Doctor's Appointment Update

Hi all! You must be thinkin, "wow! Claire is so great at posting!" Well, my hours are really full with sleeping, sitting, thinking, reading, and people watching, so it's the least I can do. Actually, there are a couple bloggable things today! :) First was my doctor's appointment...

I had an ultrasound done by Dr. Richards, who is the OB in charge of delivering Max, sort of the other half of the dream team working on Max (the first part being Dr. Kays, the surgeon). As he looked Max over, everything was the same. So, not good, but the same. I don't mean that in a negative way, but we are just holding steady I guess. He also confirmed that the heart being underdeveloped is pretty typical in this case, so it's not something to panic about. It comes with the territory he said, so Max should still recover fine in spite of it.

One interesting thing Dr. Richards discovered while looking was the shape of Max's diaphragm. It's not a "straight across" diaphragm like it should be, perhaps with just a gap/hole in it. From one side to the other, it slopes downwards before it attaches to the other side. He said that he has never seen this before, but doesn't really know why it may pose a threat, unless it was hiding a larger defect. So, just a "weird" thing I guess. Jordan said it's because God gave him extra room for his heart and lungs, I say why not! So, I drew some very detailed, quality pictures to help illustrate what I'm describing. Please hold back the accolades and flattery after you see my handiwork.

Here's a normal baby, with the heart and lungs above the diaphragm, with all the extras below. Now, here is my troublemaker...

As you can clearly see in this detailed drawing, complete with big muscles, there is a hernia/hole/gap in Max's diaphragm which allowed all his organs into his chest, pushing his heart far over to the right (and not much below the diaphragm). If you look, you can see how the diaphragm drops down on the one side. This is the anomaly that Dr. Richards described. Who knows, but I guess we shall see in a few weeks.

One last thing...I'm sure you remember my post last night including commentary about Ronald McDonald himself, and my discomfort for the clown? WELL, when I cam home from my doctor's appointment, guess who came to visit all the kids?

I know, I know! I tried to signal to people to run, but they seemed so enamored by him, he must have cast some fast food spell on them. Actually, there was a Christmas in July party for all the kids, and Ronald and Santa came to visit all the kids with presents, etc. The kids were ecstatic, so I'll let it slide this time.
...But don't try to convince me that he doesn't look a bit...suspect.

Love ya'll!
Claire