Cautiously Optimistic

Last week, the word for the day was befuddled.  Doctors were stumped about what condition or skeletal dysplasia may be affecting Will and it left us feeling torn.  In some ways, we were optimistic that he wasn't a textbook case.  In other ways, it was disheartening because it meant that we can't prepare ourselves solely for the osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) journey we thought we were on.

Today, I think the words for the day are cautiously optimistic.  We had another appointment and yet another ultrasound to check in on our little boy.  Here are some of the stats / updates from today's appointment:

• They estimate that Will weighs just over six pounds.  Since he's 35 weeks old, that actually puts him in the above average category in weight.  I'm really happy about this.   
• Will is laying in a head down position on his left side.  Unfortunately, this means that we couldn't get good images of his left femur and humerus.  These are the two long bones that have suspected fractures, and the femur was measuring really far behind at the last appointment.  Because we couldn't see this side of his body today, we aren't really sure what's going on with these bones.  That uncertainty nags at me, BUT...
• His right femur was measuring pretty close to on target for his gestational age.  We could see some mild bowing but no obvious fractures. His right humerus, tibia and fibula also looked good.  
• When you use all of today's measurements combined, Will is in the 74th percentile when compared to other babies his age.  I am LOVING that number.  Seriously.
• His skull and spine also looked good.
• Now, for the big measurement we were so anxious about!  Will's abdomen measured about 33 centimeters in circumference.  His chest measured somewhere between 22-24 centimeters.  Based on this chart, that's still under most babies his age that measure somewhere around 28 centimeters.  The good news is that today's ratio is somewhere between 0.67 and 0.73.  The last time we had this calculated it was 0.45, so I'm taking today's measurements as a VERY good source of hope.  Given that most doctors say that anything less than 0.6 is lethal,  I'm CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC about today's results!  Praise God for this bit of positive news and optimism that we have been so severely lacking the past few months.
• And the most charming update was we got to see that Will has quite the head of hair and he was also blinking at us!  :)  

Back to the numbers for a second...the tricky part to all of these measurements is that the bigger he gets the more difficult it becomes to get decent measurements.  Ultrasound is only a tool; it's not perfect and it may not be highly accurate at this point.  It's a good reference point, though, and we are happy it's there to help guide some decision making.  

Speaking of making decisions, THANK YOU to everyone that messaged me with their feedback on our big c-section vs natural delivery decision.  The overwhelming majority of you said we should absolutely go in the direction of c-section.  I had been leaning this way, too, and I'm happy to say that today we officially made the decision that we are indeed going to have a c-section.  We had a very, very long talk with the doctor about it, and we feel it's the best overall decision for everyone involved.  We are still scheduled to deliver Will on May 2 around 1:00 PM!  That's one week before my due date, so who knows if he'll hang out until then, but either way it will be a c-section for us!  I'm beyond relieved to have this decision and topic of discussion off our plate.

So, that's the update from today's appointment.  I actually left feeling somewhat better!  That's such a change from the way I usually feel after these appointments and I truly feel that God's hand continues to be at work with our precious boy.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support!