Delivery Status: Within Hours

Countdown to Delivery

Friday morning Heath and I left for our cardiology appointment with my hospital bags packed ready for the hospital.  The cardiology visit was supposed to determine the decision between delivering Friday night or admitting to the hospital for regular monitoring until delivery was appropriate (hence the packed bags). Luckily, our baby girl's heart had not changed over the course of the week, the doctor even thought her ventricular squeeze was more vibrant than the previous week!  The cardiologist called our high risk doctor while we waited to learn our instructions for admittance to the hospital.  Surprisingly, the cardiologist came back to report that our high doctor felt we could remain outpatient until our visit with him on Monday.  This was extremely exciting news as we got to spend our last few days before baby arrived in the comfort of our home.

My parents had driven through the night Thursday night to get to Atlanta by Friday morning in case the doctors had decided to deliver us on Friday.  It turns out that we feel very blessed to have avoided delivery on Friday.  We would have ended up having surgery around 5 or 6 pm when shift change would have been occurring, when weekend staff would have been moving in, the transport team would have been less readily available, traffic would have been in rush-hour and specialists would not have been as easily available.  Furthermore, my OB was up all night Thursday night performing 3 emergency surgeries in the ER, followed by 4 scheduled surgeries one natural delivery on Friday.  Needless to say my OB was exhausted by the time I spoke to her around 5pm on Friday and she was just as grateful as we were to be holding off at least a few more days.  

Getting to stay outpatient also meant that Heath and I would get to attend the 'Baby, Bourbon and BBQ' baby shower that our friends were throwing for us Saturday evening!!  First, I had to go into the hospital for an outpatient Non-Stress Test Saturday afternoon.  Mom joined me and we passed the time playing cribbage until we got the word that baby girl was doing just fine.  Our friends threw us the sweetest, most generous party with delicious homemade smoked BBQ!  My parents got to join us at the party and we all just had the most wonderful time celebrating our baby girl and the fact that we are about to be parents in a few short days!!!

We feel beyond grateful to have such wonderful friends and family spoiling us and providing us with so much support when we have really needed it the most!  As we plan for delivery in the next few days it is a very surreal feeling to know exactly when life is about to change.  Of course we feel the normal anxieties and excitements about becoming new parents but there is the hint of general underlying anxiety about her condition and how she will do once delivered.  We are beyond hopeful and feeling positive that she will be a tremendous fighter.  All of your prayers and love help us to feel so hopeful as we wind down to delivery 7 weeks later than we could have expected when we first learned about her conditions.  It is strange to look in the mirror at my belly and know that it will be so different in a few days.  It's exciting to know that we will finally get to see those squirmy little limbs that we feel moving around in my belly but it's also tough not knowing if we'll get to hold her right away or when we will get to bring her home.  Overall, we are very blessed to have our parents here with us and friends and family on standby to come shower us with love once baby girl arrives. 

So in the meantime we ask that you all continue your prayers, love and positive thoughts as we prepare for delivery at the start of week 37.  We ask that you especially keep us in your thoughts Tuesday morning at 9 am when baby girl is scheduled to arrive!