Letter to Isabella

Dear Isabella,
Thanksgiving has come and gone and I'm still pregnant with you! I can't tell you how happy that makes me! We have a little under a month before your arrival and we are so excited to meet you. I am going to cherish these last few weeks being pregnant with you, for I know you are getting that much stronger and healthier before your arrival. I just thought I would tell you a little bit about your family before you get here.
Your dad is already very protective of you and has been taking very good care of me. You are going to be so lucky to have him as your father.

Your two oldest sisters, Hayley and Sydney, give you hugs and kisses before they go to bed every night. They can't wait to take care of you when you get here. And your other sister, Avery, is only 2 years old. I am not sure if she completely understands what is going on but she sure loves to kiss and hug my belly. She is always saying "Baby 'Bella' " and coming up to look at my belly. She even informed me the other day that she is going to bathe baby. (Don't worry we will only let her "help"). As I end this letter to you I just want you to know how much I already love you. I feel very lucky to be pregnant with you and can already tell you are a very special little girl!

Isabella Update

I am not very good at updating my blog, as you can tell it's been two months since my last post. A lot has happened since then. We have had two appointments in Denver with specialists, along with my regular OB appointments with my doctor here in Gillette. In September we had another ultrasound that showed Isabella now has hydrocephalus, which is water in/around the brain. We weren't completely surprised with this finding, since about 80% of babies with Spina Bifida develop this condition, but we were disappointed. We also met with the pediatric neurosurgeon that will be taking care of our baby when she was born. We really felt comfortable with her and she answered a lot of our questions on what to expect once Isabella is born.

Last week we had another ultrasound in Denver, which showed that Isabella is growing as expected and nothing else has changed. Which is such a relief we didn't get any other upsetting news. We also scheduled my c-section date. This will take place on December 22nd, and Isabella will go into surgery on the 23rd. The only purpose of this surgery is to prevent infection by closing the opening of her spine, it will not fix or correct any damage that has already been done. She may or may not need shunts in her brain to drain the excess fluid. We will just have to wait and see what happens after she is born. Unfortunately, from here on out it will be a waiting game with our baby. We won't know until she gets older what her functioning will be like (ie. level of paralyzation, walking, bowel/bladder function, etc.).
I have also been on bedrest for the past 3 weeks since I went into preterm labor at 31 weeks. I was in the hospital for several days on IV fluids to stop contractiongs. It has definitely been hard but I know it is worth every minute of it. She doesn't need to be preterm on top of all the other problems she will have when she is born.
I feel so blessed that we are getting the opportunity to raise this precious little miracle. I still have periods of "why me" but not as often as I did at the beginning. I know she isn't an accident and is being given to our family for a reason. She is going to bless our lives beyond our level of imagination right now, along with the other people that are privileged to be around and know her. I can't wait to hold this beautiful baby girl!