Look at him, sleeping through the ultrasound like a pro ;) His shirt says 'I am what my family is thankful for this year'.
Well we are days away from Carter's first thanksgiving but before we celebrate the fact that we are thankful for our son not only being brought into this world, and the fact that he has been doing miraculous things, we must get through his next two ultrasounds and follow up appointments.
Today Carter had two different doctors to see; the first being an orthopedic surgeon to see if he has hip dysplasia due to being breached, so a non SB issue and his neurosurgeon to check those pesky ventricles again. It started with the cranial ultrasound, followed by a hip ultrasound and then doctor meetings.
Before getting into all of that though we got some measurements on Carter today, which was good because I was curious as to how big he would be at his actual due date. Today Carter was 20.1" long, so he has grown a little over an inch from his last appointment and he weighs 9lbs. 7oz.!! What a growing little man. :) Needless to say, there is no way that size baby was going to come out of me, so a c-section wasn't the worst thing in the world. ;) We are just happy that he is continuing to grow and get bigger because those are good signs to his doctors.
At his orthopedic surgeon appointment we found out that Carter does NOT have hip dysplasia and that his hips and leg movement is looking great! He will not need a brace for his legs and there are no signs of clubbed feet. The doctor went on to say that Carter's mobility looked wonderful and that we wouldn't need to see him for another appointment for another year; meaning Carter is in the clear with Ortho. until he is little over a year old. Hooray!
Next up, Neuro. Mike and I have been waiting for this appointment for a while and quite frankly a little anxious to hear what the next steps for Carter are. We found out that Carter's ventricles have remained stable for the most part, but are still gradually increasing and over time we would find the same pattern. Our doctor explained to us that there are some neurosurgeons that would continue to wait to shunt Carter, if at all. Others who would have wondered why he wasn't shunted months ago, or just after being born, and then he finds himself in the middle of that area. He continued to tell us that although, again, shunting him right this second isn't necessary it is something he feels needs to be done, and needs to be done before the new year. We did ask if we could wait until January, and he told us if we were really adamant about waiting longer we could, but he wouldn't want us to wait too long and risk the possibility of Carter having and learning delays.
While talking to both the doctor and nurses we felt better about the situation and knew that ultimately it's something that Carter may have needed and he does. The last thing Mike and I want to do is cause any delays in his ability to learn so it was officially time to schedule surgery for Carter... Well tell them we are ready to schedule surgery for Carter. We know that it will not be this week, so sometime after Thanksgiving but before Christmas.
Surgery will entail a pre-op area, surgery itself, which the actual surgery is only 30 minutes, post-op which is an hour to two hours, and an overnight stay. As long as Carter is eating well following surgery he will get to go home the next day. If he continues to be in pain and isn't taking his food, he will stay longer. We then learned about shunt infections and malfunctions and what we will need to look for, but will get more information when the time comes to have his surgery. Now with these types of shunt sometimes they can last 30 years and other times they may only last three days; it's still something science is working on so Mike and I will really need to be watching for signs to make sure there isn't a malfunction where he has to go back into surgery. Once the shunt is in we will keep a watchful eye out to see how things are looking. But until surgery actually happens, we are going to enjoy the holidays and our tough little man before his surgery.
I will be sure to keep you posted on his surgery date and how it goes!
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