Quick update

We just wanted to post a quick update of the appointment today.

Fetal echocardiogram:  The baby's heart is anatomically normal and has strong cardiac output meaning it is not showing signs of heart failure at this point, praise the Lord!

Follow up appointment with the maternal fetal medicine (MFM) doctor:  The fluid has returned, almost completely to what it was prior to the thoracentesis.  :( We were hopeful that the fluid wouldn't re-accumulate so fast but were prepared to hear these results.  For some good news, the baby's chromosomes look normal, no viral infection was found, and the fluid building up is for sure lymphatic fluid (chyle); all of which are good things.

Again, what do we do now?  The MFM doctor wants us to try the thoracentesis again next Monday as in some cases the fluid will not re-accumulate after the second try.  The reason we did not do it today was to give baby boy some time to recover from having the procedure on Monday.  He said that having that pressure/fluid shift in such a rapid amount of time can put strain on someone and best give him time to recover before we put him through that again.  One thing he mentioned about looking ahead is if the fluid re-accumulates after the second procedure we may have to consider moving to putting in a shunt.  However, he is cautious to rush attempting this procedure given the fact that baby boy has one perfectly healthy lung and though his heart is pushed to the side, it is functioning very well.  The shunt will fall/come out or even get pulled out by the baby 30% of the time so often this has to be repeated as well.  Currently I am only 20/21 weeks along.  The doctor said if anything were to progress or get worse prior to 28 weeks there is not much they could do aside from placing a shunt, so we are in for a very long 7 weeks.  Please pray our little boy continues to stay strong and active over this time.

We are thankful that our baby boy has stayed healthy up until this point.  We even got to see him sucking on his hand during the ultrasound.  Though I would prefer it the other way, it is nice to see him on a regular basis; it's almost like he knows we are looking at him and is communicating back to us.  So far he is not very photogenic, though.

Sorry again if we did not call all of you personally.  Ryan and I have found we have spent so much time calling and explaining all of this to everyone else that we have barely had any time (the two of us) to sit down and discuss it ourselves.  We are trying to stay patient with each other and keep peace around the house for Jonah's sake.

Again, we will update as things happen.

Sincerely,
Ryan and Raquel