December 29, 2008 started off great. It was the day of our big ultrasound where we anticipated finding out if our son Braeden was going to have a little brother or sister. However, the mood quickly changed when the ultrasound tech brought in the chief of perinatology in the middle of our scan. Immediately, he zeroed in on my baby's brain. I was crushed knowing that something must have been terribly wrong. It felt like an eternity before he spoke. He told us that the ventricles in her brain were enlarged. He couldn't get a good look at the entire brain and spinal cord, but he said he suspected the ventriculomegaly was due to either aqueductal stenosis or Dandy Walker.
Instead of finding out the gender and going on a big shopping spree, I was left to ponder so many things....In particular, our doctor strongly recommended considering getting an amnio so that we could terminate the pregnancy if there was a chromosomal problem. We refused to even consider abortion and decided to decline the amnio.
Two weeks later, we returned for a follow up ultrasound. There the doctor ruled out Dandy Walker and Spinia Bifida. We were given a presumed diagnosis of aqueductal stenosis. Also, our baby cooperated, and we found out that we were having a baby girl!
The rest of my pregnancy was filled with ultrasounds every 3-4 weeks, a fetal MRI, NSTs, switching to a high risk perinatal group at 28 weeks, meetings with NICU staff and an early intervention group, and lots of research on aqueductal stenosis and hydrocephalus. I felt prepared for her birth and for whatever her outcome would be. During the third trimester, her ventricles continued to increase in size and by her 36 week ultrasound, her head was measuring 42 weeks so I had come to terms with the fact that most likely she would require a VP shunt.
On June 1st, 2009, at 39 weeks, we went in for our scheduled c-section. Ashlyn Grace was born at 10:03am (via a transverse incision!). She weighed 9lbs 7oz and was 19 1/2 inches long. Her head circumference was 41cm. She was taken right to the NICU for thorough evaluation. A CT scan was done, which confirmed the diagnosis of aqueductal stenosis. Neurosurgery consulted and decided that she would require a VP shunt within the week.
While waiting for them to decide when to do the surgery, Ashlyn stayed in the NICU and started breastfeeding immediately. Despite one bad experience with a nurse who force fed her formula when she was barely a day old (she spit it all up!), she took right to breastfeeding. I would feed her every 2 hours while in the hospital and pumped like crazy to make sure she would have enough breastmilk when they discharged me from the hospital after 3 nights.
On June 3, 2009, at the last minute, the neurosurgery team was able to schedule her surgery. Within an hour, she was in the OR getting her shunt. At least all the rush helped me not stress too much about the surgery. Chris and I took a walk to the gift shop and bought her a stuffed pink teddy bear. And then we returned to my room waiting for the neurosurgeon to stop by. After a couple hours, he knocked on our door. He told us the good news that Ashlyn was out of surgery and everything went smoothly. Her CT scan confirmed that surgery was a success.
They kept her intubated for 10 hours and then were able to remove her breathing tube. She breathed on her own but did have some laryngeal edema (swelling of vocal cords) that caused her to wheeze in her upper airway. She was given a breathing treatment, which seemed to help her breath easier.
We expected to take her home on June 5, 2009, but she had jaundice so she stayed an extra 24 hours to be under the bili-lights. On June 6, 2009, we were able to take our little miracle home!
For more of our story and pics: http://korieb1206.blogspot.com/
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