the Dr gave me a number to call later on in the day and decide. She was going to have another Dr do the procedure the next morning if I was going to go ahead with it. After Joe and I got home and discussed things we decided to go ahead with the procedure. The next morning I went in to have the test done. There were so many people in there. The dr who was performing the procedure, the dr I had been seeing who wanted to watch, a resident dr who I had met as well was there watching, a nurse, a ultrasound tech...and who knows there might have been more. I was so nervous about it but I was willing to do anything for my baby. After the procedure they said it could be a while for results. I was once again sent home and would come back the following week.

On Tuesday of the next week one of the genectic counselors from the office called with some of the preliminary results. She said so far everyhting had come back normal. When she was talking to me about the chromosome testing "I said oh if you are looking at chromosomes you know if it is a boy or a girl" She said "yes would you like to know". Of course I did. She said its a boy! Really! A boy! I don't know why but I did not expect to have a boy. Wow we were having a son! Later in that week I went back to the perinatal center again. There were not really any changes. By this time I was a little over 24 weeks along. They still had no idea what was causing the low fluid. All the chromosome testing came back normal. He was growing each week so the placenta was working. They were pretty sure they could see his kidney's and a bladder. Each visit was so emotional and so draining. There was a concern about cord compression without having hardly any amniotic fluid. So on that day I was hospitalized to be monitored until we delivered. We went home and packed some things and headed to the hospital.