Stability

Well it's been a whirlwind of appointments all relating to the wee one. We had a regular prenatal appointment first, and when I took my jacket off to hop on the scale, the midwife said "Well you're just all baby, aren't you!" My tummy certainly is! Everything at that appointment went fine, and I am measuring right on track for how far along I am in the pregnancy (which for someone of my small size, that means my belly is getting HUGE, relatively speaking).

Next we met with the pediatric neurosurgeon who would be handling our case, and helping to decide what type of treatment the wee one would need. He was very optimistic, and had an overall very cheerful disposition! What a breath of fresh air from all the sombre faces we tend to get at appointments. He indicated that it may even be possible that the wee one might not need any treatment (ie. no shunt or surgery) - but we'll have to wait and see how the hydrocephalus progresses. That was exciting to hear, and we left feeling pretty hopeful.

And finally we had another level 2 ultrasound and consultation with the perinatologist. Unlike the last time, we weren't really all that anxious about this appointment - I don't know if it's because we were just hopeful, or just coping better now. In any case, we were very much looking forward to seeing the wee one again on the ultrasound screen, and just a little bit anxious to see how the ventricles were measuring.

Mr. Daybyday stated it well when he said "Either things have cleared up, stayed roughly the same, or progressed more. In any case, we keep going, and keep getting things ready for the wee one's arrival."

The ventricles had enlarged slightly, but so had the overall head size, so the ratio of ventricle width to hemisphere width had stayed pretty much exactly the same as the last time! The perinatolgist said "This is what we like to see!" So it seems that things are stabilizing, rather than progressing to a more severe form of hydrocephalus. He said that when they first observe enlarged ventricles they never know at what point in time they are catching it - at the beginning of enlargement, in the middle, or at the end when they reach a plateau. So we are hopeful that the wee one's ventricles are at the plateau stage.

Of course we go back in four weeks for another ultrasound, but we're pretty happy right now :)

And the wee one was squirming around during the ultrasound, so I again got to see exactly what wee one was doing when I felt all those movements inside my belly!

It would have been nice if the hydrocephalus had cleared up completely, but having stability is a pretty great result too.

Thanks to all of you who have been sending us positive thoughts and kind words!

And finally, I will leave you with a picture from the most recent ultrasound - the sonographer was able to get a partial face image (the wee one was being difficult and not letting her get a full face image). It looks to me like the wee one is smiling!