First Fish

Before the chaos of last week we went camping with "Aunt" Tia and "Uncle" Tim. (We use Aunt and Uncle loosely when it comes to Taylor's family. Pretty much if you are a Noble you are in the club. And yes, I slept on a big cushy air mattress, thank you.) Anyhow, we ended the trip by doing some fishing and Parker caught his first fish ever---well sort of.

You see, Taylor casted for Parker, and gave him the pole. In which he eventually became bored and set it down on the rocks to play. A few minutes later the pole started moving, and before it fell in Uncle Tim reeled it in. At this point Parker returned to see his catch, and boy was he proud of his big trout. Parker was too scared to hold it, but I guess that's what big cousins are for---holding the fish so that you can pose for a pic for your mom. Above is Carter and Parker with Parky's first catch. Notice the pole on the ground in the background. :)

Ode to Tweetie and Sella

Goodbye friends. You proved me wrong, I actually like chickens. We will miss your constant chirping and your insistent ploys to sneak inside the house. The kids are sad to see you go, but I know you will enjoy your new home. Farewell. I hope you always remember the abuse we gave you, all in love of course. (see below.)

Baby Update #4- She's A Fighter!

I had my appointment yesterday, and the little lady checked out just fine. The doctor said she is a fighter! I was allowed to return to Prescott until next Monday.

I think I have decided on a name. Taylor has relinquished his opinion on this matter, considering all I have had to go through the past couple of weeks. I decided to choose the name he wanted in the first place, though. It has grown on me. Lucy Yvette Nelson, we await your arrival.

Baby Update #3- Released

They released me from the hospital yesterday to my parents home. After a thorough exam yesterday morning, Dr. Gianina thinks that we definitely have some time to play with and that he would much rather closely monitor her than deliver given how early she is. If she starts becoming anemic in the next 2-3 weeks he will surgically perform a blood transfusion on her (in utero). Yes, that is through me. If she can hold off longer than that, then we will deliver her. He is a very positive guy, and feels very confident that we can do this. My next appointment is Tuesday, at 9:30 am. If she passes her exam again, the kids and I will go home to Prescott for a week. It will be nice to be home.

Oh, and Dr. Gianina switched my due date to August 10th, putting me at almost 29 weeks. My last 6 or 7 ultrasounds have had that date. He says that even if it is incorrect, it is better be on the safe side. We would rather make an informed decision on delivering a baby that we know is past 32 weeks, than one that we think is 32 weeks, but is actually 30. Makes sense to me.

Baby Update #2 --Hospitalization

Whew...what a day. I neglected to post on last weeks appointment because really, we learned nothing new. Yes, I have a tumor. Yes, it is growing at an alarming rate....yada, yada, yada...we are all concerned.

Today however, was a different story. Today, was a day that I wont forget for a long time. Not because it ended badly, but because the roller coaster of emotions was one ride I hope to miss next time around. Here is the play-by-play.

7:45 am- Drop off kids at my friends house in Prescott, so I could drive to Phoenix for my 9:45 appointment.

9:45 am- Arrive at my doctors office; the ultrasound technician walks me to the back room, all the while giving me a hard time for never going to get my glucose tests done. "Ha!," I thought, "you just like everyone else will forget I need one once you start your ultrasound. "

9:50 am- Ultrasound #1- the technician measures the tumor, it is now almost 8cm long, between the size of a baseball and a softball. The amniotic fluid has also increased past the point of normal, to a more dangerous level.

10:30 am- The tech leaves, shares the results with the doctor, I sit staring at the wall for a really long time.

11:00- Ultrasound#2- The doctor has ordered an additional ultrasound to be done internally. (This is the kind that is not fun....yes, ladies you know what I am talking about.)

11:10- Ultrasound #3-A doctor comes in (one I haven't seen before)....wants to redo some of the measurements from Ultrasound #1. She gets on the machine herself, and starts measuring the bloodflow of the baby's heart. She explains to me that it looks like the tumor has now started taking some blood supply away from the baby, and that it appears she might be having some sort of heart distress. They are worried that the baby might be developing anemia, and could be on its way to hydrops.

11:30- I am moved to a separate room to open up the ultrasound room. I can hear two doctors talking about my options and discussing what to do with me in the office next door. Dont they realize these walls are paper thin?

11:40-The genetesist I saw the week before gets me, brings me into her office for a discussion. She says from her point of view, I have 2 options. 1) Fly to L.A. to meet with a doctor at USC who is one of two doctors in the nation who will perform an experimental surgery on me to lazer out the tumor. The surgery is risky, but has worked in the past. There is a big possibility that they might not consider me a good candidate for the surgery once I got there, and would either have to go home or deliver there. Also, there is no guarantee that the surgery wouldn't cause additional issues with me and the baby. 2) Go to St. Joe's hospital in Phoenix, meet with the perinatalogist/fetal surgeon there, and probably be admitted and have the baby soon. At this time the baby has a 96% chance of survival, but only a 87% chance that she would be born without some sort of disability (blindness, deafness, mental retardation, etc.) I need to choose one of the two options.

11:45am- I call Taylor, breakdown in tears, and can barely explain what is going on. Once I do get through it we both agree that the Phoenix option is better. The surgery is too risky for an unknown outcome, and the thought of splitting up our family (the baby and I in LA, with the kids and Taylor in AZ for months on end, was not worth the slight chance of delaying my birth a few weeks. Who knows if it would even work?)

12:00pm- I tell the doctor what we decided, she agrees, and sends me to the fetal surgeon at St. Josephs hospital so that he can look at me at definitely decide what to do with me. Yeah, that lab technician totally forgot about my glucose test. I wanted to tell her, told you so, but thought I might try to act mature.

12:30pm-I decide before I possibly go to the hospital for a while, I am going to treat myself to some good Mexican food, and go shopping at Target. I buy myself some really cute comfy pajamas, and an even cuter summer bag. Now, I feel better. I am ready to tackle this.

2:00pm-My mom calls, she is leaving work so she can be with me at the hospital.

2:30pm-The hospital calls, and wonders where the heck I am. Apparently, they were expecting me hours ago. Umm....yeah, I didn't tell them I went shopping. My dad who works at the hospital also meets us there.

3:00pm- I am directed to see Dr. Giannina, the fetal surgeon, to get his opinion on the whole matter. Here is a news article I found on him.

3:30pm- Ultrasound#4-Dr. Giannina and his tech, look at me for another 45 minutes or so. His analysis is much more positive than Dr. Ponchey, my genetisist. He believes, yes, we are getting pretty close to having some problems, but he thinks my baby will be able to hang in there for much longer than the other doctors. He says he is going to admit me to the hospital, but only for 48 hours for more testing, and to recieve steroid shots. (Giving me steroid shots, will help develop the baby's lungs in case I do have to give birth.) He says that after 48 hours of monitoring, if the baby remains in the same condition, and does not get a whole lot worse, he will let me go home for a few days. I will then come back to the hospital for testing twice a week from here on out. If she drastically worsens, we can discuss other options like fetal blood transfusions, etc....but he does not think we should induce labor at this time. She needs more time to cook, and thinks she can make it at least a couple of more weeks, and maybe even a month or more!

4:00pm- Admitted to the hospital antenatal unit. I score one of only five of the private rooms in the unit. Yippee!

4:30pm-More bloodwork. I am officially turning into a human pin cushion. Taylor and I decide that it is best that the kids sleep in their own bed tonight (they were still in Prescott) and he can bring them down first thing in the morning.

9:00pm- Finally my steroid shot arrives. Never felt that sensation before. Burning in the bum for the next ten minutes.

9:05pm-They discuss my "plan" for the next 48hours. Tomorrow morning I have perinatal counseling to prepare me for a premature baby (whenever that may be), then a non-stress test, then I just get to hang out in bed until 9pm when I get my second shot. On Friday, I will have another ultrasound to see if things have worsened or stayed the same. I cant wait to see Taylor and the kids tomorrow.

11:00pm- I write this blog post because I cant sleep. Ill have another update within the next 48 hours. I mean, what else do I have to do?

P.S. Thank you to all my friends and family who came to my rescue today. Between the kid watching, positive texts I recieved, emergency bag packing and house rummaging, hospital waiting, and husband tending that people performed for me, I am truly blessed. Thank you, thank you. I love you all.

Forbidden!

So I have been completely forbidden from posting on a certain subject by my husband. (He is very sensitive when it comes to blog bragging.) I wont say what it is, but I will say it has to do with a test. The results of a very important test....one in which Taylor had been studying for, for a very long time. Anyway, we found out last Friday that he....hmmm.....how should I say this....smiled when he saw the results. That's opposed to slipped into a deep dark depression, which could have happened, say if the results showed something different. There, I said it, without really saying it. I am sure I will be in the doghouse. Oh well, I am proud, what can I say. Our life can finally move forward. We are officially no longer students for the first time in our marriage.

3:10 to Yuma

A couple of weekends ago we went to Yuma to see Taylor's brother, Tanner, off for his mission. We swam....
We cooked....
And we hung out with family. Overall a good time!


And if you think Yuma is only a desolate wasteland of a town, check out these pics of Abby, the Parks, and their cousins in Taylor's parents yard. You might be surprised.

Nelson Baby Girl Update

I knew the moment the technician put the ultrasound tool on my belly over the placenta, this doctors appointment was not going to be as positive as before. I remember covering my eyes and throwing my head back before one word had been spoken. My untrained eye could see the tumor and knew it had grown. Of course the technician did not say anything and ran her tests as normal, but I turned to my dad and let him know that to me it looked to have doubled in size. That was yesterday.

When the specialist/medical director came in to discuss the results, he had said in the last month it had not doubled but quadrupled. The baby however, seems to still be doing fine. She is beautiful, as you can see from the pictures, and healthy, as far as they can tell. He did find one slight issue. They can see that she has a symptom called "bright bowel" in the ultrasound. It is when a baby's bowel shows abnormally bright, which could be associated with a genetic disorder like downs or CF, a fetal infection, intra-uterine bleeding, or a placental deficiency. Obviously, considering my tumor (officially diagnosed as one now) is on the placenta, a deficiency there would be the most likely cause. To rule out the possibility of a genetic disorder I will be meeting with a geneticist and the medical director of the facility for another ultrasound on Tuesday, May 12th.

So where does this leave us? Well, I have definitely been bumped up on the scale of high risk pregnancies, and the specialist pretty much prepared me to have a premature baby. At the current rate of tumor growth, he expects that the baby will need to be taken before my due date. We have set up a series of "goals" that we want to make. The first is to try and hold out until the 30 week mark. ( He also believes my due date to now be in August, putting me at 25-26 weeks.) If we can make it until then, the baby has a much higher chance of survival. Our second marker or goal is 32 weeks, and our third and final goal is to make it to 35 weeks. If I can make it until then without significant stress on the baby he might let me be induced and have it naturally as planned.

Amazingly, I still feel that everything will be okay. I am so blessed to be going to the best doctors around, and to have today's technology on my side. 50 years ago, this baby would have no chance. Today, she will most likely be perfectly fine. I rarely write on spiritual matters, but honestly I just know in my heart that everything will work out. I feel it. No matter what happens, god always provides a silver lining...even if it takes years to figure out what it was.