First trip to Salt Lake City, Utah

So we just got back from our first trip to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet all the doctors. We were planning on going around 36 weeks like planned but they called last week and told us that it was really important to come down and have an echo done by their cardiac specialists, meet our OB and have everything planned and schedualed for our return stay....but that was not the trip that we thought it was going to be. We left monday after work about 2pm and made great timing into SLC about 7:15ish. We were able to get in contact with a cousin of a cousin on my side of the family, Louie and steve who welcomed us into their beautiful three store home overlooking the city of Salt Lake and walking distance from the capitol. They have an apartment attatched to their home and have so kindly offered us to stay there during our 6-10 weeks return trip for birth and delivery, we couldn't be more thankful!
We made it to our first appointment with the cardiologist about 9:30 at Primary Childrens Hospital, Dr. Pulchouski and his staff were great, they did tell us everything we already knew about the arterial switch proceedure, complications that could occur, actual surgery and after care for our sweet boy. We toured the labor and delivery as well as the NICU where our son will have a close eye on him to ensure that he stays in good condition until his surgery which should be between 3-5 days after delivery. The NICU broke my heart and i couldn't look at those tiny, innocent babies hooked up to the monitors. It was very hard for me to see and couldn't help but to imajine our tiny baby just like that. Being there, I can't help but to cry and wish that everything could just be normal.
That appointment, including tour ended about noon. We were starving by then and decided to eat at the cafateria in the University that is a part of the hospital, and surprisingly they had good and relatively inexspensive food!! Our next appointment came quick and we were back at the University Medical Center, which is part of the campus of medical centers attached to each other, for our ultrasound at 1:30 and OB appointment followed at 2:30....... that was how it was suppose to be scheduled at least. I had been sick since that morning, either because I'm coming down with a small cold or because I was at the hospital and it was making me feel miserable, so I was already in the mood to get in and out of there. We had our ultrasound about 2 and the tech made quick work of the ultrasound, about 20 mins or so. She left the room, telling us she'd be back shortly and the resident who had been watching her work asked for a chance to take the reins and get a little practice. I obliged, even though I wasn't feeling well. We thought that was going to be fast but OHHHH no! The nurse returned 40 mins later, returned us to the waiting room and told us the doctor would be with us shortly. We waited, waited and waited some more. We then waited about an hour and a 15 minutes before approaching the front desk lady again. They have a beautiful gold sign tacked to the wall just to the side of the receptionists that states, "You will be helped determined on the procedure you are waiting for, not by the order in which you arrive," obviously to deter just those kind of impatient questions. The receptionist pulled up my info again, and stated, "Oh, we didn't realize you were done with the ultrasound and were waiting, let me notify the nurse that you're ready." 15 minutes later we were taken across the hall and gave our OB/GYN paperwork that we'd brought with all of my apppointment information and medical records from the pregnancy, that apparently was not able to just be faxed over prior to seeing us, so that the doctor, nurse, and midwife could be familiarized with our special needs case. After the nurse finished with all of her questions and providing information, we waited again for the doctor. Half an hour later a woman entered. We assumed this was the doctor, seeing as I had requested a female OB/GYN prior to having the appointment set, but it was only the midwife. She went through much of the same information as the nurse and reviewed my records, as well as explaining that she would be performing all the exams for the doctor, and expressing her exasperation with the federal requirment of going to computer records instead of paper, and that they were apparently not competent enough to have picked up on it well yet. After finishing with the midwife we waited again. This time from 4:10pm to 5:25pm. The doctor appologized for the delay, citing the holiday yesterday as the problem. Apparently to make up for the time they take off, probably paid, they decide to overbook the next day and make all the pregnant women suffer while they try to play catch up. The doctor asked basic questions as he reviewed my files, and regurgitated the same info we've been hearing from everyone since our 20th week when the diagnosed the heart defect. Now understand, the whole point of the trip down to SLC was that the doctor was supposed to examine me so that we could accurately provide a timeline to come down to SLC for the delivery, and we were told all scheduling and appointments would be made so that we could provide our employers with the necessary dates for my FMLA and Jared's nights that would need to be covered while we were gone, and how soon this would be. From all the cardiac specialists we've talked to, this was supposed to be between 36 and 37 weeks to ensure that the baby was not born out of state and then need to be medically transported to SLC and then have them try to fit a surgery into their schedule and causing unnecessary complications or risk for our baby. We assume that the doctor has been through this process before since Primary Childrens referred us to him, and since the two hospitals are literally connected. Needless to say, we were flabergasted when the doctor told us, "Well, it's too early to tell anything and this point. We will plan on you coming up at 39 weeks, and play it by ear and see what happens over the next few weeks with your regular appointments with Dr. West in Boise." Excuse me?? see what happens? Thats what we were there for, because they would not schedule our induction, or set up a referral for the Ronald McDonald House, ect. without us making this trip down so he could examine me.....and he wants to play it by ear and didn't even do an examination? So we talked for a while and mentioned everything that all the other doctors had been preparing us for, the timelines they had mentioned including making sure that he wasn't born in boise to avoid any complications that could happen either way, and having to transport him to SLC. He metioned that he was also trying to give us the option to not interfere with our daily lives and that most families aren't as apt to come down that soon, which we appreciate, but was exactly the arguement we had made for not making the trip down in the first place, missing work, and having the echo, ultrasound, and examination done when they could have been done in Boise where the previous ones had been done, and sent to them. That, yes I understand but for goodness sake you think they'd all be in contact with each other and not confusing us and telling us different things when we have many other things that just add to our other worries and stress. The end result was " well I'll call you in a couple of days and set up a date. So we are planning to be in SLC about 37 weeks and have more detailed information and planning then. We were most upset because they made it seem like such a huge deal for us to come before our big trip, so we gathered some money and drove the whole 6 hours for them to tell us the same exact thing that our Boise doctors have talked with us and prepared us for, for months. So we will "play it by ear" and just plan to be there about 37 weeks unless something medically changes that. We are glad to be home, like I said disappointed in our trip and to be honest we were at the point in discussing if we still had time to choose a different hospital. I really hope that this all works out for the best and that our next trip for our final stay is a whole lot better than it was this time.
p.s. I am not 3 days away from being 33 weeks and our baby boy weighs 4 pounds 11 ounces and his ultrasound was so amazing I teared up a bit. To share a little secret, Jared and I both think he will have Jareds nose. Its crazy how much detail you can see in it. If I ever figure out how to post pictures with my blogs, I will post it.
Let the rest of our pregnancy be safe and healthy. Our good Lord is up there watching over us, I just know it and these are going to be the times that our family needs him the most. xoxo

Baby shower was a sucess

Well the baby shower was more than what we could have asked for. We had a huge bbq at Tulley Park in Meridian Idaho with all of our friends and family, just around 100 guests. Jareds brother Todd, his wife Alicia and their three kids Fletcher, Ethan and Calvin even made a trip down from Washington; they helped so much with cooking and organizing the shower it was absolutly wonderful!! We were SOOO happy they came, miss them already!
My parents and Jareds parents helped out and did almost everything, all the cooking, games, food, drinks, prizes, entertainment and everything else you can think of, they did it all and we are so very lucky to have so much support from the people that mean most to us! We love you guys!!
We finally got out of there about 9pm and we were just drained and so glad to be home. We waited to open our gifts at home and we were so blessed with all the wonderful things everyone got us. We got our stroller/car seat with some money that was donated and we have just about everything else except for the little odds and ends. only 7 more weeks till our little man is here!
We also got to meet the Bairds family, Robin & Bruce and kids. Precious alexa was a perfectly normal looking baby girl, as you could of read from our last post, their daughter had the same heart condition and will have the sma surgery that our son will have here in a couple weeks.
My baby sister kathryn was in town from california, which was great for her to be there for such an important day!Overall, the baby shower was more than what I could of asked for, and I send a big thank you to all our family who helped make it such an amazing day!

First Blog- August 24, 2011

So I have been following a blog from a very nice woman named Robyn who I have not actually had the pleasure of meeting in person just yet, just phone contact! Her blog of her family and her children growing up inspired me, therefore here is my first blog.
I am currently expecting my first child. March 1, 2011 confirmed Jared and I were going to be parents EDD October 28, 2011. June 8, 2011 we were so happy to tell the whole world that we were having a baby boy. I can't even begin to explain the way my heart melted not only seeing the boy I wanted on the ultrasound monitor, but the priceless look on Jared’s face. That was what people quote on quote call a Kodiak moment!! Before we found out the sex, the only part of pregnancy I felt was the nausea every day, all day! One day I woke up a little into my second trimester feeling great and have not been sick since (knock on wood) My belly came out of nowhere one day and our little guy moves around all day, every day and loves to kick me on my right side in my rib cage. I have some back aches and have got to experience that wonderful thing called heartburn. Overall, I've had a pretty good pregnancy so far....it could be a lot worse (:
Jared and I are currently planning our trip to Salt Lake City, Utah for the birth of our baby. 06/08/2011 was also a heartbreaking day for our family. During the ultrasound, the tech found a heart defect known as Transposition of the great arteries, a congenital heart defect in which the two major vessels that carry blood away from the heart -- the aorta and the pulmonary artery -- are switched (transposed) We have gone to all of our visits with the pediatric cardiologist Michael Womack t St.Lukes downtown who has completed two echoes of our babies heart over the past 8 weeks or so. He has confirmed and diagnosed the heart defect and has referred us to Children’s Primary Hospital in UT. My OB/GYN Timothy West, Dr. Womack and all the staff at St.Lukes have been very supportive, caring, comforting to us and our family and giving us the assurance of how common this heart defect is and the 95% recovery rate. We are waiting to hear from the children’s hospital for scheduling, estimating us to be there around 36 weeks of pregnancy, although we are really hoping to be there when I am around 38 weeks. This has been hard on Jared and me emotionally and slowly becoming hard financially. I think about my precious baby and all the things that are going to be going on his first week of life, all of the time. I have been able to finally accept that everything is in God’s hands and he will watch over our baby and our family and keep all of us close in his heart. I am thankful that this is something that they were able to catch at an early 20 weeks and have us prepared to have us at a specialty hospital with all the best doctors and have this corrected. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by and now thinking in just as little as 8 1/2 weeks we will be welcoming our amazing baby boy into our world.
I will keep our blog updated while we are in UT and how everything is going. Keep us in your prayers, please and thank you <3
Baby shower is this Saturday, I am really excited. We have decided to have a co-ed BBQ with all of our friends and family, and the best part is my baby sister Kathryn will be flying in from California for my baby shower. She’s my best friend, my baby sister and she’s my number one!! Can't wait to pick her up from the airport tomorrow.
Good night!! (: (: