A History of Ann Arbor Days

I was thinking about the first time I stepped through the doors of the U of M hospital. I was 28 weeks pregnant with Cayman.

I felt tiny in this huge building, walking the long hallways.

Hugging the corner of the elevator as we rode it to the 4th floor.

Passing through several more hallways.

And finally arriving outside the doors to the high risk pregnancy clinic.

I could not have told you the way back to our vehicle.

I was lost in a place I did not want to be.

Now, it's been 2 1/2 years of experience walking those halls.

We have visited many departments -Perinatology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Cardiology, etc.

Cayman has had 11 surgeries there.

She's taken 7 trips to the emergency room, twice by ambulance, and once flighted.

The strides Cayman has made because of that place, the familiarity of it, and the relationships created there, have made this place feel warm to me. It's not so intimidating or scary anymore.

I still might not be able to conduct a tour of the large Mott Children's Hospital at U of M, but that's simply because I have a terrible sense of direction. But at every turn there is familiarity to me and I like not feeling so lost anymore.

During Cayman's last shunt revision just a little over 2 weeks ago, there was a mother in the waiting room greatly upset for matters that I do not know all the details to. I did gather that her daughter, who looked to be about 6 years old, was soon to be admitted into the hospital for a scheduled procedure. The mom was nearly yelling at the staff, upset she did not know where to go. It was her first time there and it felt to her like no one was trying to help. The mom was asked to take a seat and they'd send someone over to assist her. She picked her daughter up and cuddled her onto her lap and said, "Oh I hate this place!"

Regardless whether I felt this mother's behavior was unacceptable in front of her young daughter who had to be feeling a fair amount of fright anyways, my heart broke for this mom.

I know that feeling.

It's the feeling of unfamiliarity.

Loneliness and uncertainty.

Feeling so small and desperate, lost in a place you really don't want to be anyways.

All of this was going through my mind yesterday when we stepped through the doors of the U of M hospital. Being pregnant again has me remembering all sorts of memories from our first trip down pregnancy lane with Cayman.

I saw the same perintologist yesterday and he got to meet our little Cayman for the first out of utero.

And we got to see the precious little blob that is our growing baby!

The head is on the right and the butt on the left.

I'm just over 8 weeks pregnant with a due date of February 15, 2011.

To birth Cayman's large head, the doctor had to perform a classical C-section cut. Because of that classical cut this baby will be born also by C-section 3 or 4 weeks before the due date {if all progresses as planned of course}. The doctor said 10% of all women with a history of a classical cut experience the uterus ribbing open during contractions.

Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

The risks of that are icky of course..death for the baby, potential brain damage, bleeding for the mom.

So the doctors want to take the baby before labor would begin for those said reasons. I thought that was a good idea too! I'm praying my body will be predictable and not go into labor earlier than they think.

There are times when the 2 hour drive to Ann Arbor just feels too far!

I learned yesterday that there is valuable things that happen for the baby when the mom goes into labor. There seems to be a natural communication that signals the baby's lungs to start to clear out the amniotic fluid and get ready to breathe fresh air for the first time. When labor never happens the baby's lungs are born with fluid in them. To help combat this issue and to insure the development of the baby's lungs for the earlier delivery, I'll get those steroid shots to help speed up the lung development.

So many things to think about.

So many things to pray about.

But I can tell you, when I am not laying on the couch nauseous, I feel like I am positively glowing over the miracle of life that is happening inside of me!

I'm so happy!