Level II Ultrasound

Chuck and I drove over to Destin today to see a neo-natal specialist and to have a Level II ultrasound done. At our last regular appointment we were to told that the baby had dilated kidneys and to "be safe" we were encouraged to see a specialist.

Here is the lowdown - as there is good and bad news...

Let's start with the good news first. It is less complicated. First of all, down syndrome and any other chromosome abnormalities have been essentially ruled out. Big sigh of relief. Next, all of his organs - with the exception of his kidneys - look great. Everything looks normal - including all the fluid levels, which indicates that his kidneys are functioning. And we got two great profile pictures of him.

Now, the bad news. There is something definitely wrong with at least one of his kidneys. While the right one looks close to regular size - the left one does not. His left kidney is certainly holding onto more (A LOT MORE) fluid than the right one. The specialist seems to think that the tube that leads from his (left) kidney to his bladder is very narrow which is preventing the fluid from draining properly, even though it is still draining some. (That is the short version.) However, he did emphasis that the size of the kidneys change quickly and if we were to take another picture tomorrow of the kidneys they could be a different size than they were today. (Which could be good or bad.)

So what now???

First of all, there isn't much we can do at this point, but wait it out. We will continue to see the neo-natal specialist every month until he is born. Close attention being paid to fluid levels as if those get low, there is a chance that they will take him early. Let's hope this isn't the case.

Treatment?

There are four treatment options:

1) The problem could correct itself. However, with the amount of fluid in there today, the doctor didn't seem to think this option is very likely.

2) Baby Boy could have to have a procedure on ONE of his kidneys shortly after he is born.

3) Baby Boy could have to have a procedure on BOTH of his kidneys shortly after he is born.

4) WORST case scenario - and this is a very long shot based on what we saw today - he could have to a kidney transplant. However, the doctor was quick to reassure us that this was the worst case scenario and that he did not think it would get to this.

In reality, the specialist is fairly certain that the baby will have to have an operation to correct this within a few weeks of birth. They wait a few weeks with the idea that sometimes the problem can fix itself once the baby is not being exposed to all the hormones.

So that being said - this was not the news I was hoping for today. I am trying to be positive however. The problem is fixable, and it is not life threatening. And chances are once it is corrected he will never have anymore problems with this. But I can't help feel upset about this. I think every mom wants their babies to be born perfect with no complications and this just isn't the case for us. I have been teary a lot today but feel I am doing better now.

At this point, I am trying to just process all the information the doctor gave us. All this information I am giving to you is just the basic stuff. He threw a lot of stuff at us today, and I will be honest, had Chuck not been there, I am not sure I would have gotten most of the information the doctor was sharing. I was pretty foggy and trying to not loose it on the table. Chuck was awesome at asking all the right questions for us both and keeping his head in the room while I was off in the clouds. He is good at that in times of "trail" - keeping his head in the game.

In other news, today is our little princesses third birthday. I hate that most of our day was spent away from her, but she had a little party last night. I had also intended to blog about her birthday and her "party" tonight, but based on the news of today, I feel like I have no energy to face it tonight. So instead, since she has fallen asleep all ready, I am going to eat my PF Changs, take a shower, call my momma, and hit the hay myself.

Please keep our little man in your thoughts and prayers! We appreciate them all! His next normal appointment is Thursday and the next neo-natal appoinment is June 29th - this time in Panama City.

43rd FS Easter Egg Hunt

The squadron held it's annual Easter Egg hunt the day before Easter this year. We didn't have any plans for Easter so this was our "celebration" this year. And seriously! What a great time Addison had!

A couple in our squadron live in a flying community. By this I mean that all of the people who live in this community have built their homes around a grass air strip and they all have personal (small) airplanes. It is really a unique living situation - and while it isn't our cup of tea, it is a really cool neighborhood.

The kids were encouraged to bring swim suits to play in the pool and the adults - as usual - sat around and visited while waiting for the time for the big hunt. This couple has a large field right next to their house and the eggs were "hidden" there. I use the term hidden lightly as most of the kids involved were small like Addie. However the coolest thing about this egg hunt was that the couple whose house it was at climbed into their open top airplane and took off. They did several passes over the field throwing candy from the plane. The kids loved it, and I will admit, it was the coolest Easter Egg hunt I had ever been too. They were exactly on target so when they had landed all the kids took off through the neighborhood looking for candy that had missed the mark. Addison's basket was FULL - yummy for mom and dad!

Addison also got her first ride in a cessna that day. Boone was generous enough to take anyone up flying who was interested. This didn't include me, but daddy is more than happy to encourage this - hopefully someday - hobby of hers so he took her up. I was one nervous mama! I don't like to fly and I certainly don't like little airplanes. And both my loves were up in a tiny little airplane? Yes, I was nervous but I am trying to not let me nervousness about certain things have an impact on Addie. I want her to love or not love things based on her interests - not mine. So I let them go without an argument. She certainly did look cute in her headset and she was so excited. And I will never forget the way she came running across the road when they landed a few minutes later. She was so excited and happy and yelling "Mommy, mommy! I missed you, but that was so much fun!" How can I argue with that?

A big thank you goes out to Michelle and Boone Cruson. Thank you so much for opening your home to a bunch of crazy kids and thank you so much for making it such a memorable day for not only Addison, but myself as well!

Week 20 appointment

Our week 20 baby appoinment was just over a week ago. I am sorry I haven't updated the blog since than. My mom was able to be here for that appointment and Addie and I were busy hanging out and playing with Mimi for several days after the appointment.

The week 20 appointment for us was a very big one. We had our ultrasound, a "screening ultrasound." Screening only in the sense that our insurance will not pay for the ultrasound to just determine the sex of the baby. But essentially, the whole reason for the ultrasound was to find out if we are going to have a baby boy or girl. And for those of you who haven't heard yet - IT'S A BOY!!! To be honest, I was in total shock by the news. I have always assumed we would be the typical fighter pilot family and only have girls. I have thought all along it was a boy, but just assumed that was a pipe dream. So when the word came that it was indeed a boy, I was surprised and it took a while to set in.

OK, OK - I am now 23 weeks along and didn't - obviously - ever finish this blog. Not for lack of trying however. I have been trying to get back on blogger for two weeks to finish this up, but the website has not been letting me connect.

One of the things I didn't mention above was the "abnormality" that was found on the ultrasound. His kidneys were dialated while we were taking the ultrasound. They reassured that this can be totally normal for boys - going as far as saying he may have just had to pee. However to air on the side of caution our mid-wife suggested we have the QUAD scan done as well as going and seeing an neo-natal specialist to have a Level II ultrasound done. Of course, no mother wants to hear anything is ever wrong - even if there is a chance it is nothing. So like anyone in situation, I freaked out!

The quad scan is a blood test that looks for chromosomal (sorry for the terrible spelling) abnormalities like down syndrome, etc. After our appointment, I immediately went and had this blood work done. I didn't have this test done with Addison mainly because I know there is a high rate of false-positive results. I knew that if the results came back positive I would spend the rest of the pregnancy worrying about the baby. We were planning on taking the same route this time and not have this test done. Afterall, it's not like we would do anything about it or love a baby any less if the results weren't good. However, after almost a week of waiting to hear the test results, they came back negative. WHEW! (I was mainly waiting on these test results before I posted anything in a blog.)

The next step of this process to rule out anything else is a Level II ultrasound. And apparently these are the MAC DADDIES of ultrasounds. However, the appointment is in Destin and it took us almost two weeks to get in. (The appointment is on Tuesday of this week.) So the relief that I felt over the quad test results being negative have been fore-shadowed by wondering what - if anything - this ultrasound will turn up on Tuesday. Really hoping it is nothing, like they are suspecting, but still have to take this whole thing serious in case it is something.

And than we have our regular doctor appointment on Thursday morning - including ANOTHER ultrasound. Busy week, baby wise!

Other than this bump in the road, the pregnancy seems to be pretty normal. And again, I am hating being pregnant. Love the end product, but hating getting to that point. In the last few days, I have started really aching in the evening - back and sides of my abdomen mainly. The heartburn has reared it's ugly head again and sleeping remains to be an issue. Also, I noticed my ankles were swelling last night and this was a HUGE problem for me with Addison - my legs looked like tree trunks the last half of my pregnancy with her. Seriously hoping the heat doesn't make that problem that much worse this time around. (AND IT IS HOOOOOOTTTTT here all ready and its still only MAY!) Still very tired, but again having a three year old doesn't help nor does the heat! So wishing I had a pool to spend my summer in.

Also, we do have a name picked out for a our little man. Not sharing it with too many people yet but let me just say that this was a long process. Charlie and I just don't see eye to eye on boy names and exhausted every possible family name in this process. Finally, I found a name in a magazine that I love and threw it out to Charlie thinking he would not like it. But turns out, he loves it! DONE DEAL! And I like to think baby likes the name because he has started moving a lot more since we have started calling him by his name.

I will share our middle name however and the reason we chose it. David. Last summer one of the ushers from our wedding was killed in Afghanistan while piloting a rescue helicopter. We felt like it was really important for us to honor David and this is the best way we could think of to do it.

The reality of having a boy has finally set it with all of us. I was really worried about Addie because she kept saying she wanted a sister. She is on board now and depending on the day you ask her, she is really excited about having a brother. Other days, she will tell you she doesn't want a sibling at all! His closet has started to fill up thanks to my pal Samantha which I think is really helping it become real.

Well, friends, that is all for now. I apologize for not finishing this blog sooner and updating you all with what was going on. I hope to have more information for our followers on Tuesday after the appointment...

Strawberry Farm

Once in a (great) while, Chuck will randomly take a day of leave - just because. A few weeks ago was one of these occasions.

Last year Addison and I went out to a strawberry farm with a friend and her daughter. It was such a blast and it was something I thought Chuck would love to do with Addison. We had been waiting and waiting for the farm to open and I noticed on my way out of town for our Disney trip that they were open and ready for business. Chuck was eager to do this with her and I think he was really happy that he was able to take a day off and go with us.

The most amazing thing about this day was Addison remembered it from last year. All the way there she asked if she was going to get to see the animals like last year at the "library farm." (Library farm = strawberry farm.) Amazing to me for two reasons. The first is that it was a YEAR ago we were out there last and second was that last year she didn't TALK! Boggling to me what their little brains hold onto!

Unlike last year, she did not love the berries. She ate the tip of one and spit it out! Last year, she didn't eat many, but she ate a few and seemed to like them. Our strange child doesn't like OR eat fruit. We picked a tone of berries - so much so that I still have three gallon sized bags of them in our freezer. (AND we went back a couple weeks later with our playgroup. I didn't get nearly as many that time and Addison still didn't eat any berries.)

And of course, Addison showed her daddy all the animals. She loves animals, something she gets from him. Don't get me wrong, I like animals too, but not like this girl and her daddy.

She wasn't ready to leave - proof from the screaming and carrying on that she did - but we had done our damage and it was hot. It was time to go. Luckily, there were very few people at the farm while we were there so her fit wasn't really noticed by anyone but us. Note to all you wanna-be berry pickers out there! Go in the middle of the afternoon during the week. Hardly anyone is there!

Tuesday and Wednesday

With the jet being broken and Addison and I having no reason to rush back, Chuck and I decided that we should have a down day on Tuesday. Rather than driving back exhausted, Addison and I spent Tuesday in the hotel room while Charlie was back and forth between the hotel room and the air field. She and I slept in late - which was much needed for the both of us, did some laundry, got all of our bags repacked and organized, and watched tv. I would have loved to have taken her to the pool, but it was pouring down rain - another reason I am so glad we didn't drive home that day.

Charlie came back to the room and we went to lunch at a great Mexican place right behind our hotel and than we came back and took a long, family nap. That was heaven!

By the time we got up from our nap, Charlie had to go back over to where the jet was to meet the security forces that were coming over to guard the jet while it was getting fixed. Addison and I walked over to Chili's right next door, had dinner and decided to walk over to the outdoor mall that was right behind our hotel. (Our hotel was actually in a great spot with the exception of being so far from WDW.) After a nice little walk we got some cookies for a treat and walked back to our room.

Not knowing when the jet was going to be fixed, Chuck and I decided that I would head home on Wednesday. Our dogs were in the kennel and needed to be rescued! I got up early on Wednesday morning and put Addie in the car in her pajamas. If our trip was really over, I was really ready to be home. It was a gorgeous day out and the trip home was uneventful other than a little traffic in Tampa - hence rushour! Addie and I got back to Panama City a little after 1 on Wednesday afternoon... and with that comes the end of our Disney Adventure.

Oh and Chuck got home on Thursday morning!

Lessons Learned

Although our trip to Walt Disney World was fabulous and we all had a very wonderful time, there were some lessons learned along the way. Or rather "things I would do differently." These are important to share with you especially if you have young kids and you are thinking about making a trip to WDW.

#1. Don't go during spring break! The weather in FL is nice enough that next time we go, I am going to push to go in late February or early March before the spring break MASSES. Or even in the fall after everyone has gone back to school.

#2. Stay in a hotel CLOSE! I think had we been in a hotel much closer to the park we would have been able to take Addison back to our room everyday for a much needed nap. This would have made her enjoy the parks that much more since she wouldn't have been so tired. But because we were "TDY" with Chuck we had to stay where the AF was paying him to stay - which allowed this trip to be much less expensive.

#3. WAIT! Although we didn't have to have a ticket for Addie because she was under 3, I think she was still too young. If we do it again with baby #2, we will wait until peanut is a little bit older than Addison was. There were just so many things we couldn't do with her or things that we thought she would love and she didn't.

#4. Spread the trip out over more than four days. I felt like we were really rushing to cram everything in. My thinking was that we spent all the money to make the trip that we needed to see as much as possible. Had we had a few extra days, we wouldn't have stayed at the parks as late at night and would have been able to have some "low key" days to rest up in between activities!

Monday

Chuck and I debated on what we should do the last day of our Disney trip. It was down between another day at Magic Kingdom OR Hollywood Studios. However, in talking with the Arkema's, we decided to go with another day at the Magic Kingdom. They had taken their boys to Hollywood Studios on Sunday and didn't really think their son Jack enjoyed it as much as the other parks.

Once we got there, we discovered it wasn't nearly as busy as it had been the previous Friday. Good thing too because there were lots of things we didn't get to ride on Friday.... But it was much hotter that day and there was virutally NO wind at all.

Addison and Charlie rode the teacups again as well as the carasoeul. We also got on the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, Winnie the Pooh, the People Mover, and many, many more. And let's not forget! The Buzz Lightyear ride - by far one of the best ones. Luckily, they didn't do quite as many of the round and round rides so I got to partake a little bit more.

After spending the day there again, we had a very nice dinner at one of the nicer restaraunts on Main Street and pretty much called it a night. It was a fabulous trip but at this point, I think we were all over it! We said our goodbyes to "Mickey Mouse's House" and headed for our hotel.

Bye, Bye Disney World - until next time! And oh yes! There will be a next time!!!!

Downtown Disney Pics

More Ecpot Pics

Sunday

By the time Sunday arrived, I think we were all a little tired. The plan for the day was to spend half the day at Epcot an the other half at Hollywood Studios. Since we were moving slow, we got a late start on the day.

I was leary all along about Epcot because I remember it not being really a place for little kids, but we had heard that all the Princesses were there and that Tinkerbell was also there. (Tinkerbell is a must at our house!) We had also heard that the Finding Nemo ride was great for little kids and since Addison like that movie, we thought "why not?" We were also there during the Flower and Garden Show - which turned out pretty cool as all the bushes were shaped like any number of all the characters.

Once inside the gates, Daisy Duck was there almost immediatly to greet guests. Since Addison had been hesitant about meeting the characters in the previous days, we asked her if she wanted to meet Daisy. She did. And she did GREAT - although Daddy still had to go with her.

And since we were there to meet Tinkerbell, Addison HAD to wear her Tinkerbell dress, even though it was really hot that day...

After a quick lunch, we headed over to the Finding Nemo exhibit. Somehow we got really lucky and the line was really short. Thinking she would love this based on her reaction to what she had seen walking in we loaded up into the moving clam - or tram and away we went. However, it didn't go well. It was dark and a couple of the characters - the sharks and the fish with the light that dangles from his head - came up out of nowhere and scared her to death. "I want to go home! I want to go home!" Not at all the reaction we thought we would get out of her. From that point on the ride for her was ruined - although, I admit it is really cute.

To recover from that expierence we spent sometime in the aquarium attached to the ride and she seemed to be ok by the time we left to move on. But boy, were we wrong! Meltdown after meltdown after meltdown! Even ice cream didn't help this child and that ALWAYS helps. We put her in the stroller determined to get her to take a short nap because it was obvious that these meltdowns were due to exhaustion! But again, no such luck.

By the time we got over to the country exhibitions, she had calmed down a lot. When we saw that "Belle" would be appearing shortly, she perked up. Which is still funny to me because she doesn't really like Beauty and the Beast. We waited in line and Addie started to get really excited. When it was her turn to meet Belle she walked right up to her like they were long lost friends AND WITHOUT daddy this time. Belle will always be one of my fondest memories of this trip! Because not only was Addison totally comfortable with her, the two of them were telling secrets - too precious for words!

Next we stood in line for Princess Jasmine and Aladdin. But when it was her turn to meet them, she walked away.

Snow White was next. Again she marched right up to Snow White like they were pals, however, there were no secrets shared this time. And she didn't stay as long with Snow White as she had with Belle. One of the things that I will always remember about meeting Snow White with her was the man in line in front of us. Grown man, in his 40's at least and seemed perfectly normal. At first we thought he was holding a spot in line for his wife and kids, but nope! He was there for an autograph and picture - can we say CREEPY???

After meeting Snow White, it was pretty late in the day and we decided to call it quits and just go back to the hotel. Since the jet was broken, we had all ready decided that Addie and I would stay an extra day to get our fourth day in. We could always hit Hollywood Studios on Monday. And it was clear Addison had had enough, but we still hadn't met Tinkerbell. Since she was out by the front gate we decided we would press our luck and try to get her up to see Tinkerbell - since that is what we were at Epcot for afterall. When we got to Tinkerbell's line, they had it closed and she was just finishing up. She wasn't going to be back for TWO hours. No way were we going to press our luck that far!

Getting back to our car we loaded up - Addison was asleep practically before we were out of the parking spot. Based on that we decided to head over to Downtown Disney for dinner and to go into the Mr. Potato Head store. Lucky for us, Addison slept all the way over to DDD, all the way through it and the whole time we stood in line to get a table at the Rainforest Cafe - at least an hour and a half. With her batteries re-charged, she ate like a truck driver and was rearing to go!

The Mr. Potato Head store was awesome and again Addison made out like a bandit. Even Charlie and I had a blast in there!

It was 10 in the evening before we got back to the car to head back to the hotel. So much for our "short" day, but after all the meltdowns and as exhausted as we all were, it was still a pretty good day!

Monday would be Hollywood Studios - or so we thought!