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.