Janice called me back this morning. We are all set for an appointment with Dr. Leonard Eisenfeld (neonatologist) at 4pm on Thursday June 3. After our appointment with him, we are scheduled to meet with Ginny Lowry who is a RN in the NICU. Ginny will give us the tour of the NICU. I asked Janice about where I can sleep while Olivia is in the hospital and after I have been discharged. She informed me they have “family rooms” available for parents of children in the NICU. However if those are full, there is the option of staying across the street in the Hudson Suites for $55 / night. While not “cheap”, at least we know that is another option for us.

I set up our tour of the maternity ward for June 12th. This phone call set off a flurry of activity. The woman who set me up with the tour recommended I speak with the OB Entry Coordinator, Susan. Susan and I spoke at great length regarding Olivia’s condition, etc. She told me to expect my enrollment form by next Saturday. I am to fill it out and give them as much detail about Olivia’s condition as I possibly can on that form (including Olivia’s Doctor’s names – PC and surgeon). She suggested I make at least 6 copies of that form and keep copies for myself to bring with me if / when I go into the hospital to be checked, etc. It will help them in the case of my paper being misplaced and from having to answer the same questions over and over again.

Susan also suggested I get in contact with Hartford Hospital’s Patient Care Coordinator, Janice. Janice will help coordinate all the specialists, etc. I plan on calling Janice on Monday as I had enough excitement for today.

I am scheduled to come in on Monday, July 19th at 8pm. They will give me something to soften my cervix that evening and start pitocin on Tuesday morning.

28 week appt with Dr. Cortland:

Heartbeat was 135 bpm.
Blood pressure is good.

Induction date: July 19th is a Monday – and Dr. Cortland is not in the office on Mondays. I said “OK, how’s the 20th then?” Because I don’t want to have ANOTHER doctor at this point – two OB’s is plenty for one pregnancy. She agreed and we talked about me possibly coming into the hospital on the 19th in the evening to get me all prepped for an early induction on Tuesday.
That worked for me. She said she would book it that afternoon and leave me a message at home.

Diana was the technician and then Dr. Bobrowski and Dr. Heller (Olivia’s Pediatric Cardiologist – PC) attended.

Olivia is measuring in the 70th percentile (up from the 50th last week). They have her at 29-30 weeks based on her measurements.

We saw the following:

• There was a “nice arch in the aorta”. The PC was thrilled by that.
• Olivia’s ribs are growing and making the U/S’s more complicated in the sense of we have to work harder to avoid the shadows.
• The Main Valve is still not leaking which is AWESOME.
• Kidneys and stomach are where they should be and look good. Gallbladder is definitely on the wrong side but looks good otherwise.

Olivia was all over the place. At one point her feet were way up near my ribs. Then she was in a jack knife position which made for some fun in attempting to get a good scan of the heart.

Dr. Heller was surprised that the smaller portion of Olivia’s heart has continued to grow which makes us believe her VSD (hole) has not closed. It’s not a bad or good thing – just not what they had expected to see at this point.

We talked to Dr. Heller regarding Arnie’s concerns about Olivia possibly having aspleenia or polyspeenia. He’s been really worked up about it – reading horror stories on the Internet. She feels that this is a minor problem and not worth going through a Fetal MRI to determine. We’ll know “soon enough” and they will be evaluating her anyway. Arnie’s feeling much better after talking about this more with her.

We talked about possible induction dates and they told us to talk to Dr. Cortland about a July 19th induction date.