It can be quite funny how things work out the way they do. My worst fears going into this pregnancy were that I would have to be put on bed rest again and could possibly loose my job. I thought I had it all planned out perfectly. I am a planner, I have to have things planned out weeks, months some times years in advance.
I found out last year that I needed to have surgery on my deviated septum. With my planning, I wanted to have it at the beginning of the year so that I could max out my deductible for my insurance and then have a baby later than year, and the insurance would have to pay for it all. I thought that was pretty smart. So I had my surgery January 9, 2013 and everything went great. It was the best money ever spent on myself. Being able to finally breathe without blowing my nose every 5 seconds was heaven.
A couple months later we found out we were pregnant. Everything was going just as planned. I called to schedule our first appointment with the Midwife that delivered Stella. The office told me that she did not deliver any more and I would need to choose a different Dr. I talked around with a few of my friends and thought that going with a Dr instead of a Midwife was probably better this time around since I would more than likely need a cerclage. I didn't think that a Midwife would be able to perform a surgery like that. I decided to go with Dr Kristine Zelenkov at Ogden Women's Clinic. It was quite the coincidence that just a month prior Ogden Clinic had bought out the Ogden Women's Clinic and had all of my health records.
At the first appointment with Dr Zelenkov, she convinced me that a cerclage was not needed. She said that in most cases it does more damage than good because it is poking a needle into a muscle that would make it weaker than it already was. I trusted her judgement and sighed with relief. I didn't want to have to be put under again and be on bed rest for a week or more till the stitches healed. That was one less thing to worry about.
Dr Zelenkov also told us at that first appointment that she delivered at just about all of the local hospitals, Davis, Ogden Regional, McKay Dee, Logan, and even University Hospital on an occasion. That didn't really matter to me at the time because I wanted to deliver at Ogden Regional again. It was such a great experience with Stella, I wanted the same for this new little guy. But it wasn't until a few months later when we sat down with the Cardiologist at Primary Children's that they told me that I would need to deliver at the University Hospital so that he can be close to Primary Children's if he needed transferred there. Its funny how that works out just great, I don't need to change Doctors so that I can deliver at the University since my OB already has privileges at that hospital.
You know what else is a blessing in disguise, although it is about an hour away, that is still pretty close to live to such a prestigious hospital as Primary Children's Medical Center. You know what else is convenient, my sister lives only a few miles away, so when Jefferson is at the hospital I can stay with her and not have to drive very far to go up and see and feed him. That will be a little less hectic.
Its also a blessing that he doesn't have to have surgery right after he is born. He can live with the defect until he is a little bigger and stronger. What else is pretty amazing, how even though I may not have to be put on bed rest like I did with Stella, I have such an amazing job that supports me and told me to take as long as I needed for Jefferson when he has his surgery. It is so comforting to know that the Salt Lake County Sheriff's office is family oriented and wants us to put our family first.
Best of all, we had our last Cardiologist appointment until after Jeffers is born last week. It was not as hard of an appointment as the first one was. Andrew was able to come to the appointment with me. We actually had Stella checked over with an EKG to make sure her heart was fine. The Dr said that she had a slight murmur that would you could hear when sick or coughing, but nothing that would cause her any problems in life. So she is perfectly normal! YAY! Then we had Jeffers appointment right after. Andrew got the full run down on what exactly he has and I was able to get all of the questions I had built up over the past 6 weeks answered. It turns out that Jefferson will have to be in the NICU for about one day after he is born and be monitored for about a week after birth before he is discharged. Once he is discharged, he will be just like a normal baby. He should not have any problems and just needs the same treatment as any other newborn. Once his surgery comes, he will only have to be in the hospital for a maximum of 2 weeks and then home for about a month for healing and recovering. After that, he will be a normal child. He shouldn't need heart monitors or oxygen or anything like that. What a relief! I have read that some parents have had to quarantine their heart babies for up to 6 months so that they do not get exposed to germs. It was such a weight lifted off to know that he will be a normal baby after this surgery.
I know that there will be challenges ahead, but I know that through our faith and prayer that our Heavenly Father will help and guide us through this next journey in our life. I already cannot wait to hold our sweet baby Jefferson in 10 short weeks. He is a lively little boy already and I know he will have a good fight in him once he is born. I know he will be tough enough to get through this but we will be blessed.
Its so crazy how things work out!
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