Scary Stuff

Last week during an ultrasound I got some very unexpected news. There was something "off" about the baby. The radiologist couldn't give me any information because "he's not a doctor and I would have to speak to my doctor about it", but the words "baby...enlarged ventricle...brain....spine...sudden" were floating around the room. Terrifying words to hear, especially when you aren't given any more information than that. My doctor was out of the office already, but thankfully I had an appointment scheduled already with her first thing the following morning. She advised me that the ultrasound seem to show that the baby had an enlarged ventricle in her brain. It can mean several things: hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and many other scary things you can find if you google it (Note to self: Never google something if you don't want to see the absolute worst case scenarios.)

Since it was showing up so late in my pregnancy and wasn't there at a previous ultrasound just three weeks ago, my doctor was convinced it was an error or a fluke but referred me to a specialist just to be sure. After a more detailed ultrasound, the specialist agreed that the ventricle was enlarged, but gave us some very encouraging news. In the brain there are three ventricles. The one that is enlarged in Grayce's brain is the one that produces spinal fluid. It then dumps it into the second chamber to be distributed around the brain via small channels. He made it clear that there are no definites in medicine, but with his previous experience, he felt the issue was that the channels going from one ventricle to the next just haven't been developed fully. Since there are no other signs of abnormalities - no blood clots or tumors that could cause a blockage and she is perfectly healthy in every other way.  To quote him:

I'm going to assume that this baby is perfectly healthy until proven otherwise. If you hadn't had an ultrasound this late, no one would have known of this 'issue' and she would have grown up to be Einstein.

But since they DID find the 'issue', I have to have an MRI next week and meet with the specialist again to confirm that no other abnormalities are present. So while there are no absolute answers yet (and truthfully won't be until after she's born), we're very encouraged that our little girl is just fine.

I'd appreciate any prayers and positive thoughts you can send our way early Wednesday morning when I'm in the MRI and again Friday afternoon when we meet with the specialist. And as a "Thank You" in advance, I'm leaving you with a menu and the song that inspired Graycie's name. :-)

Monday - Chicken, bacon, ranch sandwiches
Tuesday - Tacos
Wednesday - Baked Ziti
Thursday - Hamburgers
Friday - Breakfast burritos and sprinkle pancakes (more about these later in the week!)