Little Surprises

Yesterday, Daddy and I took lunch break and came back to Mason's bassinet to find a voice specialist around his bed. Apparently, while we were gone, they performed a test to see if there was any damage to his vocal cords. Children who have undergone surgical repairs to the left side of the heart often have their vocal cords damaged. The doctor, with no bedside manner whatsoever, told us that one of his vocal cords was not working. She indicated that is was probably due to surgery and he may have difficulty in swallowing. It was obvious she had never gone to Tact 101 while in medical school-the message was delivered with very little compassion. Fortunately, there was an therapist that was there to visit us who told us she would be performing a swallow study on Tuesday. We pray the cord isn't completely damaged-according to the therpist, Dr. Hanley and several nurses there is a 50% chance that it will repair itself and return on its own. Right now, Mason has a sweet little cry.

Today, Ernie left back home. It is time that the kids know that we still exsist! He hasn't told them he was coming and will be giving them a big surprise. Another big step was taken today. Baby Mason got his RA line out. This is a lijne/lead that goes directly into his heart. He bleda little when they pulled it out and therefore they had to give him some blood. The hurses took this time to change ot his dressings and find another vein for his IV line. I should be able to hold him sometime today. The chest tubes will be one of the last things to go. We also found out that he would be changed over to formula, Monogen, because the fat in the breast milk is going into his lymph nodes and being excreted out. You can see this in the secretions coming from his left chest tube. The clinical term for this is Chylothorax. It is caused due to trauma/nick in the lymph nodes near his heart. This is typically seen in repairs/surgery done to the aortic arch. The chyle from the lymph nodes is leaking out and filling his pleural space (space around his left lung). The condition is expected to heal on its own but I was told it may be undertermined amount of time. This means we will not be leaving the hospital until the drainage has cleared up. That is okay though-it was caught and we are hopeful that his little body can fix itself from this as well.

Extubation Day

Yesterday, Tuesday, August 27th was the day Mason was to be extubated. When we arrived to the CVICU early that morning he had just had another tube put into the back of his chest. The fluid that has been building up needed to be removed prior to having his tube come out and therefore his planned extubation needed to wait another day.

Ernie headed over to CVICU this morning to find that the doctors had decided that they would go ahead and remove his tube today. I remained back at the house to finish up some paperwork and got a text from Ernie saying they were about to do the procedure. Daddy was there to take the pictures and see the wonderful event. I'm actually glad I wasn't there since I didn't need to see him under any stress. Luckily, everything went well and he was able to breathe on his own. Another great accomplishment for our little one. He remained awake for the next five hours. His beautiful little eyes followed each of our faces. He looks so beautiful!

Starting out at 8 pounds 14 ounces sure must have come in handy,since now he looks so thin! Most likely he will be weighed in the next day or two and we'll be able to see just how much weight he has lost. Soon, the goal will be to put some of that weight back on. We are eagerly awaiting the dotor's ok to begin his feeds again. This is breast milk fed through the tube in his nose. One of the challenges for me has been to keep pumping every two hours or so for this little one. It's just a small thing to have to do compared to everything he has been through so far. As so many care to remind us, it's a long haul.

Mason's Chest Closing

Monday, August 25, 2008 was the day Mason's chest was closed! For the past few days, each doctor/nurse/nurse practioner commented on how good Mason's progress was. Each day we saw his swelling go down and his chest was coming together on its own. He is such an amazingly tough little guy and is holding his own.

We spend the majority of the day at his bedside. Although he is only 7 days old today, we know he is aware his Mommy and Daddy are there for him. The doctors told us that is was very possible that Mason would have his chest closed on Monday but of course, it was all pending on the surgeon's availability and bed space in the CVICU,(cardiovascular intensive care unit). We were told that Dr. Hanley was not in, but that Dr. Reddy would be the one doing the surgery along with Dr. Maeda one of the Fellows. The surgery would take place in the CVICU itself, not in the operating room. The room is removed of all visitors/parents and non-essential staff and the OR team is brought in. We waited all day for word and heard that around 3:30Dr. Reddy was giving his 45 minute notice to the parents of the patient he was operating on. Around 4:30 Dr. Reddy came in and told me, "looks like he will have his chest closed soon." We were so excited since we thought there was no way he would be set to go today. An hour or so later, the CVICU was closed off and Mason was on his way to closing his chest. At 6:20 pm Dr. Maeda came over to us in the patient waiting area and told us that everything went well. Mason had no problems with his pressure/stats so they were pleased with his results. We were so excited-this was such a fabulous step. His chest is being held together with surgical wire and will be re-opened on his next operation. Those wires will be there for the rest of his life!

This morning during rounds, the Doctors all agreed that he should be weaned from some of his medications, which include the paralyzing agent and morphine drip. The morphine itself can be administered by his nurse if she sees that he is getting agitated. I find myself so tearful wondering if he is in any pain. I can only continue to pray to God that he is watching over this sweet little boy.

When I walked in this morning, the curtains were pulled open and sunshine was bathing him in such a beautiful glow. For the first time since minutes after his birth he opened his beautiful eyes. He was staring right at me-I don't know for sure if he could see his Mommy but it felt so good no matter what! When he hears Daddy his heart rate goes up-we know he can hear us at the very least. Throughout the day he has started moving his limbs around a little at a time. His jerky movements are small but every one is helping his circulation improve. The most uncomfortable thing to watch has been when the nurses or the respiratory staff suction out his chest. Once he was crying, without sound, and started to turn purple due to the fact that the tube that is providing his oxygen/breathes is being suctioned out and he is void of air at the time. My heart felt such pain-I wish I could be there instead of him. Ernie asked his nurse, Anne, if this was typical and she said yes. She assured him that it appeared that Mason was not in pain since his blood pressure and oxygen levels changed during the procedure but shortly thereafter went down/up respectively. This is little reassurance to a mom not wanting any pain to come to her child.

We will be heading back to the hospital shortly to resume our vigil. Nurse Rosalina will be there tonight. She has been in the pediatric nursing field for over 30 years and takes the best of care with this little one. The only way I have been able to sleep at night is knowing he is in her care.

Baby Mason's Surgery Photos

August 22, 2008 Mason's Surgery, August 23, 2008 1 Day Post Op

Surgery Day

The most highly anticipated day of our lives has finally arrived. We heard Thursday that Mason's surgery had been scheduled for Friday morning-first surgery of the day. I asked to be able to hold him and got the okay from Dr. Hintz, the Neonatologist. Daddy went to give blood and I held Mason for approximately 2 hours. It was so wonderful! The transfer from his bed to my arms was almost effortless, regardless of all the wires and tubes he was connected to.

When we arrived at the hospital Friday morning we were greeted with the news that, yes, in fact he would be headed to surgery in the morning. His nurse then was able to have Daddy hold Mason for a while before getting him ready. When it was time to head to surgery he was sleeping on his tummy comfortably. The Director of Pediatric Anesthesia, Chandra Ramamoorthy, MD, was to be in charge of his anesthesia and was assissted by one of her Fellows. Her Fellow commented on Mason being the best hypoplast she had seen! Dr. Ramammorthy was ready to take Mason but found one of his leads not connected to the portable statistics/readers. She promptly took charged and found what was missing and we were off. At approximately 8:30 am when began our walk to surgery. When we reached the coridor to the surgery unit, I lost my composure and started to cry. One of the worst things possible is to have to give your baby to others for one of the most complex surgeries that could be performed on an infant.

At approximately 2:00 pm we were found by Arden, Patient Care Coordinator, and told we were getting our 45 minute call. This meant that in approximately 45 minutes the surgeon would be out to speak to us. A little over an hour later, Ernie saw Dr. Hanley coming towards the patient waiting area, where we were tucked behind a post. He almost walked away and Ernie called out to him. I quickly searched his face for the answers he would be giving us and knew things went well. He began by telling us that everything went as close to perfect as possible. There were no new anomolies that were encountered, everything was just as they expected with the heart. He said Mason was on the heart/lung bypass machine for 1 1/2 hours and that this was on the low end of the spectrum. I asked what we would expect to see when Mason was out and Dr. Hanley told us that he would have his chest open but covered, in somewhat of a football shaped opening and of course he would be connected to a series of ivs, chest tubes, monitors, etc. Dr. Hanley also told us the next 24-48 hours were the most critical. In addition, he commented on the fact that we grew a healthy, strong boy and that helped. We expressed our sincere thanks for all that he had done and asked that he thank his entire team for all their efforts. He gave us a wonderful smile and said he would be sure to do so. In approximately another hour we would see our sweet baby boy.

Exitement consumed us as we approched the CVICU (cardiac care unit). Mason had made the first step towards the pallative repair of his heart. We made it over to his bassinett and found him hooked up to all those drips, ivs, tubes, monitors, etc. that we had been seeing in photos of other surgeries and which Dr. Hanley told us about. I almost couldn't see any of those things, but focused solely on my beautiful little boy. I was so thankful that God took him in his hands and has given him the strength to get this far. We almost couldn't contain the joy we felt upon seeing him-no matter how many other things were connected to him. We spent most of the afternoon and evening with him and went back to Ronald McDonald for some fitful sleep. I called his nurse, Julie at 1:30 and 5:30 to ask how he was doing and both times she said he was doing well.

This morning we headed off to the hospital and thought we would be getting there in time for rounds. We were told they would be approx 9-10 am but were in fact done at 7:30. No worries, we heard that all had gone well and that the only order thus far would be to add diuretics to remove some of the fluid build up. In fact, if you look at him he doesn't have too much build up at all. Throughout the day, we sat at his bedside and took breaks for breakfast, lunch, and breast pumping! I did notice that occasionally he had a couple erradict breathes but was told that they would be sure to monitor that he was still properly sedated. They do not want him to wake up with his chest open. His nurse, Melanie, told us that they would gradually wean him off his medications once his chest was closed. We later heard from the Head RN that it looked like his chest might even get closed tomorrow, Sunday. This was so exciting! Everyone who has seen him thus far, medically, seems to think he is doing very well. Of course, the Head RN let us know that there have been times when they think everything is going great and something unexpected happens. Overall, she said he is doing picture perfect. He is receiving some blood to accomodate his somewhat low bloodpressure and will receive the diuretic to allow him to urinate later today. In the meantime, nurse Melanie told us she will be changing all the drip lines as they are removing the tubes from his naval. She will be hooking up new lines to run through the existing arterial lines. I counted approximately 8 drip lines she would be changine-but possible more.

The following is a list of medications he is being given: (nurse Melanie, kindly printed out this list along with a print out of each drug and their description/usage)

Epinepherine-helps blood pressure

Milrinon-increased bloof flow to the extremities

Dopamine-helps blood pressure

Heparin-prevents blood clots

Vecuronium-paralytic while his chest is open

Calcium Chloride-helps blood pressure and heart contractions

Morphine-pain medication

Around the clock:

Zantac-prevent acid production in the stomch

Cefazikub-antibiotic

Asprin-prevents blood clots

We will be heading back to the hospital shortly to meet the new nurse in charge of Mason's care-she will arrive at 7:00pm for change of shift. Although our strong boy has made it through his first surgery we have a long road to go. With all the support of our friends and family and most importantly, the faith we have in God, we know we can make it through.

Thank you Dear God for all you have done in our lives. We especially praise and thank you for allowing us to have Mason here with us today.

Baby Mason's Baptism

Our sweet little boy was baptized today. We had Deacon Don Sifferman perform the rite of baptism while Mason was in the NICU. His godparents are Bill & Marsie Dignam, our good friends from Silver City. Although they were not here today, we know they had us in their thoughts and prayers.

So far Mason has done extremely well and has not needed to be intubated-no tube for oxygen. We believe it might be possible that his first heart surgery (Norwood Procedure) may take place Friday. We continue to pray that God keeps him in his arms and protects him each day.

Baby Mason's Photo Album

Baby Mason August 19, 2008 5:50 pm

Baby Mason Stephen Terrazas has arrived. After starting my induction at 5:00 am, we waited a little over 12 hours for our beautiful new baby to arrive. He was born at 5:50 PM, 8lbs, 14 oz. He looks so good-everyone was glad to see that he is doing amazingly well so far. For the next few days there will be several cardiologists that will be closely monitoring his oxygen levels, blood flow, blood gases, etc. We hope to here of a tentative surgery date by tomorrow.

In the meantime, I had to pump that all important colostrum and in one of the photos in the above photo album he is being given it via syringe. He is allowed a certain amount every six hours. They do not allow HLHS babies to feed right away, but instead have placed a line in his umbilical cord stump to place fluids directly into his blood stream. This will be his only nutrition for some time. After a great birth he was taken away to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) where Daddy followed him in. It is so difficult to see that he has to stay there-he looks so perfect. God has gotten us safely this far-we will continue to ask him for all his help and blessings.

Photos of Ronald McDonald House

Strike 1

We called the hospital today before heading over for the induction and were told to try and get there a little earlier than the 10:30 scheduled time. When we arrived we were directed to a room and thought things were going to get under way quickly. Unfortunately, due to all the kaos of several deliveries my Oxytocin wasn't started until 1:10. We were introduced to a number of doctors, nurses, a deacon, and a student within a few hours. I was to receive the medication every 30 minutes but it just didn't work out that way. My contractions did start but they never were unbearable. At 5:00 pm one of the doctors came in and said that the pediatric doctors thought it was best to discontinue the induction and start over early tomorrow morning. This means that I will be staying overnight and playing the waiting game...again!

That really nice room I was told about wasn't available so Ernie had the most uncomfortable chair to "relax" in. After all our complaining we were finally moved to a room with a small couch for him. A couple of ladies with children here just stopped by to check in on us. The relationships we are building here are so supportive. It is nice to be able to speak to those who have been or are going through similar experiences. We are all praying for one another.

Almost Time

I am scheduled for an induction at 10:30am. Dr. Cheuh asked me to call the hospital around 8:30 to see if this is still possible. They have to make sure there is a room available for us. With so many babies being born here, there is a chance all the labor & delivery rooms may be occupied! I took a look at one of the rooms while on my tour last week and they were great. They even have a spouse couch.

In the past few days I have met several more people with children that have had the first operation for HLHS, have just had a heart transplant, have had an unsuccessful transplant and are awaiting a new one, waiting for a new liver, received a new liver, have had a heart and both lung transplant, have a baby with pulmunary artresia and has had one surgery, received a new heart and is almost in the 100 day waiting period before going home and someone that has a baby going home after their second surgery for HLHS. It is so amazing to hear of all these courageous stories. There is absolutely no doubt that we are not going through all this alone.

We have spent some late nights talking about our children, families and life back home. I have even met one couple, Denise and Eric, who are from Pecos, New Mexico. They have the infant with pulmonary artresia and Turner's Syndrome. Her first surgery was not a complete success and she as a leaking mitral valve. Denise will have to leave back to New Mexico tomorrow to return to her job; her husband will being staying and trying to find a job here. Once he does, they will relocate to Palo Alto.

Mr. & Mrs. John Crane gave us a beautiful Christening outfit. It includes cap and booties that were all hand crocheted. It has to be one of the most beautiful things we have seen. We appreciate this so much. We have scheduled for the baby to be baptized shortly after birth. If all goes well, we will have our beautiful baby boy join us outside the womb tomorrow.

Visit to High Risk OB

Bright and early this morning I headed over to the hospital for my fetal non stress test. I got to lay down for approx. 20 minutes and take a little nap while they monitored the baby. They are checking for fetal movements/sleep patterns. The baby's heart rate should increase when he moves around and a monitor keeps track of this, along with any contractions and general movements. Thankfully, all is well.

I hiked across the street to the High Risk OB's office for my first visit with the OB. I met with the OB Fellow and the OB, Dr. Cheuh who asked me basic questions regarding my past deliveries. They figured that they would schedule an induction either Monday or Tuesday of next week. That is just a few days before my actual due date. This allows them to have the perinatal, cardiology and ob teams ready for when the baby arrives. I have to believe that I couldn't be in a better place. Almost everyone I have encountered has been really supportive and offer their best wishes.

I went downtown and had lunch out at the Cheesecake Factory. It is really a beautiful building inside-I can't wait until we have one of these somewhere near home. I ordered a piece of carrot cake cheesecake to go and it awaits me in our mini fridge. Ernie has changed plans and will be flying in Saturday morning. One final Sunday at church praying for all the best before the baby arrives-please keep all those wonderful thoughts and prayers going for us-we need them all.

Visit to Neonatologist

My first visit to the neonatologist was today. It was a little sad having to make it over to visit the doctor without Ernie. In general, being here seems almost like I'm back at college and living in my old apartment-minus the kitchen and pool! Dr. Hentz is the neonatologist who will be in charge of the team taking care of the baby as soon as he is born. She went over the typical procedures that would occur upon birth. Most importantly, they will be taking the baby into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and will begin monitoring him immediately. If he seems pretty stable when he is born we will be able to hold him briefly prior to them taking him over to the NICU. After he finds his new home in the NICU, we will not be able to hold him for several weeks or months. That is going to be very difficult....

One of the first medications they will be giving him is prostaglandins. This is a medication used to keep the ductus arteriosus open. This will allow for free mixing of the blood between the chambers of the heart and allows the baby to live until his first surgery. Dr. Hentz explained that a baby will typically be scheduled for the first surgery within a week of birth and having babies on prostaglandins for even a month or more is "okay." She also discussed the possibility of the baby being intubated immediately. I am hoping this isn't the case-I pray for as little intervention as possible before surgery.

My next doctor's visit will be to the OB, Dr. Cheuh, on Wednesday. According to Dr. Hentz, she has spoken to Dr. Cheuh and feels that Dr. Cheuh will have a scheduled induction date for me on my visit. After having the last 3 children as scheduled, I feel I prefer this! I just hope baby continues following the plan.

One of the strange things we have encountered was the difference in "guestimate" of the baby's weight via ultrasound. On my last OB visit in Las Cruces the ultrasound technician told us that the baby was just under 8 pounds. This added to our urgency to go ahead and get out to California right away, seeing as this kid was very well ready. Well, on my ultrasound here at Stanford they thought the baby was 7lbs 4 oz but told us the ultrasound had a plus or minus of 1 pound!!! No one has ever told us that about ultrasounds before. Since we are at a highly regarded institution, I tend to want to believe them.

On a few side notes, I had dinner here at the house. It was provided by a local restaurant and consisted of chicken burritos with all the trimmings. Very nice. I ended up speaking to another Mom for a while, and was soon approached by some of the volunteers at RMH. Ernie had called looking for me. I left my cell phone in the room and he had been calling for sometime. They were so concerned and ended up checking my room and finally locating me for him. I was glad to hear they were able to look after me. I was then promptly scolded, by Ernie, for not carrying my phone! Something I am told I must have at all times! ; )

Jordyn started school today and Ernie took her in to meet her teacher, who Ernie said was very nice. Jordyn rode the bus to Grandma's house after school and seemed to like it. I miss the kids so much!

Settling in

The past week has been pretty uneventful as far as things go. That is considering being away from everyone and everything you know. We have had several visits to Stanford's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. The last was on Friday, August 8, 2008 where we had a fetal echo. Admittedly, I was hoping for some miraculous change. The echo failed to provide such a result. His left ventricle is still smaller than the right and continues to be poorly functioning.
Fortunately, the regular ultrasound showed no further problems with the baby.

Ernie left to go back home today. Jordyn starts school tomorrow and we are in a waiting game to see if Matthew can enroll in Head Start. As we found out, Head Start is primarily for low income children. Those who can least afford things are allowed in first and if there is any room, approximately 5% of other children may be allowed to attend as well. This didn't look good for us, but again some friends of ours are trying to "pull some strings" to get him in. He would be attending the same school as Jordyn and since we will be away so much, it would probably be the best thing for us. The kids just go back from their trip to Mexico this past Monday. I am so jealous that Ernie got to see them-it just breaks my heart that I won't be seeing them until who knows when. Thankfully, my aunt is there with my Mom and the kids will be in the best of care. We've had so many people call to wish us well and offer us help back home. It means so much to know how much support we have. I am so thankful to all of you.

Tomorrow I will visit the perinatologist. I imagine she will discuss the plan for the baby once he is born. It is amazing the number individuals who will be involved in the care, I can't even imagine how it all gets coordinated.

I met a Aunt/Grandmother and her daughter today who have a nephew that just underwent his third surgery here at Stanford. He has was is known as pulmonary atresia-from what his Grandmother says, he was born without a pulmonary artery. Dr. Hanley, who will be performing the surgery on our baby, has been the chief surgeon for her grandson. His surgery was this past Wednesday and seemed to go well. They were replacing a shunt in his heart. After time, shunts that are placed in the heart are outgrown and therefore there is a need to replace them. His case went from good to bad as his diaphragm was nicked during surgery and he only has one lung. This has made it difficult for him to come off the respirator. His Grandmother told me that they tried to take a tube from his lung out and he started to suffocate. She also confided that Dr. Hanley told her this surgery is merely to prolong his life, it is not a permanent fix. Of course, hope is what they have had all this time since he was diagnosed at approx 18 months. He is now 3.

Sadly, this is what we will be facing as well-not a fix but a chance to prolong the baby's life. From what I have read, surgery for HLHS has been done successful for approximately the past 10 years. More children have been surviving, but the oldest are merely in their 20's. What a joy it would be to have your child alive to at least then.

Another bit of good news came to us as we were able to move into the Ronald McDonald House. The house is especially for children and their families who will be undergoing surgeries of all kinds here in Palo Alto. As you can imagine the waiting list to get in is extremely long and goes on for months. So instead of having to pay almost $900.00 per week for our stay we will be paying $70.00 per week. What a blessing!! The house is near the hospital and across the street from the Stanford Mall. The mall has high end stores such as Louis Vuitton, 7 for All Man Kind, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, etc. Many of the people that stay at the house take a walk across the street and just stroll this beautiful outdoor mall. I would hazard to say, that not many of them do much shopping at those high end places. We probably frequent the Gap or some of the other chain stores we find back home.

Another common thing around here are BMW's. This has to be the BMW capitol of the world-other than in Germany of course. There a tons of them! There are a fair share of Mercedes as well, but the smaller class BMW's are everywhere! One thing you don't see around here much are trucks. We saw a dually the other day and that really stood out.

Considering everything, this is a very nice place.

What is this hypo plastic left heart thing?

Basically, hypo plastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a congenital heart defect. In layman's terms, the left ventricle of the heart is characterized by it's small size and poor contractability. At least this is the case for our baby, who was diagnosed at approximately 20 weeks of gestation. This is a devastating diagnosis since there are only 3 basic options for the baby: terminate the pregnancy, go through a 3 stage pallative surgery or heart transplant or opt for compassionate care. The latter, would mean I would give birth to this beautiful little boy and then allow him to die naturally-no surgical intervention. Well, with 2 stubborn parents like us the only way we would go is to allow a skilled surgeon to perform the surgeries. This is the most difficult route but we know God is with us all. If you are wondering what causes this-no one knows for sure. Congenital heart defects are not in either side of our families. I was very sick in February, at a critical developmental time for the baby, so maybe this caused it. Regardless, we have had to take monthly visits to Albuquerque for Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. Beth Goens, to monitor the baby's heart via echocardiogram. Although Dr. Goens predicted that the baby's left ventricle would not grow and he would have aortic stenosis we did see his left ventricle grow. Unfortunately, the contractability of the ventricle itself is not good. Therefore, he will need these surgeries to survive. This week we will see a series of specialists to make sure his condition is what everyone says it is. We then prepare for the challenging road ahead-I know we will make it through. Everything so far says this is true.....

The Journey REALLY begins August 1, 2008

It was about 2:00 am on August 1, 2008 that our baby was telling me that he is just about ready to enter life outside the womb. I woke up Ernie and told him I thought we should visit the hospital to see what all these contractions were about. After quick showers, we got dressed and I packed MY bags we headed into town. Just as we were to turn towards the hospital I suggested we should just go to the office and print out payroll and other misc checks. I'm sure the guys would appreciate having their checks just in case we wouldn't be back! After a couple of hours at the office, we then were headed back to the hospital. My contractions had pretty much disappeared, and again, at the turn to the hospital, I decided we should just go home. So home, we went and I finally fell asleep around 5:00 am. After some fitfull sleep, I decided I had finally had enough and we got ready, AGAIN, and went in to town. I thought eating might help a bit. so we stopped at Sonic and tried to eat something. We finally checked into the hospital and I was promptly monitored. Yes, in fact I was having contractions. Dr. Nwakuchu came in and decided I needed to be on IV fluids. So there I lay, hours of waiting. It was just what I thought would happen and probably why I really didn't want to stop there in the first place. At about 1:30 Dr. Nwakuchu came in and strongly suggested that we get ourselves out to California. Wow! I really wasn't ready to be told that. Our scheduled date to leave was August 10th and the kids wouldn't be back from Mexico until August 4th! We really didn't feel like we had a choice, so off we went to the office to try and book some tickets out ASAP. Ernie went over to our friend, Scott Nichols, and asked if he would be able to let us use his plane to fly to Albuquerque. Our other friend, Matt Ormond, was to be the pilot. Yes, Ernie would have flown us, but his plane would have gotten us there in twice the time and besides he hasn't trained to fly a turbo prop yet. Anyhow, Scott said , "Yes" and we were set to go. The tickets were purchased and Ernie just had to go back home and pack his bag, stop at the bank, let Michael know what was going on, make sure we asked him to do some important things and we could head out. In the meantime, our friends, JC and LeAnn Robinson, contacted Scott and through LeAnn's insistance, asked him if we could just use the plane to go direct! Again, Scott generously agreed. Matt agreed and so now we were to fly straight over. I cancelled the tickets out of Albuquerque and we went to Grant County Airport where we took off at 7:00pm. After a short 3:10 minute flight, we were in San Jose. We got the rental car, found Matt and his son, Phillip, a hotel and went out to eat. At approx 2:00 am (home town time) we got to our hotel and managed to fall dead asleep! You are probably wondering about those contractions that started the whole series of events. Well, after all those IV fluids, they have mostly gone away! I had called the nurse coordinator at the Stanford Labor & Delivery Unit and she told me that although she heard of me, my file wasn't ready yet. If I go into labor during the weekend, I should just go in and see if they can go into the high risk ob nurses' office and locate my paperwork. Let's just pray that baby can hang out until sometime next week! Baby T-you are on your way......oh, we still don't have a name yet either!