I have been looking forward to this date and dreading it. I know a lot of moms who like to take monthly pictures of their babies and post updates (I’m the same way). 6 months marks the half birthday, but what else makes this day so special for us?
I touched base a little bit in my last post about Theresa needing surgery for her kidney. I wanted to go more in detail about it now because it’s been on my mind and in my heart recently. At my 20 week anatomy scan with her, we found out that one of her kidneys was measuring a little off and we got sent to a specialist to check on it, with reassurance from the doctor that most of the time it’s nothing, and the image was just misread.
After being sent to the specialist and talking to that doctor I was surprised and nervous to hear that something was actually wrong with my baby’s kidney and it may require surgery right after birth. Unfortunately, there are not any doctors close to where we live that specialize in that subject, so we were facing the possibility of having to give birth at a hospital 2 hours away from home. We traveled to that hospital over the summer to meet with two doctors and go over what they thought, and to our relief, we were told that I could have Theresa at our local hospital, but she would need to have some tests done once she was born and visit the specialist when they drove out to the clinic in our area for checkups every few months. She was also put on preventative antibiotics when she was around 2 months old and has been on them since.
At the time, I was nervous and upset about the unknown of her condition, but after doing research and talking to several doctors about it, I grew to accept it and didn’t really worry about it until after we could get more information once she was born. We are so lucky that it’s a minor medical condition that can be fixed, and is not life threatening. We know it could be much worse. I’m so grateful for the team of doctors that have taken care of her and have answered all our questions.
When Theresa met with her doctor in January it was determined that she would need surgery to help her kidney. She needs anesthesia for it so they were waiting for her to turn 6 months old for her to be eligible to have the surgery. We are going to the hospital that is 2 hours away for the surgery and because of the current situation as a result of Covid-19, only one of us can be with her at a time.
My baby is 6 months old today and is now old enough to have that surgery. With it, this problem that we have been dealing with will hopefully be solved without any further complications, and she can have a normal life. All the months of worry and planning and making sure she took her medicine will come to an end and we can relax knowing that she is healthy.
Looking at her no one would know she has this health condition. She’s the happiest most content baby and is thriving. We’ve been lucky that she has not had any infections or gotten sick and the preventive medicine has done it’s job.
I hope you all enjoy the weekend! Please keep my family in your prayers, and you all will be in mine.
~Michelle
