David and I made arrangements to get together with 2 other couples tonight (Jeff and Sarah McLaughlin and Tim and Karen Daugherty). Both couples have been very concerned about us and have kept in close contact through phone calls or emails. We decided to get together for supper at Tim and Karen’s house. Karen had asked earlier if I had any recent ultrasound pictures of Zoe. She said that she would like to see them if I did so I decided to go ahead and bring them with us to their house. David said that he didn’t mind but also expressed that he did not want to talk about the situation with Zoe the entire night.
We arrived at Tim and Karen’s house at about 6:35, just a few minutes after Jeff and Sarah arrived. I went in and sat on a kitchen stool with Sarah while Tim and Karen finished up the chicken enchiladas. It was fairly comfortable from the beginning since we were just having small talk. Since it seemed that supper was still going to be a few minutes, I asked if they wanted to see the ultrasound pictures before supper. I figured that this would give us just a few minutes…a limited amount of time…and then we could get to supper.
Sarah sat on one side and Karen sat on the other. Their husbands sat beside them and David was actually off returning a couple of phone calls. That was probably as good of a time as any for him to make the calls so that he didn’t have to go through it all again. I brought all of the ultrasound pictures taken since we originally found out we were pregnant. I have quite a collection already and I am sure that it will only grow in the next several weeks. We started from the beginning and I pointed out Zoe’s different recognizable body parts. We eventually got to the pictures taken on 5/16/05. I told them that they were taken on D-day. I skipped over the picture that identified the 6 fingers on Zoe’s right hand but pointed out the membrane that was collapsing around Zoe that caused Dr. Landwehr to think that her kidneys may not be functioning normally. Fortunately, the membrane has now reattached and seems to be fine. We then proceeded through the rest of the pictures.
Sarah asked if the doctors have been able to tell whether or not Zoe will be strong enough to survive. I told her that it is almost impossible for them to be able to tell. Many times the babies that look outwardly deformed are the ones that survive and the ones that look fairly normal are the ones that don’t. Because they were asking some specific questions, I decided to tell them about the specific concerns that have been discovered about Zoe, such as the sixth finger on her right hand, no nasal bone, water on her brain, and the collapsed forth chamber in her heart. I started to cry like I usually do when I talk about her heart and brain. I expressed that these are not good signs in regards to her chance of survival. Karen said that Zoe is adorable and that she cannot wait to meet her. She said that she is praying for a miracle.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment