McKinley 27 Weeks 1 Day

Yesterday we got to see our sweet baby girl again. I LOVE those days. I do always get a bit anxious, I am afraid we are going to find something else out. Or that her heart or kidneys will be sick.. or something. Its just nerve wracking. Then combine, that I had my glucose test.. which the drink itself doesnt bother me, but the blood work..well you know how I do with that. And then Jackson slept 3 hours the night before this appointment... so I was a BIT on edge. But everything went well. The lady who drew my blood was AWESOME. She listened to me, as far as which vein to draw from, and it was super quick. WAHOO! And baby girl.. is TOO cute for words. She was acting more shy this time around, and had her hands covering her face the majority of the time, so we didnt as good 4D pictures as last ultrasound. I am in love. She was only measuring 2 days ahead this time (July 11th). However, because of the hole in her abdomen, that can throw the measurements off, I guess. She weighs 2.4 lbs. Her heart looks good. The kidneys look good.. we looked around the kidneys for blockage and didnt see any. Her hands and feet look great. And her brain looks good. Praise the Lord!
The mass coming off the side of her umbilical cord (you can see it on the left of this picture.. the right of the picture is just confirming she is a girl), seemed REALLY BIG to us this week. We are still unsure what the mass is. We are praying for fluid or jelly. No organs.


Seriously, look at that profile. She's perfect. Again, in the left of the picture, you can see her omphalocele (the white ball looking thing). What you see above her head is her FOOT! Flexible little girl. :) Now, this is where our appointment got a bit interesting. Our doctor was looking at her omphalocele, and he had his head in his hands and kinda had a sly grin on his face and said "well this is gonna be interesting". I looked at him and said "what does that mean?!" And he proceeded to let us know that based on the placement of the umbilical cord in the ultrasound, he was now questioning whether it was in fact a small omphalocele OR gastroscesis. He said, it may be something that we have to just "wait and see at delivery". Seems like a theme for us and our sweet baby. I will be interested to see at our next appointment if he still wonders, or if it was just the way that she was laying that made him question it this week.

What does that mean? Remember, I told you there are 2 main type of abdomin openings.. one is more common than the other. The omphalocele is more rare. There is a thin membrane that surrounds and somewhat protects the organs that have developed outside of the body. While, gastroscesis is more common, the organs are free outside of the body. (I have a cousin who was born with this 21 years ago, and is a healthy grown boy!) There is nothing protecting the organs, so the amniotic fluid can bother them.

For us, this really doesnt change our plans. Either way, McKinley's surgery SHOULD not be an emergency. Of course, if she is healthy otherwise. The size, although, continuing to grow, is growing consistently with her... they are still unsure what is actually developing outside of her body. HOWEVER, they think it is small.. possibly just bowels.

Our doctor did not seem overly concerned.. just "interested". Craig and I feel fine about this. We still feel totally at peace with the medical team that is surrounding us and our baby girl.

Keep praying for McKinley. Keep praying that she continues to grow super strong and that her heart and kidneys and brain and lungs develop like they are supposed to. Pray for Craig and I as we prepare for our 2nd baby girl. Pray for Jackson.. he had NO clue that he is getting a baby sister, even though we tell him about the baby (he still thinks we are referring to him). Pray for our family and friends who are going to be helping us in ways that none of us can imagine.

We go back in 3 weeks and should be setting the date that we are going to meet our baby girl for the first time. I. CAN. NOT.WAIT!