Simon 6 month update

Yesterday we saw our primary doctor and Simon had his 6 month regular check up. He weighed 19 lbs, 8 ozs. His height was 28.5 inches! That put him in the 73% and 96% for the percentiles. A big fella!

He was a pretty happy guy for the rest of the evening-even after his shots, but today he has been more crabby.

Today he had a sonogram to check on the mass on his adrenal gland. We were going in with high hopes that it was gone and they could not even find it. All the times we have been in since he was born, it has continued to get smaller, and this would have been 3.5 months since we have seen it.

Unfortunately, it had not gotten any smaller. But it didn't really seem like it had gotten any bigger either. So that was definitely good news. And everything else appeared well from the quick over view. It was just disappointing to hear that it was still there. Of course God still has a plan for our little guy and we are still hoping for the complete resolution of this tumor!

The sonogram technician did her thing, then took the images to the pediatric radiologist to look at. After awhile, they both came back and he wanted to look at it in real time. Since the mass is pretty small it was hard to get a real good look at it. He told me that in the first images he thought that it showed it was a little smaller but he wasn't sure that she had gotten all of it into the measurement. So when they measured again, he thought that it looked like it had not changed. Or if it showed a little bigger it was not significant and possibly because of the way it was measured or what not. It was about 1.5cm by 1.1cm.  He said he would have to take out the images from the last time and compare them.

I'm not sure if the pediatric oncologist will call or our regular doctor will call. But hopefully sometime in the next couple days, they will call and let us know a little more and when they would like to have Simon back in for another sonogram.

I asked the radiologist if he had ever seen one of these tumors where it gets smaller and then bigger. He said that of just the few that he has even personally dealt with, they have all gotten smaller and then gone away. None of them have gotten smaller and then bigger. But he said he has not personally seen very many because it is rare to even see these this early on.

Thank you all for your kind words and for praying for us!

Test Results

These are a couple of pictures of Simon getting ready for his ultrasound. He wasn't so sure what to think about it =)

We had a sonogram done of Simon's abdomen on Thursday afternoon around 2:00pm. Then a few hours later the surgeon said she would like a CT scan done, with contrast fluids. They put an IV in his head, which he actually did not even cry for. They gave him a little pacifier to suck on and the nurse really knew what she was doing, and it didn't seem to hurt him at all! But we had to leave it in all the way until it was time to go home, just in case the doctors would order more tests that required an IV. He cried more trying to get the tape off than he did sticking a needle in his head!

About 6:00pm a CT technician came to the room to give us a baby bottle of water with some other stuff in it that would help to show his stomach and bowels. And told us she would be back at 7:30pm to get us and Simon and go down to CT. They had me in a wheelchair carrying Simon and Matt came too.

Simon got the CT scan done and it was a really short test. He was only lying on the bed thing for about 10-15 minutes total and that wasn't doing the scan the whole time. So we were thankful that it was short! And again, he did great, not one peep out of him!

We spent a second night at the hospital and were hoping that it wouldn't take too long for the surgeon to look at the scans and let us know what was going on. But again, we had to wait all morning and into the afternoon for anything. 

The surgeon came up to our room around maybe 2:00pm and sat down and told us that, indeed it was a neuroblastoma tumor. She thought by the sonogram that was probably what it was but was still hedging just a little and said to herself "These parents need an absolute definitive diagnosis" so that is why she went ahead and ordered the CT scan. She said doesn't like to do CT scans of newborns if at all possible but felt like she needed to in order to know for sure and get a better picture of it and where it was.

It was only about 3cm in size-so it actually showed up a bit bigger by looking at it through me and into Simon. And it had good borders, it wasn't invading any other organs or seeming to cause any harm or damage to Simon at this time. We praise God that he did not need surgery immediately!

With it being a relatively small tumor, the course of action is very very minimal at this point. We are to set up an appointment with the pediatric oncologist for next week. So I am sure we will be thinking of questions to ask him.

And the surgeons office will be calling us to set up monthly sonograms on Simon to monitor the tumor. We will also be checking his urine for the catecholamines-I think monthly as well. If the tumor grows for 2-3 consecutive months or has any unusual changes that seem concerning, then we will talk about removing it. Also, if the catecholamines in his urine start to increase then that would be another reason to start talking about having it removed sooner rather than later. 

(Catecholamines are certain hormones that the adrenal glands produce. Back at the very first specialist appointment-she described them as the fight or flight hormones)

She told us that in Japan, neuroblastoma is very rampant and that all newborns are tested over there for it.  That is where she is getting their treatment plan from and how they know some of these facts/statistics. She told us that, these smaller neuroblastoma tumors, will often go away on their own. Up to 80% of the time over in Japan, they go away without any treatment.

She feels that surgery right now is a higher risk than the risk of the tumor growing/spreading. She said that she and the pediatric oncologist were in complete agreement as to the treatment plan. She said that even if this was her own child, these are the steps she would be taking. She assured us that if it was causing any problems, that they would be down in the OR right that afternoon getting it out.

Also, we think we understood her, that if it did not go away, even if it did not grow/change, that once he was older-closer to a year, then they would do surgery and remove it. 

We may call St. Jude down in Tennessee-the leader in children's cancer treatment and research-and see what they have to say as well-if this is the plan they would go with also. But right now, we feel confident that we are in good hands and are trusting God to guide us.

We were able to get started right away with our dismissal papers after the surgeon left and were able to come home last night to our own beds and be together as a family again! So nice. Simon is a complete sweetheart and so far seems very mellow. Lots of squeaking and little grunts but not too much crying. Daddy even rocked him out in the living room for a couple hours during the night so Mommy could get a little sleep without his little squeaks around =) But I love those little newborn sounds right now! So very sweet! And his big brothers and sister love him to pieces and haven't stopped asking to hold him. Lillie is just watching over him so well!

Thank you all for all the prayers and all the encouraging comments. They mean so much to us! All the verses posted helped us and encouraged us so much and just seeing how much everyone cares is amazing. We are so thankful for all our family and friends and our church and even strangers who are praying for our family!

-I will probably do a post about his birth soon but just wanted to get out an update of the test results.

Sneak Peek

Just a quick little update and sneak preview of our little guy. These 3D sono pictures were taken at 37 weeks. She said they don't usually get a good 3D of the face but a pocket of fluid just happened to be in just the right spot! These are the first 3D pictures we have ever had of any of our kids and it is just amazing! This first picture here she labeled where he has a big toe underneath his nose and his hand by his face as well. He almost, almost put his toe in his mouth while we were looking but then he just didn't quite do it. But that would have been so funny!

I have one more sonogram scheduled early this week then Baby is scheduled to be here soon! Which we are very excited for and yet also nervous. We will be glad to get some questions answered after he is born! We are trusting God, that he will place the right doctors in our path and give them the wisdom that they need to make the right choices for our baby! And that we will have a peace about the course of action they choose to take. Or not have a peace about it, if it is not the right thing. Sometimes we just have to let go and trust God to guide us, instead of trying to manipulate things to go the way we think they should. Not my will Lord, but yours be done. Sometimes it is hard to not be in the drivers seat.

 Still just more of the same as far any changes in the mass. Still don't know for sure what it is exactly. It is growing along with the baby but not totally sure if it is growing more than the baby. If that makes any sense. The sono tech, said she thought that it was not growing at a rate faster than what the baby is growing at. But I don't really know! The last measurement last week showed that the mass was about 3.6cm. (which would be 2 cm bigger than the very first time it was seen) The specialist still doesn't think it is behaving like a bleed and she really does not think that it looks like a cyst. So we will try and get it figured out after he is born when they can get a clearer picture!

We are excited to meet him and to show him off to everyone! Looks like he has got some chubby chubby cheeks on him! And his lips are just so cute! Thank you everyone for praying for our baby and our family!

36 weeks

I got a call from the specialist office this morning that they wanted me to come into their office for another sonogram so they could compare it to the first sonogram that they did two weeks ago. That way they could compare it better since it would be the same technician, same equipment.

The sonogram today seemed to show about the same thing as the one on Monday as far as I could tell. But the specialist said that the changes did not seem to be anything to be concerned about. They weren't bad changes or necessarily good changes.

She thought that maybe there was a bleed into the mass.

I asked her if what it looked like now changed her opinion of what she thought it was (Neuroblastoma, with a the slight chance of being a cyst or something else).

She said that she would need to do more research on whether a bleed would be more consistent with a cyst or with neuroblastoma. It is so rare to even find a mass here that I guess she wasn't confident in saying much else. As my sister said, you know it is rare when even the specialist has to so research.

But since everything checked out okay with the baby and he wasn't in distress or anything, then we are still just waiting and watching it.

She did want me to begin coming to her office for the sonograms from now on so we can avoid this situation again where the other office sees a change and then I end up having to come in to her office anyway to check on things.  (Some of the images that got sent over from the other office looked concerning but in viewing the sonogram today, she concluded that it was just the way the picture was taken.) So I will continue my ob care with my regular ob but then have the sonograms at the specialist office. It is more driving and more time consuming this way- but I am happy to do it to make sure we keep a good eye on our baby!

Also, we did get an appointment scheduled for next week with the other pediatric surgeon. The sonogram technician and the specialist were both very apologetic about having to deal with that! So far they have been so so kind to us!! In fact, the specialist wasn't even scheduled to talk with me after the sonogram today but she came out and talked to me to reassure us!

We have quite a few questions for the surgeon and hopefully she can answer some of them. I know that it is still another 4 weeks before my due date so we may have more info as to what this thing is by the time he is born but we would at least like to be somewhat prepared for the different scenarios and for what the first step will be after he is born to get it figured out.

After my appointment today I got to go to Target and get a few things I needed to have on hand for when the baby comes. Yesterday I got the cradle out of the basement and made a new cover for the bumper pad and a new sheet for it. We don't know how long he will need to stay in the hospital-if at all-when he is born but I feel good about having things come together to be ready for when he is home!!

Changing

Yesterday we had our regular ob appointment and the Biophysical Profile. We started off with doing the sonogram, which we actually got in for right away because my doctor needed to go deliver a baby and he said that he needed to see me that day, so he told the technician to -hurry and get Kendra in for BP and get her back here! Which was nice because my appointment with the doctor wasn't scheduled until 3:50 and we got back in the room at 3:15! Usually we are waiting extra time not having time to spare!

Anyway, we had the BP and the limited sono to check on things. Everything checked out fine as far as how the baby was doing. But the tumor/mass had actually changed quite a bit from last week. It had grown about 0.65cm and it now looked like it may have some sort of pocket of fluid inside it, which we have never seen before. Even to our untrained eyes, it looked significantly different so we are very curious what the specialist is going to say about it.

The sono technician was going to get it sent over right away to the specialist and our ob was going to call her and let her know that it was coming and that things seemed to look quite different so maybe she should take a look at it as soon as she can. Which probably won't be until today. So we are anxiously awaiting a phone call to tell us what she thinks of it. I know she is busy so it may not be until the end of the work day.

It could be good news, that now, with the way it is looking/behaving it seems more like a bleed or cyst or something else less scary than cancer.

Or it could be bad news, and she could say, hey as soon as this baby is "term" (which is 37 weeks and I will be that next week) we need to get this baby delivered because we don't want to wait another 3 weeks for this thing to keep changing in utero. But so far since the baby is doing well, we are not anticipating a C-section. We should just be able to induce a natural delivery.

But our ob said, that the last thing we want to do if the baby needs to have surgery right away is to have him be born prematurely. Of course he said a lot of premie babies have to have surgery so it is obviously done if need be. And we are talking about a week before the baby is term, not 6 weeks, so it wouldn't be as big of a deal.

Our ob admittedly does not know much at all to tell us about the mass though. He said he is probably the least knowledgable about what this thing could be. He joked and said that when this is all said and done, if it turns out that it was a good thing we found this on the sonogram then our family doctor can definitely be credited but if it turns out it just caused a bunch of worry for nothing, we should remember that he (the ob) wasn't the one who ordered the sono!

But like I said, we just don't know what to think right now and are just waiting to hear!

And here is a picture from yesterday. Little guy had his foot stuck up at his face!! You can see where she labeled the the foot and the head! I just can not wait to meet this little guy!!!

Frustrated

Yesterday was a busy and frustrating day. Matt has been having back problems and had some not so fun side effects from a medication he was taking (he got different meds and a new one added to hopefully it can calm down a bit) So first thing in the morning, I took him into the doctor. Thankfully his mom was able to keep the kids. Even though 2 out of the 3 of them had had fevers the last couple of days. We were in town for the doctor and then waiting for the prescription until around noon and came and got the kids.

Then we went home for about an hour before we had to turn around and leave again. We dropped the kids off at Natalie's and headed into town once again to go pick up the MRI images and the sonogram images. The MRI disk was at the hospital so we had to park in the garage and then I walked forever down and through all these hallways to get to the image check out place. Then walk all the way back. Matt couldn't go walk and get them because of his back. Then we drove across the street to the building where the sonogram disk was.

The office was on the third floor but there was a sign at the elevator that said it only worked intermittently and we should use the stairs. So this other lady with her baby and I started trying to find the stairs. Turns out just the fire escape stairs were what we could use. We start walking up them and get to the third floor. But it has a pass code on the door and it was locked. So up to the fourth. Still locked. Then up to the fifth and thankfully it was open. And then when we got to the offices up there, they said that the elevators should be fine to use. What?!? I was a little worried it would stop in the middle of a floor but I went ahead and used it to go back down to the third floor since there wasn't any other way to get to the third floor. I made it =)

So I've got both disks that I need to take to the surgeons office-that their office told me to make sure and bring. With a few minutes to spare even!

We get to the appointment and quickly realize that this is not what we were expecting. We were SO FRUSTRATED.

I'm not going to go into every little thing that he said (or what I was thinking because I was told to be nice) but basically he told us that the conclusions (or the most likely conclusions) of the specialist and the radiologist were wrong and that this is not Neuroblastoma.

Well, you may think this sounds wonderful. Isn't that what we want? Not cancer? Well, of course that it what we are praying for! We would be ecstatic if this were not cancer!! And we sure hope that is the case!

But what was the surgeon basing his conclusion on??? Statistics. That's it. Nothing else. He didn't even ask to look at the images and I asked him if he had seen them and told me no. He said that statistically it was too rare for this disease to be diagnosed in utero and since they just had one in the Wichita area diagnosed in utero in the last few months, which was the first one in ten years, then our case could not be the same.

I was in tears and Matt was speechless. And not the good tears or good speechless. Maybe you just had to be there to see it/feel it the way we did. But we will be getting together again with the specialist to see what else she has to say and discuss what the surgeon had to say. Because I know that she would not just tell us our baby has cancer just to say it without good reason and without even giving us some viable other options. And even if we can't do anything about this tumor until after baby is born, we would like to have a surgeon who cares and is planning with us on what actions could/would be taken once he is born.

Here is a sonogram picture of the mass/tumor that they are concerned about. It just seems so big to me inside the body of my little baby.

The latest

I had an appointment with my ob yesterday to have my regular checkup as scheduled and to have a biophysical profile of the baby done and a limited sonogram. That just means they checked a few things with the baby, like the amniotic fluid, the baby's movements, his heart rate and his breathing. The limited soon is just to measure and track the mass that is there. Then that sono will be read by the specialist so she can compare it with the one done in her office and she will continue to compare them each week. The doctor said that he would call whether good or bad news, because "with something like this we wouldn't just leave you hanging." That is nice that he is thinking of how we are feeling with all of this and will take the time to call even if just to reassure us that nothing has changed. We should hear by the end of today or sometime tomorrow.

We got the written report from the MRI also during the appointment. The ob also seemed a bit overwhelmed with it and he said he has never dealt with a patient with this. I think it is quite rare for Neuroblastoma or other renal tumors to be diagnosed in utero and since he just deals mostly with pregnant women and not the actual care of the baby after he is born then that would make sense.

The report in some ways confirmed what the specialist believes it to be (Neuroblastoma) but also in some ways brought up even more questions because he did write up a few other less likely possibilities.

But besides this mass that they are seeing everything else looks wonderful! So that is good news!

We have an appointment tomorrow with the pediatric surgeon and he will take a look at the MRI and the sonogram and I guess tell us his opinion. Maybe we will know a little bit more then, but mostly likely I am anticipating just being told that we will just need to do other scans/tests on the baby once he is born to say for sure what the treatment will be.

Mostly we are going to just be waiting and watching. Thank you again for all your prayers. Sometimes this seems so overwhelming and then other times it seems like everything is just normal.

MRI update

We had the MRI yesterday. It went very smoothly actually. I was a bit nervous about having to stay in that machine for up to an hour of just laying there. Well it actually ended up being about an hour and half of just laying there.

We got there around 1:00 and got checked in at admissions. Then they made me ride in a wheel chair down to the MRI place. I felt totally silly being wheeled around when I was perfectly capable of walking there, but whatever.

Then we went down there and waited for about half an hour and then they gave me some valium to take to keep the baby as calm as possible so they could get a good picture. I have never had it before so I was a little apprehensive about what it would do. But it turns out that either, they gave me a pretty low dose or it doesn't do too much. I got sleepy but at least I didn't feel like I was going to pass out or anything. I was pretty sleepy on the ride home though and the rest of the evening!

I got to lay my side also in the MRI machine so that was nice. I was concerned about having to be on my back for so long. So I laid in there for awhile while a lady did some preliminary pictures. Most of them I could just breathe normally for but a few I had to hold my breath.

Then I had to wait for a second person to come do the basic pictures of the baby. I think I fell asleep while waiting for him because I got quite startled the next time someone spoke to me! Ha! And baby seemed to hold still for the pictures as well. I don't think I felt him move while any of the pictures were being taken.

He did some more pictures and then a third person, who we think is a kidney disease specialist (I was not really thinking well to ask who he was), did a few pictures and it was done. It could not have been over at a more perfect time. I was just about to ask if they were going to be done soon because I couldn't take staying in the same position on that hard bed much longer.

The one who we think is a kidney specialist talked to us briefly and showed us some of the images. He showed us where the mass was that they were concerned about and that yes, the MRI confirmed it was there just as the sonogram had. His manner made it seem much less scary than before. He even said that it could be a Neuroblastoma tumor or just a cyst but didn't say which one he thought it was. He didn't really say anything about what the treatment would be if it was one or the other, other than nonchalantly saying that it would be easy to take care of. I hope he is right! But he was going to compare the MRI scans and the sonogram. Also, the weekly sonograms that I am going to be having should tell us more about the tumor/cyst/mass's characteristics and if it behaves more like a tumor or a cyst. He said that there is nothing to be done at this point and that these tests are all just to be able to be prepared for when the baby is born. And that when the baby is born then there will probably be a CAT scan and sonogram on him. I actually don't think that this doctor that we talked to will be involved much more in the treatment from what I can gather. There are 2 pediatric surgeons and those are the ones that our specialist said would be looking at the MRI and sonograms and deciding what to do. But I'll ask more at our next appointment.

So just more waiting to find out what it really is and pray that no other complications arise from it, I have about 6 weeks until my due date. The next appointment will be with our ob doctor and getting the biophysical profile done. We are praying that God will miraculously heal our baby but more importantly that His will will be done in our lives and that this will bring Him glory.

Each night during our family prayer time, the kids have been praying for their baby brother and it is so sweet to hear them be so concerned for this little baby that they haven't even met. Lillie especially is praying for him and that he won't have to have surgery after he is born and little Zethan will say "heal his little body" and it is just so special. Titus's prayer is that the baby won't have this sickness anymore. I love how they each have their own unique prayers and that they are already learning to lean on our Savior in all of life's trials.

Thank you to all of your sweet comments yesterday as well. It was touching to see so many people concerned for us and our baby and that they would take the time to lift him up in prayer. So thank you all.

Our little peanut

No pictures in this post, our computer is down so I can't get to any pictures at the moment. But maybe this post doesn't need any pictures anyway. But just a word of warning, I am kind of starting from the very beginning so this is probably the longest post I have ever written.

This pregnancy has had its ups and downs. In some ways it has been very uneventful and in other ways it seems to be one thing or the other. We were so excited to learn back at the end of December that we would be adding another little one to our family. I quickly became quite tired and didn't feel well, but compared to a lot of pregnant women, it was nothing. No throwing up, just nausea in the evenings. But eventually that passed, as it always does.

At 18 weeks, we had our regular sonogram that the doctor always has his prenatal patients have. The images showed that we would be adding a third little man to our family and we couldn't have been happier! But it also showed a single choroid plexus cyst on his brain. Whenever you hear anything about something on the brain it is scary, especially when it is your own baby. But our wonderful doctor reassured us that since everything else on the sonogram was comepletely normal, that he had no doubt that is was of no concern and an insignificant finding. We were to have another sonogram in 6 weeks just check on it. So at 24 weeks we went back in for another sonogram and thankfully the cyst had dissolved and everything else was fine!

The pregnancy was going along great! No other concerns, I haven't even gotten sick or had to go to the doctor for anything else Other than my prenatal care. Sure, I was/am getting quite uncomfortable and felt like I was getting much bigger much faster than any of my other pregnancies, but I think that is mostly normal for this being my fourth child.

I had a doctors appointment at 30 weeks that measured right on and then in 2 weeks had another doctors appointment at 32 weeks. This time I was measuring 3 weeks ahead. Instead of just increasing 2cm, my uterus had grown 5cm. The doctor was not overly concerned, thought that maybe the baby was in a funny position but since it was such a significant increase he went ahead and ordered another sonogram. That was on a Friday. The next Tuesday I had a sonogram. My sweet sister in law, Natalie came along with me to get to see her littlest nephew. The little guy was measuring to be quite the big guy actually. His head circumference was 3 weeks bigger than the due date and overall he was measuring a couple of weeks bigger than the due date. But those measurements all actually were within normal range and nothing having to do with his growth was of any concern. He looked like a big boy but a healthy boy. Except for a very suspicious looking spot that the sonogram technician seemed quite interested in. I finally asked her what that was that she was measuring, and in a nonchalant voice just said, oh it's something in the liver. That answer seemed a little vague to me but I knew that they are not supposed to really say much anyway. But the way she told us bye and said "well, I don't know if I will see you again or not." made me a little suspicious that something did not look right to her.

The last appointment I had with my regular doctor was the last appointment I was to have with him before I moved my care over to the ob doctor. So just a few hours after the sonogram I got a call that my appointment with the ob had been scheduled for Thursday. As in 2 days from then.

Then that evening I got a personal call from my regular doctor to tell me that they had seen a mass of some sort that looked like it was on the liver but it was hard to get a real good picture of it on the sonogram and the radiologist that read the sonogram couldn't say at all definitively what it was. All they knew was that it was not there at the 24 week sonogram and now it is and it could be a number of things. He gave me several options of what it may be but the most likely thing was a simple hemangioma. (don't ask me what that is though, I don't really know). But he said try not to worry about it and when you see the ob on Thursday he will tell what the next step is in finding out more about it.

So on Thursday we(matt and i) went to the ob and had a regular appointment, he was planning on already having had talked to the specialist in Wichita about me coming to her office for a sonogram and having her read the sonogram and give us a clearer diagnosis but she was on vacation until Monday. And she is the only specialist in Wichita that deals with special fetal disease diagnosis. So he said he would call on Monday with what she wanted to do. Whether she wanted us to come right in or wait or whatever.

So Monday afternoon this week, I got a call from the specialist's office and they said to come in at 7:45 the next morning for a sonogram and then the specialist would go over the results with us.

So I called another wonderful sister in law, Tiffany and asked if she would stay at the house with the kids since we would have to leave kind of early. So she actually stayed the night that night so she could be there when the kids woke up and we were already gone. The kids loved having her there!

So Tuesday(the 17th) we went and had the sonogram in the specialist office. The sonogram technician was very proficient and was so kind and told us every thing she was looking at and measuring and obviously knew exactly what she was doing. When the sono was over we went back to our room and a nurse came and asked a bunch of questions and then a resident doctor came and talked to us and asked a few more questions, then we had a long wait until the specialist and the resident both came and talked to us about what the sonogram results were.

Now, I was expecting that, she was going to say something along the lines of, well it was great meeting you but the mass is nothing to be concerned about so just follow up regularly with your ob, thanks have a good day.

Well, that is not what she said. She started out by getting out a piece of paper and drawing us a little diagram of where the liver, kidney and adrenal glands are all together. She drew out that the mass/tumor was actually on the adrenal gland not on the liver like the previous sonogram reading had thought. Then she said, now we can't say for 100% certain that we know what it is since we aren't reaching in there and taking a tissue sample but we are looking at the pictures and information we have and this is our best diagnosis and we are pretty certain that this is what it is. And then she writes down the term Neuroblastoma.

Wait....what? I thought it was supposed to be nothing. Did she just say that my baby has cancer?

But then she quickly said, "now I want you to know that a fetal(instead of infant or child) diagnosis of this has a >95% survival rate."

And then a couple of minutes later she said again, "did you hear me that it is a greater than 95% survival rate?"

She said that the next step will be an MRI and then the surgeons will look at the MRI and the latest sonogram and decide what should be done. She was very kind and sympathetic towards us.

The MRI is actually scheduled for this afternoon. I am supposed to check in at 1:00 and the MRI is at 2:00. The specialist said that they will give me medicine that is supposed to make the baby sleepy so hopefully he won't move around too much. He is a real wiggle worm and they could definitely see that while they tried to do the sonogram!

Also she told us that we will have a weekly sonogram/biophysical profile of the baby to check on how the baby is doing and to check on the tumor. They are watching for abnormal fluid around the tumor and if that develops then the baby would need to be delivered right away. Also, because of the hormones in the baby that this tumor messes with, there is a greater risk of me developing Pre-eclampsia, so of course if that starts to happen the baby would need to be delivered right away as well.

We are praising God that he directed our doctor to order another sonogram, as it was not a routine one and he could have just as easily not had one done.

We are still processing this and we know what the statistics say about a 95% survival rate but at the same time, it is hard to know that our baby has cancer in his body and that he most likely will have surgery and all the unknown factors right now.

I don't know how long it will be for the surgeons to get a chance to look at the tests and decide what to do, but I imagine it will be sometime later next week. I will try to keep this blog updated and next time I won't have to write a book to play catch up on what is going on ;)

Thank you for letting me share this with you and for praying with us for our baby boy.