Good News: turns out it's not a train.
From the day I found out I was pregnant, motherhood has made me the happiest girl in the world. And I really do feel so lucky to have this opportunity. But it's also been the most terrifying journey of my life. Filled with so much more than I ever could have expected. I thought that terror would fade away once Charlie left the NICU, but I'm beginning to think there is never going to be a day where I'm not going worry about her.
We have spent the last week and a half wondering the fate of our little miracle baby. You see, I took Charlie to her pediatrician for her two month checkup a couple weeks ago, and her pediatrician pointed out that her head was particularly narrow. I wasn't too worried because preemies are known for having "toaster heads" but to be safe her doctor decided to go ahead and order a CT scan anyway. It seemed like weeks went by before we found out the results when really it was only a couple of days.. After many nagging phone calls Charlotte's doctor finally called us back with the results.
She let us know that her skull was indeed fused.. Almost 2 years too early. (Which would mean this little girl would need surgery on her head to cut out a piece of her skull and make room for her growing brain)
But what her doctor meant to say was, "this scan is blurry and I can't tell if it's fused or not". Instead she referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon- who wouldn't be able to see us for two weeks... You can imagine the panic that ensued over that next 2 weeks.. We were told Charlie was going to have to have a major surgery! I wondered why this was happening, and after everything poor Charlie has had to endure, how could this be happening? I've never wanted so badly to put myself in her place and take away the pain that was coming. I didn't even want to imagine looking at my baby in the hospital AGAIN. She's already spent too much time there! These are the thoughts that flooded my mind (and many more that I won't bother to bore you with, because I think you get the point...).
This week came the long awaited and much anticipated day we'd so impatiently waited for.. We were set to meet with Dr. Sun. The Pediatric Neurosurgeon and Chief of Surgery at the Oakland Children's Hospital-a real life Grey's Anatomy star. And to our great surprise he gave us the good news I thought we'd never hear- no surgery for Charlie! Turns out, since the CT scan was blurry it only appeared that her head was fused. But when he pushed around on her skull (which she totally hated) he could feel the bones moving. Talk about sweet relief.
So for now we are just enjoying our sweet little baby that sleeps through the night and smiles up a storm for her mama. Oh, did I mention she's the best baby ever? Well it's true, she is.
Loving every second of bath time
Being born so early little Charlie is at high risk for RSV (you can read about it here) her doctors want us to keep her home until the season is over in April. So we decided to have her blessing at home. --side-note: I desperately felt like we needed to have her blessing before we met with the neurosurgeon and after everyone had left our house I joked to Jared "now that she has had her blessing her head will be miraculously healed". He laughed at me, but I think it just goes to show what a miracle this baby really is!
Anyway, last Sunday a few family members and the Bishop came over and Jared blessed Charlotte. He did such a good job, and the spirit was so strong, it was so perfect! I'm once again reminded of how lucky I am.
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