Good News

I have hesitated putting this in writing because I am afraid that I might jinx it, but...Perron is coming home on Sunday! We are so excited. If he continues to do well with his temperature and his feeds, then we will spend the night in the NICU tomorrow night and take him home Sunday afternoon. We can't believe the day is finally here. He will be two weeks one day old when he comes home. He continues to eat like a mad man. He had 60 ccs (2ozs) at breakfast and lunch today. He gained another ounce and now weight 4 lbs 3.8 ozs. He is doing so well. We are a little nervous about him coming home, but luckily that is overshadowed by how excited we are. We have been FRANTICALLY trying to tie up all the loose ends and get things ready for his arrival. We are getting close.

On another note, I had another blood pressure check today and I got good news and some discouraging (but not totally unexpected) news. The good news is that my blood pressure was great at my appointment and I don't have to take my medication anymore! YAY! No more pumping and dumping after tomorrow afternoon! While I was there I was able to ask Dr. Gunnells some questions about my preeclampsia. I had been reading about preeclampsia online and thought that I might have had preeclampsia with another servious condition called HELP syndrome. See this link for a good explanation of what HELLP syndrome is http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/uvahealth/peds_hrpregnant/hellp.cfm. I asked Dr. Gunnells if I had HELLP syndrome and he confirmed that I did. I asked him if we decided in the future to have another baby what the chances were that I would get it again. He said the good news was that it is less common with second pregnancies; however, if I were to compare myself to my friends that did not have a history of preeclampsia then I would be at a significantly higher risk than they were. I also asked about the possibility of the baby being IUGR again and he said that it would be very likely that the baby would be IUGR. He said that preeclampsia and IUGR really go hand and hand and many women who experience preeclampsia have IUGR babies. Because of the constricted blood vessels due to the preeclampsia it makes it hard for the baby to grow. So not the best news, but again not entirely unexpected. As Stephen has told me, worry about the baby we have right now not the babies we might have in the future. Very good advice!