The Countdown

I had a long conversation with Dr. Pierce today about balancing the need to let Gianna grow as long as possible with the need to deliver her and do the surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain.  So the plan is to check her growth again at my ultrasound next week, and schedule an amniocentesis for Sept. 22nd.  This is the day she will be 37 weeks. They'll monitor her for 2 hours while we wait for the amnio results.  The amnio will tell us whether her lungs are mature, and if so, she can be delivered as soon as the next day.  So we're looking at a delivery date as early as the 23rd (less than 2 weeks away!).  As always, we're anxious for her to be here, but nervous too....  If her lungs are not mature on the 22nd, we'll wait until the 39 weeks to deliver, which would be Oct 6th.    Apparently the correct term for the fluid buildup in Gianna's brain is ventriculomegaly (which is caused by the hydrocephalus). Her head is actually quite small, rather than large as is usually seen with hydrocephalus, since she also has the encephalocele.  In other news, Dr. Pierce was not concerned about the drop in her overall growth percentile - she said what's important is that she is growing.  Going to pack my hospital bag this weekend. I already have the tiny pink outfits for G picked out!