good news and bad news

Well it has been a strange strange week. We were braced for the fact that Joe's biopsy was going to be Tuesday. So we decided to try and make the best of Monday by going to Des Moines as a family to an ultrasound for our new baby Lauren (in utero, 29 weeks). I have been having monthly ultrasounds in Des Moines because I tested positive for an antibody Anti S, at the beginning of my pregnancy. I likely contracted the antibody after my blood transfusion in 2004 (car accident). This antibody has the capability of crossing the placenta and poisoning the blood of the unborn baby. The antibody gets worse with each pregnancy, and though I was unaware of it when Will was born; we believe in retrospec that he was affected only mildly right at the end of the pregnancy.

We took Will to build a bear and to see santa in DM on Monday. Then we went to my ultrasound where we found out that Lauren was highly anemic and critically ill. They sent Joe and I home to take Will home and to return to be admitted to hospital the next AM.

The next day was ALSO Joe's biopsy in Iowa city and I had to be admitted to hospital for an intrauterine blood transfusion. I felt less than human given the pressures that Joe and I were both facing. And that additionally, my father who has COPD is currently quite sick.

We prayed for good weather and in the morning Joe left for Iowa City and I for Des Moines, Mercy Hospital. My brother Barry met me at the hospital and they did my blood transfusion at 2:00. Iowa City rushed to get Joe through his appointments and then he rushed to Des Moines. He got there in time for the second half of my surgery. The blood transfusion was sort of like an amniocentesis, it was a 10 on the anxiety scale, a 1 or 2 on the pain scale, but I just cried and cried through the whole thing. One door down is a room prepped to take the baby by emergency csection. We made it through the procedure. And the doctor reported that he hoped it saved her life. She was doing much better yesterday AM. Because of the holiday, they let me go home. But, I have to go back on Satruday for an ultrasound to check her. Then back every Tuesday for another blood transfusion (with possible csection) and stay over night until Wednesday or Thursday. At home, I am on bed rest. They will not let me go past 37 weeks. I am 29 weeks now.

At 6:00 two nights ago, following our horrific day, the University of Iowa called to say that Joe's tumor is benign. No cancer. We are so happy. It literally occurrs to me over and over in a day that I am worried about Joe's life, and then I remember over and over, that it is OK. At this point, I am praying and hoping that Lauren's blood treatements work. There should be no long term damage if it works with our biggest risk being premature birth or death to her because the transfusions don't work or because the procedure itself hurts her. I am glad to be home, and at the same time anxious to get back to get her back on the monitor to see how she's doing.

Merry Christmas! I hope its a good one for you guys. I know that despite our worries, I have 50% less to worry about today than yesterday, that no matter what I am lucky that I am the mother of Will, that Mercy in DM offers me world class care and that I trust God. I will deliver my baby in Des Moines when the time comes.