Christmas in White Castle

We are in Louisiana for Christmas and Sunday we went to my aunt's house for Christmas with my mom's family. We had a great time visiting everyone and Charlie enjoyed meeting the family for the first time. Here is a picture of my immediate family with my grandparents.

Maternity pictures

I finally got the rest of the maternity pictures I took back in September. I think they came out really good and I'm very pleased. If you care to look, feel free.

Maternity Pictures

And the diagnosis is...

Reflux, just as we suspected. Not a shocker since most babies have it. We're going to start him on some Prevacid and see how that works. Anyway, he did great during the procedure and sucked down the contrast with no problems at all. Only got fussy during the very end.

Now onto the fun part. Pictures!






And his 2 month picture. (I will start a link on the right side of the page just like my baby bump so you can see how he grows.)

2 months old

Charlie is 2 months old today! I can't believe it. This time has just flown by. We had his two month checkup today, which included his shots. :( He did really well, and so far, no ill side effects. He now weighs 11 pounds 12 ounces (50%) and is 22.5 inches long (25%). So he is growing great! We have been thinking that he has reflux and that is getting slightly worse. We talked to the pedi about it and she wants us to do an upper GI to see if and how bad the reflux is. It's an outpatient procedure and I'm waiting on a phone call to let me know when that will happen. Should be sometime this week. If he does have reflux, he will be on some medicine to help it. So we'll see.

In other developments, Charlie has started to smile more and we've gotten some great pictures. Here are a few:







Isn't he cute!

Santa pictures

My sister and her family came to visit during Thanksgiving week, so we used that opportunity to take pictures with Santa with all three kids. I highly recommend going sooner rather than later if you plan on taking pictures with Santa. We walked right up and didn't have to wait in line. It was great. Charlie did great and slept through the whole thing. He is wearing the outfit that Jeff wore for his first Christmas. Although Jeff was a lot bigger than Charlie when he was born (11 pounds compared to 6.9 pounds) it still fit. It was a little long, but you can't even tell. I think he looks super cute! Kirsten and Grayson did great with Santa as well. You never know at their age if they will be scared or not. Then we took a few of the 3 grandkids together.

Road Trip

The weekend of November 20 we went on our first road trip to Fredericksburg with Charlie and the 2 dogs. It was Jeff's dad's 60th birthday on Friday and Clayton was flying in, so we also had a baby shower for him (his wife, Kasuen couldn't fly in from California since she is too far along in her pregnancy) on Saturday. We survived the road trip just fine and only had to stop twice. It was a good practice run for Christmas and we fit everything in the Acadia and still had plenty of room. Here are the pictures from the events:

Random things

Just a little update on how we are doing and what's been going on around here. Last week I had my checkup with my surgeon which mainly consisted of an xray and looking at my incision. My incision is healing quite well and everything looked great on xray. Till the next day when I got a phone call that said there was a pocket of air in my lung and they weren't sure if it was a pneumothorax or not. :( So I had to go back this Tuesday for another xray to see if was resolving or not. Thanksfully, it was, so no treatment needed and I don't need to see him again unless I need surgery again. My next regular checkup is Dec 14 or 15 for an MRI of my leg and a ct scan.

Charlie is continuing to get bigger and cuter every day. He now weighs 11 pounds! We are getting a little more sleep at night and going a little longer between feedings. We are starting to see a few more smiles so I don't think it will be long before he will be smiling at us all the time. We are getting out a little more and getting more comfortable doing that. We went to NASA for an awards ceremony to watch Jeff receive an award for all his hard work during the last shuttle mission. (More to come on that later. Waiting for Jeff to write that post!).

Tomorrow we are going on our first road trip to Fredericksburg to visit Jeff's parents. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Charlie finally gets to meet his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Clayton. But it's a 5 hour drive with a 7 week old baby and 2 dogs, so it will be interesting. Will let you know how it goes... :)

1 month checkup

We went to the doctor this morning for Charlie's 1 month checkup. Things have been going really well, so we didn't have many questions. The main thing we were wondering about was his weight. I know that he has been eating well and therefore growing, but had no idea how much weight he has gained. We figured he had gained about 2 pounds since birth, which would be around 8 pounds 7-8 ounces. Boy were we off! He weighs a whopping 9 pounds 10 ounces! That's over 3 pounds in a month! What a piggy! He was in the 10% for his weight and now he's in the 50th%. He's catching up. His length is 20.5 inches (18 1/2 at birth), still in the 10% there. Hopefully he won't stay short! We think he has a mild case of reflux, but nothing major and no need for meds at this point. We mainly keep him elevated when he sleeps and that seems to help him sleep for longer periods of time. (I REALLY like this, especially at night!). All in all, a good appointment. Next one is in 1 month.

1 Month Old

Charlie is 1 month old today. We can't believe it! Here is his picture from birth and today:

Happy Halloween!

We are enjoying Charlie's first Halloween by handing out candy and watching the Texas game. Pretty quiet, but nice. Hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween! Here are some pictures:

Charlie in his outfit Aunt Carrie got him:


Where's Charlie?:


There he is!:


Charlie, Jeff and Jack O'Lantern's:


Lauri and Charlie:


Family Portrait:

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to a pumpkin patch down the street at a local church. We took Charlie's pictures there. He slept through the entire thing! This may have been for the best since we could put him anywhere to get a picture.

Ballunar Fest

Yesterday we ventured out to the Ballunar Fest that NASA holds every year. They have a bunch of hot air balloons, food, booths and some entertainment. It was our first official outing with Charlie and I think he did pretty good. He slept through most of it! It got kinda cold in the evening, but he was really warm wrapped up in his blankets. We all wished we had adult sized blankets we could swaddle in too!

Other than that, we have mainly just been hanging out at the house. I'm getting better every day and Charlie is growing so fast! My mom left this morning, but Jeff has the next week and a half off of work so that should give me plenty of time to recouperate and be ready when I'm on my own all day. We might venture out some more this week (mainly to run errands), so hopefully the weather will cooperate. I would also like to take Charlie's picture in a pumpkin patch, so that is on the to do list this week as well. Anyway, here are more pictures. Can anyone tell who Charlie looks like now? Still not sure...

Due Date

Today was my official due date, but Charlie is already 3 weeks old! It's been a crazy 3 weeks, but wouldn't change any of it. He really is a great baby. Very laid back, only cries when he needs a diaper changed or is hungry. He eats really well and I'm very impressed how well he did switching from breast to bottle and back again. Couldn't have asked for anything better. I've been home from the hospital since Saturday afternoon. I've gotten my pain under control with the oral pain meds and not experiencing the nausea and vomiting that I had after my last surgery. I'm hoping that trend will continue. My mom is still here and plans on staying through the weekend. Jeff's parent's left on Monday. All of them were such a big help and we couldn't have done it without them. (Especially the cooking and stocking of our freezer!) Luckily this week we don't have any appointments so we can take it easy and rest at home. We may even venture out at the end of the week to do a little shopping! We'll see though. One day at a time. We have some new pictures of Charlie, which I'll try to put up a little later. Hope everyone has a great day!

Home

I am home. :)

Today might be the day...

I get to go home! My chest tubes were pulled this morning at 9am. I am waiting on a chest xray to see if my lungs look ok for me to go home. My epidural was capped off and now I'm on oral pain meds. This is the test to see if the pain is under control with the oral meds rather than the epidural. The rest of the tubes will be pulled out sporadically during the day till eventually I will have none. Then home for me. I'm getting really sleepy right now, so I think I will try to take a nap. Will update later on...

Day 2 Post Op

Today is Day 2 Post Op and I'm doing really well. My pain is well under control with the epidural (unlike my previous surgeries) and I'm getting up and walking around, doing my breathing exercises and my appetite is slowly coming back. I was not a happy camper when I got to my room and they told me I could only have ice chips till 6:30 the next morning! I had had nothing to eat or drink since midnight on Tuesday and couldn't get anything but ice chips till Wednesday morning! Someone needs to change these rules. That sucked! But alas, I survived. Jeff stayed with me the first night and left around lunch time to go back to the house to help his parents out with Charlie. My mom and my dad hung out with me during the day. My mom spent the night with me last night and she quickly realized that you can't get any sleep in a hospital. (She actually had it pretty good, because the night before was even worse with the interruptions). She got a nap this morning while my dad and Jeff were here. My dad left this morning, so now my mom and Jeff are alternating staying with me. It's kind of a lose/lose situation because you get no sleep in the hospital room but if you go home, you have a baby that wants to eat every 1.5-2 hours! So anyway, my chest tubes still have a slight air leak so those can't come out until the leak is gone and I drain only 300 cc's in a 24 hour period. I'm hoping they will come out tomorrow. Then I will have to get my pain under control with oral pain meds and tolerate those without any nausea/vomiting. I'm hoping for a Sunday discharge date, but we'll see. I miss my baby! I am hoping to get a short visit from him later on, but haven't heard from home to know.

So I guess that's about all. This surgery has been so much better than the previous ones because my epidural worked right the first time. Everything was pretty smooth after that. That's all for now. Will try to update soon!

In Recovery

I just got to see Lauri in the Post-Op Recovery room, and she is looking good. She says the epidural is working much better this time around! She is still tired from the ordeal and all the pain medications, but is doing well enough that they will be moving her to a regular room here at MD Anderson within the hour.

A note on Recovery

I forgot to mention - the Surgeon believes Lauri will remain in the hospital for the usual ~5 days or so. Removing the lower lobe should not effect her recovery time in the hospital. The fact that they worked in the same area as before (repeat surgery) is more of a factor for the extended stay in the hospital.

Out of Surgery

Lauri is out of surgery! We just talked to the Surgeon, and he reports he only found that one tumor - he didn't find anything unexpected. The surgeon removed Lauri's lower lobe in order to obtain "negative margin." He was able to save the upper lobe of Lauri's left lung (i.e. he didn't have to remove the entire left lung). Negative margin is important because it means he got the entire tumor, and didn't leave any cancer cells behind to start new tumors later. A post-op biopsy of the removed mass will be necessary to make sure the margins are negative, but the Surgeon gave Lauri the best chance for success by taking the entire lower lobe.

Lauri has shown remarkable healing from the previous surgeries, regaining very good lung function in the past. The surgeon believes that assuming she continues her good healing, she will not even notice that the lower lobe is gone.

It will take time to heal, but Lauri is headed in the right direction. Here's hoping we don't have to do this again!

In Surgery

Lauri was wheeled into the operating room this morning at 8:00 am. Surgery was scheduled to begin at 8:30. Lauri was in good spirits, all things considered. She was really missing Charlie the most. MD Anderson is the only hospital in the Houston Medical Center that is still allowing children under 12 years of age to visit, so I'm hoping to bring Charlie by to see her later this week.

Yesterday, Lauri and I made a lot of noise about how her epidurals haven't been working all too well for the past three surgeries. The Anesthesia Team got the message, and they brought one of their head Thoracic Anesthesiologists to come work with Lauri. She claims her epidurals "always work", which means this one won't (don't tell Lauri... :) ). Seriously, they will fix her up right this time, and hopefully we'll be out of the hospital soon, not to return for a long time...

Lauri's surgery is supposed to last between 2-3 hours, more towards 3+ hours since the surgeon has to work through scar tissue from the previous surgery. She should be out around lunch time...

Surgery tomorrow

My surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. I have to be there at 6am. Bright and early! I think this means that I will be the first case. I'm hoping so, since I can't eat or drink anything after midnight tonight. I think I can handle the eating thing, but no water is going to be hard. Especially since I get up every 2-3 hours to feed Charlie. But I'm glad I will be there first thing. My parents and Jeff's parents have arrived, so we will have the homefront covered and the hospital covered. Jeff will be going back and forth. We met with the surgeon today and everything will be pretty much the same as last time. The tumor did not grow since my last scan a month ago, so that is good news. I'm hoping they can get the epidural in right this time (it made my entire left arm numb right after surgery and fell out on about day 3 with my chest tubes still in. Ouch!) So I've mentioned this to the team so they will not make that mistake again. Jeff will update whenever he gets a chance, so be patient. :) Here's to being cancer free...for the 4th time!

The first week...

We had a pretty busy first week home, hence the no new postings here. We got home on Saturday afternoon and by Sunday, all our family had left. On Monday morning we had an appointment with our pediatrician. Charlie's bilirubin (jaundice level) had been mod/high when we left on Saturday, so we had it checked again Mon. We got a phone call around 3pm saying that his bilirubin level was too high and he needed to be admitted to the hospital to receive phototherapy (lights the babies are put under to get rid of the bilirubin). This was unexpected and not what we wanted to do in our limited time we had together until my surgery, but it needed to be done. So off we went to the hospital. They put him under the lights all night and fortunately his level came down enough that we were able to go home the next afternoon (Tues). On Wed we had an appointment with our OB in Pearland so we used that opportunity to drop by Jeff's grandparents house so they could see their first great-grandchild. We also got to see 4 of Jeff's aunt's while we were there, so it was a big day! Thursday we stayed home and Friday I had appointments at MD Anderson all day, so Jeff stayed home with Charlie while I went to the hospital. We all survived! Saturday we relaxed at home and watched football all day. It was bittersweet since Texas won, but LSU did not. But we had fun dressing Charlie up in his different paraphenalia! He looked pretty cute. We have another appointment with the pedi tomorrow morning and my mom will be coming into town. Tues I have my pre-op appointments at MD Anderson and Jeff's parents and my dad will be coming in to town. Then Wed is my surgery. I should be in the hospital for 5-7 days. Not sure if Charlie will be able to come visit, but I'm hoping he can for at least a little bit. We will see. So anyway, last week was hectic and this coming week is no exception. But it should get better after that. Thanks to everyone for all the well wishes, food and visits. We really appreciate it! Now here are some pictures:

Click here:

Finally Home!

Just a quick post to say that Lauri, Charlie, and I returned home from the hospital at around 4:30pm today. Everybody's doing great! I'm just glad to not be "sleeping" in the hospital. While I know I won't be doing much of it right now at home, the little I get will be SO much better on a real bed. Those contraptions they call guest beds in the hospital are terrible!

Glad to be home!

One Day Old

The family continues to do very well. Charlie has been taking to breastfeeding like a seasoned veteran. He's been very well behaved, and has been resting up after his big day yesterday.

Lauri is feeling good and moving around well. We got to see the Pediatrician today, who reports that Charlie is in good health. He gets a hearing test later tonight. We should be heading home tomorrow.

We added a few more pictures to the online library linked in yesterday's post (below, click on the slideshow). He's so cute!

It's a Boy!

He's here! Charles "Charlie" Robert Mauldin made his debut today at 6:25 pm, October 1, 2009. He is a handsome little man, weighing in at 6 lbs 9 oz, and is 18.5 inches long.

Lauri did an outstanding job getting him to make his grand entrance. Lauri was started on Pitocin at 2:10pm to kick off the contractions that would eventually lead to delivery. At the time, she was a tight 2 cm dialated. The doctor broke her water around 3:15 pm.

By 4:15, the contractions had become intense enough that Lauri chose to get an epidural for the pain. The epidural was recommended for multiple reasons, but the biggest was to allow Lauri to rest a bit before the big pushing later on. The epidural was also going to help her relax from the intense contractions. The epidural was started at 4:45pm (30 min procedure). By the time I returned to the room (5:15pm), Lauri was already at 6-7cm dialated and things were moving very fast! She got the epidural just in time!

By 5:55pm, Lauri was at 10 cm dialated, and began pushing. Charlie moved through really well, and Lauri delivered him into this world at 6:25. What a day!

Mother, Father, and Baby are all resting in the post-partem room here at Clear Lake Regional. We are hoping to get home in time to give Charlie his first glimpse of college football on Saturday. We live in Texas, best to get him started early!!

Baby Status - 3pm

Lauri was started on the drug Pitocin at 2:10pm today. Progress is expected to be slow as she dialates to 4 cm. Then from 4 cm to 10 cm, progress is expected to increase. Still many hours away at this point! Lauri is hanging in there just fine. We'll keep posting as best we can later today with more updates...and hopefully some pictures later tonight!!

Finally in a Room

Lauri and I finally got a room at the Inn this morning around 1:45am. The nurses started her on a drug called Cervadil at 3:30am this morning with the goal of softening and ripening the cervix for labor.

It turned out our OB was also at the hospital last night delivering another baby, so she stopped by around 3:00am to say hello. She returned at 8:30am and decided to remove the Cervadil and go with another drug that basically does the same thing, just quicker. Things are pressing just fine, just a long way to go.

Lauri is doing great. Her greatest obstacle has been lack of sleep so far - no painful contractions yet...

Still aiming to have the baby today, but it may slip to tomorrow due to the late arrival at the hospital.

Still waiting...

Still waiting on the room. The hospital will call when a room opens up. Apparently people who spontaneously go into labor have priority. Pshah! Whatever. Anyway, I'm supposed to relax and try and get some rest while I wait patiently for the phone to ring sometime during the night. Easier said then done. So we wait...

Baby update

I was supposed to be admitted tonight at 8:00 to get things rolling, but they are trying to get patients out, so my room is not ready yet. I will call again at 10:30 and see if I have a room by then. I sure hope I do! Will try to keep this updated as best as we can. Stay tuned!

The New Ride

FINALLY! Lauri and I finally went out and got a car for our family to be! The new ride seats 4 (2 adults, and 2 GI Joe action figures).... Seriously, I finally got my new Camaro!!

I've been saving up for a 2010 Camaro SS for a long time, and my day finally came on Friday! Lauri and I took a spin over to the Chevy dealership and picked up a new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS/RS. I was able to get the price I was working towards, so we didn't have to break the bank. While the timing with the baby coming may make some wonder if we should visit a psych ward instead of a delivery room on Wednesday night, we had this in the plans for some time. My Dad got his Camaro at the same time I was being born into this world, so I made it a tradition and did the same for my son. I had a blast riding in my Dad's Camaro growing up, and I hope my son has a blast in both of them! This is actually my dream car, and I've been tracking it's development since before we got pregnant. I'm telling you, this purchase has been in the works for a long time...

The car is a rocket. Tons of fun to drive (6 speed manual transmission with 427 horsepower has a lot to do with it)!

And hey, it even has the latch hookups in the backseat to setup a car seat for the kid...

3rd and final baby shower

Last Sunday I had my 3rd and final baby shower here in League City. It was given by my friends, Dee Ann, Amanda, Heidi and Benedicte. We had a great time and got lots of great presents. :) Dee Ann was kind enough to take pictures. Enjoy!

Maternity pictures-Updated to add 3 more pictures (and make the other ones bigger.)

A couple of weekends ago, Jeff and I went to Austin so my friend Shea could take some maternity pictures of me. We had a great time and she took a ton of great pictures. She sent me some of them so I thought I would share them with you. I think they turned out awesome and can't wait to see the rest. Let me know what you think.

36 weeks=1 week and counting

Had my appointments with high risk and regular OBs today. Got to see the baby one more time before next week. Everything looks good still, head down and in the correct position. Measuring in at a whopping 6 pounds 10 ounces! I am dilated about the same, but a little more effaced, so we are making some progress. I will see my regular OB one more time next Wed before I go in that night just to get checked and see where we will start from. I'm starting to feel the effects of being 9 months pregnant at this point. Lots of Braxton Hicks (like practice contractions), hard time sleeping at night and feeling every little movement he makes. We have almost everything ready, just a few loose ends to tie up, then we will be set. Can't wait!

OB update

Just got back from the OB. Everything is looking great. I gained about 2 pounds since last week. My group beta strep test came back negative, so that means I do not have to have antibiotics before delivery. Yay! I'm a teensy bit dilated and halfway effaced at this point, so my body is getting prepared. We have cancelled the amnio for next week, but I will still see the high risk doctor for a scan. We are going to go ahead with the induction at 37 weeks, which will be the night of Sept. 30. Baby will hopefully make his appearance on Oct. 1. That's in 2 weeks! Lots to do before then, but we will be ready!

MD Anderson Update

I had my 6 week follow up CT scan yesterday and today Jeff and I met with my oncologist for the results. The good news is there is still only the one tumor. Nothing new that they can see so far. The other news is that is slightly bigger than before, but still manageable with surgery. So the plan is (according to us and oncologist) to induce at 37 weeks (which would be Sept 30, with the assumption that I would have him on Oct. 1) and then have surgery sometime following that. We are waiting on the surgeon's team to schedule my pulmonary function tests (which are required before each surgery) and a surgery date based on delivery date of Oct. 1. So we are guessing sometime in mid-October that I would be having surgery. That's about all the news we have so far. I meet with my regular OB tomorrow afternoon and we'll discuss this plan with her and see if she is on board with it. I currently have an amniocentesis scheduled for next Wednesday to check for the baby's lung maturity, (with the assumption that if his lungs were ready, we would induce that day-36 weeks) but not sure if that's still necessary if we are going to wait an additional week to induce. I will find out tomorrow. I did get my steroid shots at 33 weeks to boost his lung maturity, so I feel confident that his lungs will be ready for an induction at 37 weeks. Oncologist and Jeff and I are thinking a week more inside will do a lot more for baby, then getting me a week closer to surgery. So that's the game plan so far. Will update when we know more.

Louisiana Baby Shower

Labor Day weekend, I made the trip back home to Louisiana (by myself) for the baby shower that my sister threw for me. Jeff didn't get to make the trip because he was working the mission, but I survived the drive on my own. I had a great time getting to see all my family and friends and we got lots of great things.

Here are the pictures

Nielson Family...sort of

In November 2007, we got a knock on our door from a guy that worked for a company called Arbitron. They are sorta like Nielson with ratings and things like that. He asked if we wanted to carry around some meters, earn money and be part of the ratings for tv and radio. This sounded like my dream job. Getting paid to watch tv! And maybe helping the shows that I like stay on the air. Sold! Sign us up. So we got set up with these nifty "meters" which we renamed beepers, cause that's what they looked like.

Meters:


All we had to do was wear them from the time we woke up to the time we went to bed. Then we put them in some chargers over night so they could recharge the battery and then download the info.

Meters in their overnight chargers:



Easy right? Well, it was pretty easy, but kinda got to be a pain to have to wear these beepers everywhere. You couldn't set them down, they always had to be in motion, otherwise they would shut down and wouldn't record anything. And the longer you had it on, the more points you earned, which dictated how much money you would get for the month. Now, it wasn't a ton of money, but we did get little bonuses here and there and we each got our own checks, so it did add up. All in all, it was a fun experience. Only a few people knew about it, because you were supposed to keep it a secret that you had them so no one could take advantage of the fact that you had these and use it to their benefit. IE if you knew someone that worked for a radio station, they could try to get their radio station around you as much as possible so they could get more ratings. Whatever. We didn't know anyone that works for a tv or radio station, so we really didn't see that as a big deal. But anyway, you can do this for up to 2 years. We were coming up on our 2 year mark in November, but I got a call around the beginning of September saying that they are leaving the Houston Market, so we are done. So I packed up the meters and the chargers and sent them back. All in all it was a fun experience and not one many people get to do. We like to think that some of the shows that were in danger of being cancelled, were not because of us!

Almost ready...

Last week we got some more things done in the baby's room. We hung the quilt and some shelves. Getting close!

Who would have thought...

that keeping a '79 Camaro in your garage would warrant a free pizza? But that's just what happened on Wednesday. I heard that the founder of Papa John's pizza had sold his old Camaro in the 70's to start up his pizza business and that he had recently found the exact one that he sold all these years ago. I think he sold it for around $2500 or so and bought it back for $250,000! In honor of that, he said that anyone that drove to a Papa John's store in their Camaro would get a free large 1 topping pizza. So I informed Jeff of this and he fired up the car, drove to the store and brought us back some dinner. They even took his picture. Pretty cool!

More on Baby...

Wednesday I had my regular 32 week checkup. Everything is still looking good. I only gained 1 pound since the previous appointment 2 weeks before (I was happy about that!). We have started a plan since we are getting down to weeks before delivery. Next week I will get the steroid shots, which are 2 shots given 24 hours apart. Those will be given at the hospital on Thursday and Friday of next week, but it will be a quick get the shot and then leave, no biggie. I will get my ct scan at MD Anderson on Sept 14, with results given to me on Sept. 15. I am supposed to also meet with my surgeon that day, but that has not been scheduled yet. I'm still waiting on that one. I have a scheduled 34 week checkup on Sept. 16. We have tentatively scheduled my amnio for Sept 23 with the high risk doctor, with another appointment with my regular OB that day as well for my 36 week appointment. This could also be induction day depending on the amnio results. Jeff and I (and I think my oncologist is as well), are thinking that we should wait until I'm at least 37 weeks before we induce. The induction would start on the night of Sept 30, with delivery by Oct. 1. Wow! That's not too far away. So we have narrowed down the delivery to a week. My OB is on call on Thursday's so she would like to start my induction on a Wednesday night, either Sept 23 or Sept 30. We won't know for sure until after my ct scan results and/or amnio results.

We did get to have an ultrasound yesterday afternoon. Good news is that he is no longer breech and is head down. Yay! Let's hope he stays that way. He is also measuring about a week and a half bigger than my dates, but that is fine since he will be coming early, I would rather him be a bit bigger. His estimated weight is 4 pounds 10 ounces. My amniotic fluid level is normal as well. All in all, good news. I think that is about all the news I have at this point. We are in the home stretch now...

Grandpa Bratton's 85th Birthday

Wednesday was Grandpa Bratton's birthday (Jeff's grandpa). We went to a local cajun restaurant called Floyd's and had a wonderful feast. Then we went back to their house to have cake and ice cream and open presents. Aunt Nancy made a beautiful and yummy chocolate cake for the occassion. Grandpa looked great and we all had a great time. Here are a few pictures:

Grandpa at the ready!:


Blowing out the candles:


Yummy cake!:


Grandpa and Jeff:


Grandma Bratton:



And ME at 31 weeks!:

Baby Update

Just a quick update on the plan so far. Since we are going to have to induce the baby, more than likely before he is "finished cooking" I want to take every precaution I can to make sure he is as healthy as he can be so he doesn't wind up in the NICU. White males have a reputation in the NICU, we call them "wimpy, white boys" and tend to need a little extra help the earlier they are. So to try to prevent this, I am going to get some steroid shots to boost his lung maturity. I will get these around 33 weeks. This will give plenty of time for them to kick in. I have a ct scan scheduled at MD Anderson for Sept. 14 (I'll be 34 weeks then), with Dr appointments the following day to discuss results and surgery. The outcome of the ct scan determines if we need to press for delivery sooner rather than later, or we can wait on surgery until around mid October. We plan on doing an amnio around 36weeks to see if his lungs are mature and possibly deliver then if his lungs are mature, or if not, wait until I am 37 weeks. Clear as mud? :) The only other kink in this plan is that currently, the baby is breech, which means butt first. Not exactly the position we need him to be in. But he has time to turn and we are praying he figures it out and does it on his own soon! If he is still breech when we need to deliver, I will have to have a c-section, which is not ideal since I'm having another major surgery 1-2 weeks after delivery. So we are REALLY hoping he turns! But no matter what way he decides to come is fine with us. We will work around him. We are getting really excited and I know these next weeks will fly by. He'll be here before we know it!

A house full...

This past weekend, we had Jeff's family come in town for my baby shower and then a BBQ at our house. His brother arrived on Thursday and his sister in law, parents, grandparents and sister and brother in law arrived on Friday. We had the shower on Saturday early afternoon, then when that was over, the Bratton girls came over to our house to meet the rest of the boys and have a good BBQ and a chance to have a mini reunion. It turned out great! We had about 27 people at the BBQ and Jeff cooked his famous ribs (along with some chicken and sausage). We had tons of food and great company. I am so happy so many people were able to join us. It's nice to get the family together every once and a while. So I have two slide shows. One from the shower and one from the BBQ.








And here is a link to the pictures Kasuen took

News from the Doctor

We just got a call from my oncologist. Good news, I am considered a "surgical candidate", which means NO CHEMO! Yeah! She wants to do another ct scan in 6 weeks, which will be on September 14. Then we will see both her and my surgeon the following day for results and a plan. I go back to see my high risk doctor on Friday to get his input on the baby side. So as of right now, we are continuing with the plan to deliver at 37 weeks and then surgery shortly thereafter. All in all, good news. We'll keep you posted as we know more.

Planning Birthdays...

Lauri and I met with our OB Gyn today. This was our 28 week checkup, which came with good timing to discuss the latest cancer news and how it affects baby plans.

The short story is that we are going to plan for a delivery at 37 weeks, with a possibility to slide delivery up to 36 weeks. Delivery at 36 weeks would only occur if tests indicate that the baby's lungs are mature enough for delivery. This test would occur at 35 weeks. Basically, if the test looks good, then press with delivery at 36 weeks, if not, then wait to deliver at 37 weeks.

Lauri would be cleared for surgery as early as the day after delivery. Fluid and blood volume changes after delivery are not considered to be an issue for the surgery. We also found out that all of the typical pain medications given for thoracic surgery recovery are fine to take for breastfeeding mothers.

As for chemo during pregnancy, we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Chemo during pregnancy is not unheard of, but we are waiting to hear from our MD Anderson team to decide if it is even necesary.

We are back on the schedule with our High Risk OB Gyn. We will be scheduling an appointment with him as soon as possible for his view. He will be the one conducting the lung maturity tests. He will also make the call on the timing of delivery. We had originally been released from the High Risk folks, but cancer has a way of changing things...

More News from the Cancer Front

The results of the CT scan taken yesterday are in, and it shows only one tumor in Lauri's left lung. Of all the bad news, this is the best we could get. Our Oncologist looked back through old CT scans from December and August 2008 and, now that she knows exactly where to look, she can see the tumor back in August of 2008.

The tumor is about 3 cm in size, located in the middle of the left lung. The growth rate has changed since December of 2008. The growth rate was very slow from August to December 2008, but has since increased in order for the tumor to reach its current size. Lauri's body has changed a good bit since December, with pregnancy and its associated hormones. Lauri has also suspended her anti-fungal supplement regimine during pregnancy. Both of these changes will revert back to normal after our son is born, so we expect to be back in a slow growth environment in the long term.

For the short term, we are focusing on several options. We will either proceed with surgery after the baby is born, or we will proceed with chemotherapy either before or after the baby is born, followed by surgery. The choice of which option to follow is being discussed by our Oncologist and Surgeon to determine if surgery without chemotherapy is viable considering the tumor's growth rate.

Chemotherapy before the baby is born is not preferred. While studies have shown that chemo treatment is possible in pregnant mothers without impacting the baby, it is a risk we are not excited to take. We meet with our OB Gyn next week to discuss "no earlier than" dates for the baby's delivery. This date will help us structure surgery and chemo plans, whatever they may be.

We are optimistic about our current condition. Only one tumor to deal with indicates the disease has not spread out of control. The tumor's age also indicates this is not new growth, but instead part of the original round of tumors that we missed the first two times. This may not be the last tumor we have to deal with, but it is certainly easier to deal with them one at a time.

We expect to hear back from the Surgery and Oncology teams by the first week of August. We'll let you know what we hear!

Evandog Holyear

*Edited to include pictures. Please don't laugh at him. It wasn't his fault...*



Yesterday I took Bromley to the groomer's to get a much needed haircut. I was expecting him to be finished around 5:30, so when the phone rang at 5:20, I was sure it was the groomer's telling me he was ready to be picked up. It was in fact the groomer's, but instead of telling me he was ready, they told me that while he was getting done, his ear "accidentally" got lacerated and they weren't sure if he needed a suture or not, so our vet had been notified and he was on his way there. WHAT? This has never happened before so we were not sure what to do. We called the vet and spoke with the Doctor. He was not actively bleeding, but he was going to require some sutures, so she would like to sedate him to do it, so he would probably need to spend the night. Poor Bromley! She would let us know if there was any problems, but we could pick him up anytime the next day. So after MY doctor's appointment today, we had time to spare, so we came back home and picked him up. We weren't real sure what to expect since his grooming was cut short to go the vet. The vet came out and explained what she did and gave us some antibiotics, pain meds and neosporin type stuff to put on his ear. She had to shave some of the hair to suture it, so he kinda looks like his ear got clipped. Not very attractive and they were working on his head when the "incident" happened, so his face is still long, but his body hair is short. So he sorta looks like a lion with a clipped ear. But he's feeling pretty good and not bothering it too much, so hopefully it will heal well and his hair will cover it soon. We'll see...


Full body shot:



A closeup:





The Lion:

Another bump in the road

Lauri had a checkup with MD Anderson this morning. Our Oncologist has been following Lauri's condition with X-Rays while she has been pregnant. So far, the X-rays, taken every three months, have been clear. Today was, unfortunately, a different story.

Our Oncologist has found what she believes to be a nodule on Lauri's left lung. The official radiology report was not available this morning, but she conferred with several colleagues, and they believe the nodule is real, however, additional scans are needed to confirm. We are going back to MD Anderson this afternoon to have a CT scan of Lauri's chest to determine if the nodule is indicative of cancer, and if there are additional nodules that didn't show up on the x-ray. We have discussed the CT scan option with our Oncologist and OB Gyn, and both are in agreement that the scan will present no danger to our unborn son.

Forward plans will take shape once we have the CT scan results. If there is only one nodule, and it does not appear to be growing rapidly, then Lauri will continue untreated through pregnancy, with likely an induced labor at around 37 weeks to make way for surgical resection as soon as Lauri is healthy enough to support. If the CT scan shows multiple nodules, the path forward becomes less clear. In the multiple nodules case, we must weigh the option of chemotherapy treatment while Lauri is still carrying our son versus chemotherapy immediately after his birth.

We have enjoyed the best days of our lives together watching Lauri's belly grow with our son these past 6 months. We look forward to the joy of his birth coming, possibly sooner than anticipated, later this fall. We are doing our best to stay strong for his sake even though the news today was not good. We knew the risks of proceeding with pregnancy with Lauri's history of cancer recurrence. We have no doubt that we made the right decision.

This is another bump in the road. We have a plan forward, we have the best support group of friends and family one could ask for, and we have the best doctors in the business working the problem. This fall will be a difficult march, but we will be just fine.

Love shines brightest in the dark.

Grayson's birthday party

Here are the pictures from Grayson's 1st birthday. As you will see, he didn't enjoy is cake all that much.

Dr. appointment

I had a doctor's appointment today. I was supposed to have it last week at 24 weeks, but it had to be rescheduled to today. For those that don't know, pregnant women have to take a "glucose tolerance test" sometime around mid pregnancy to check for gestational diabetes. It's usually around 24-28 weeks. You basically drink this stuff that is like super sugared koolaid, wait an hour, and then they draw your blood and check your glucose level. If it's high or boderline, you have to do a 3 hour test. Not fun. Well, today was mine and they didn't tell me. So I ate lunch right before going to the appointment. And then I drank the "koolaid", waited an hour, and got my blood drawn. I'm hoping to call tomorrow to get the results and I'm hoping that I passed. I told my doc that I didn't know I was taking the test today, so if I fail, maybe I can just repeat the 1 hour and not have to suffer through the 3 hour one. We shall see. But other than that, the appointment went well. Baby is measuring right about 25-26 weeks (I'm 25 weeks today), so that is good. Heartbeat was nice and strong. He actually kicked when she put the doppler on my stomach. I think he was jittery from all that sugar I just drank! My next ultrasound will be around 32 weeks. I have gained a total of 24 pounds so far! Sheesh, I think that's a lot. But she didn't seem concerned. I will see her again at 28 weeks. I'm still feeling really good, still tired and starting to get a few aches and pains, but nothing too terrible yet. Good thing since I have a ways to go! ;)

This past weekend we went to Louisiana for a few days. We spent some time with my mom and then celebrated 2 birthdays on Saturday. My nephew turned 1 and my brother in law had a birthday celebration as well. And today is my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday, Daddy! We're going back to Louisiana on Friday night to celebrate with him. But just for the night.

Anyway, that's about all I have for now. Will post some pictures later on of the party. Oh, my nephew took some of his first steps at the party, too! Very exciting to do that in front of all our family! And 25 week belly picture is up, too.

Progress

We made some progress in the baby's room this weekend. Jeff got it painted and we put up the crib! :) We still have the daybed in there and we will until August because we have people coming over and they need somewhere to sleep. But after that, we will move it upstairs over the garage and put the crib in it's place. But here are some pictures to give you an idea of what it looks like so far.


Before paint:




After paint:




Before:




After:




Crib:

The month of June so far...

I guess it's time to update. The first weekend in June we went home to Louisiana for my niece's first dance recital. She did really well and looked so cute onstage dancing with her daddy. Not a dry eye in the row! (Can't blame it on pregnancy, cause I probably would have cried anyway!) It was so cute! Unfortunately, I have no pictures because we couldn't take flash photography during the performance, but I really enjoyed it. We also got a car load of baby stuff from my sister which is very helpful! Tons of clothes, a swing, bassinet and other misc things. We're going back in a couple of weeks and we will be getting another load. Yeah! That same weekend, Jeff's parents came into town, so we got to visit with them for a couple of days as well.

We registered last weekend at Babies R Us and Target and man, is that exhausting! I didn't think we needed all that much stuff since my sister is letting us use a lot of her stuff, but it really adds up. We had a good time doing that and I'm sure I'll be adding and subtracting things as we go along.

The baby's room is coming along as well. We have received the crib, but can't put it up yet since we need to keep the bed in there for company until at least August. :( But we have the dresser and a pseudo changing table that will double as storage for toys, etc. It looks really great and matches the furniture really well. We have picked out 2 potential paint colors and will hopefully decide soon as to which one to use. So everything is looking good so far.

This morning we had some guys come in and do a little work in our front flower beds (since we kinda neglected them) and I think it came out great. I have some before and after pics of that.
Before:



After:




Before:


After:



Before:



After:


And these last couple of weeks, we have really gotten into the College Baseball World Series. Mainly because Texas and LSU are in it, but all the games have been pretty good so far. Both of our teams play today and we're hoping for a UT/LSU showdown next week in the finals. Makes things a little more interesting in the Mauldin household! ;) But we figure, it's a win/win situation in the end. So on that note, I've got to get ready to watch my Tigers beat the Hogs again this week.

Hook 'Em, Tigers!

Memorial day weekend

Last weekend, Carrie came into town. We had a great time visiting family, hanging out and shopping. We also got rid of some furniture and acquired some new stuff. All in all, a productive weekend. We spent some time at Jeff's Uncle and Aunt's beachhouse in Galveston and bought a new recliner and dresser in preparation for the baby. Here are the pics:

Baby Bump link

And I also added a link on the side of the page to the baby bump album so you can access it easily. I usually take my pictures on Wednesday's, but sometimes can't post it until Thurs or Friday. So, anyway, I took a picture today so you can see what I look like and the baby looks like at the same time. Of course, comments are always welcome!

Have a great day!

And the results are in. It's a ...

BOY!



Jeff and I met with my high risk Doc today and had a really great appointment. The lady doing the ultrasound is super nice and very knowledgeable. The ultrasound lasted about 30 minutes and we even scored a free dvd of the whole thing! She took lots of pictures and was very thorough in explaining everything she was doing. They basically do a head to toe assessment of the baby and make sure everything is where it's supposed to be and working properly. And it is. So much so that I don't need to go back and see them if the pregnancy and my health continue to progress they way it is now. Which I hope it does. I also asked if they do the 3d/4d ultrasounds there and she said they do, usually around 27-30 weeks, and then proceeded to take a couple of 3d pictures for us. I really, really like her (she did my ultrasound last time, too) and the Doc. Kinda sad that I won't get to see them again, but that is because everything is going well. The baby weighs about 8 ounces so far, which is a tiny bit bigger than normal for this gestation, but not a big deal. Still measuring around 18 weeks, give or take a few days. So all in all, a very good appointment. And now here are the pics for your enjoyment.