Update week 30

This week marked week 30 in Emily's pregnancy with Lily. We had a doctor's visit on Thursday and we were lucky enough to get another sneak peak at Lily. The ultrasound tech was nice enough to take some pictures with the 3-D ultrasound. At first Lil' Lily didn't want to take her hands away from her face but after a little persuasion, she decided to be a good girl and show off her little face. Not much else was determined at the appointment except for Lily now weighs an estimated 3 .lbs 12 oz. She is slightly above average in weight at this point which is great news. The doctors want her to get as big as possible and are hoping Emily goes full term with the pregnancy. They feel the bigger and stronger she is the better she will handle the treatment for her heart condition once she's out. Emily and I have been doing lots of work on the nursery and after the crib arrives today we should have everything together. I will post some pictures early next week of the nursery. Get ready for lots of pink!

Baby Shower

This past Sunday our family and friends had a baby shower for Emily and Lily. Despite blizzard-like weather conditions, many people showed up to help welcome Lily into the world. The shower went well and hopefully everyone had fun. We were sorry we missed those of you who could not be there. What a rotten day for a snow storm! Emily loved all the presents and we both really appreciate all the wonderful gifts. Lily already has more cloths and better toys then I'll ever have. Our house, especially our living room, looks like a pink bomb exploded inside. I am going to track some mud in on the carpet and leave my hammer on the coffee table just to keep things balanced. Thanks again for everyone who made it through the ice and snow to help us celebrate on Sunday. Only two more months to go!

Week 28 Update

I apologize to those of you who check this site weekly expecting updates on the progress of Lil' Lily and Emily's pregnancy. We had a major computer meltdown(expained on the O-Mazing blog in detail) which prevented us from using our computer for two weeks. Last week we had another ultrasound down on Lily to check on her progress. Once I have the ability to scan photos again, hopefully this weekend, I will post a new ultrasound picture of Lily. During our doctor's visit last week, they were able to estimate her weight from ultrasound measurements at 2 lbs 8 oz. This is more then double the size she was 4-5 weeks ago from the last appointment. She was very active during the ultrasound and gave the doctor and ultrasound tech a fit when they were trying to do the complete the scans. She wouldn't stay put in one place for more then a few seconds. It appeared she was doing her daily aerobics class right when we needed her to settle down. I hope this isn't a sign for things to come in the future. I'm sure she will be well behaived like her parents. :) This past Monday marked the start of week 28. Today we made a trip to the Cleveland Clinic main campus to meet with the pediactric cardiology specialist for an echocardiogram of Lily's heart. It appeared that we again caught her during her daily aerobics class. She didn't sit still long enough for the doctor to obtain a lot of great heart images. We will be back in 4 weeks to see him again for another echocardiogram. That will be during week 32! It's amazing how fast it is going. I hope to post a picture this weekend of Lily's last ultrasound. Also, this weekend we plan on doing a lot of work on the nursery so when it is completed, I will snap a few photos to share with everyone as well.

Week 25 Update

This past Monday marked the start of week 26 in Emily's pregnacy. On Wednesday we visited the doctor for a quick check-up for Mom and for baby. Lily's heart rate was 135 beats/minute which the doctor thought was good. Everyone's doing well other then some sleepless nights for Emily. Emily has "slowly" been building up Lily's wardrobe. She currently has nicer cloths then I'll ever have. We have just finished a few other home projects up so now it's time to start focusing on getting the nursery finished. I see a lot of pink paint in my future. Above is a picture I took of Emily while at the doctor's office with my phone. She was less then thrilled to pose for this picture but she still couldn't keep herself from smiling. Next Thursday we have another doctor's appointment where they will perform an ultrasound on Lily. Hopefully that means we'll have some new pictures to post of her. The last pictures were almost a month ago so it should be neat to compare them and see how much she's grown. Stay tuned.....

Week 23 update

I just wanted to give a short update on Lily's progress. This Monday was the start of week 23 for Emily in her pregnancy. Last Thursday we went to the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus in downtown Cleveland. We visited again with the Pediatric Heart Specialist that we met with once before. He did the echocardiogram and then we talked along time with him about Lily's heart condition. He seemed very optimistic and thought she was progressing fine. The diagnosis has not changed and they still are calling her condition Pulmonary Atresia. He told us that nothing will be certain until she is born and they can do a scan of her heart when she is outside the womb. Once she is born they will be able to get the best images of her heart and then they will decide what surgeries will be necessary. We also met with another heart specialist that day and most importantly the surgeon who will be doing the heart surgeries on Lily if they are necessary. Despite being at the hospital the entire night before, he still sat and talked with us for over an hour and explained all of the scenarios he thought were possible. We were very pleased the doctors all took a lot of time to answer all of our questions. The entire staff at the clinic has been amazing and very supportive. We left the clinic on Thursday feeling the best we have felt about this situation in a long time. All of the doctor's have been very sympathetic but very confident at the same time that they will be prepared to get her in good health. We are so happy we have such a great team looking after Lil' Lily. On a side note, Emily is working hard to build Lily's wardrobe up. Lily's already got more cloths then I will ever have. :)

Monday, November 5th will be the start of week 24!

Lily Marie Onderko - 22 weeks in 3-D

Today Emily had an ultrasound done to check on Lily's progress. Emily, my mom, and I went to the doctor's office today hoping we may get to see a good picture of the baby and hopeful bring a picture or two home to share with everyone. To our surprise, we felt like we were at a photoshoot for a calender. The ultrasound technician was very nice and took probably two dozen images of Lily including her head, hands, feet, heart, stomach, spine, and full body profile. The images were really clear 2-D images and I was really excited when I saw them. That was nothing compared to what I was about to see. Suddenly 3-D images of Lily started popping up on the screen of her head, face, and hands. It was amazing, shocking, and even a little spooky to see. It was like there was a window in Emily's stomach and we could look right in to Lily. Lily is now 22 weeks (out of 40 weeks) and has an estimated weight of 1.2 lbs. She is still very tiny but really resembles a child now. She was moving around, grabbing her feet, yawning, and putting her hands on her head and face. The 3-D images looked like the old clay-mation movies. I was so excited to see her face for the first time! Everything went well and she is progressing as normal. We have a visit on Thursday with the heart specialist at the Cleveland Clinic. Another echocardiogram will be done to check on the condition of her heart. We are hoping to find out more about her diagnosis and on the surgeries she will need after she is born. Despite her heart condition, its so evident that Lily is a fighter and a real fire ball. She was so active today during the scan that she was making me tired. I don't think she's going to let a "little" heart condition stop her from doing anything. Check back for more details from our next doctor's visit this Thursday.

Glamour Shots - Week 20

I know I said I wouldn't have a new Ultrasound image of Lily for a few weeks but we were luckly enough to get an updated image of Lily during week 20. Each time, she is just a little bigger and the pictures become clearer. The ultrasound image above shows a side profile of Lily with her hands reaching to the sky. No doubt she is reaching out to tell Mom to take it easy on all the spicy food. Lily looks happy and healthy and by the looks of that bicept, pretty lean and fit. All of the punching and kicking in Emily's stomach has really benefited her training program. Those arms look pretty short though. Sorry Lily, looks like you might take after your Papa! We've got a few doctors appointments fast approaching so hopefully we'll get a few more pics of Lily to post.

Update on Lily

This week, Emily reached week 20 in her pregnancy. That means we are half way to delivery date and in 20 short weeks Little Lily will make her grand entrance. For now, there is no new updates from the doctor. Our next appointment and ultrasound will be on October 23. That means we'll have a new picture of Lily to post. Hopefully we can get one of her smiling. Emily is doing well and we can actually at times, feel the baby kicking. The above image is what I imagine Lily will look like when she's out. I think she look's like me. Let me know what you think.

Pulmonary Atresia Diagram

Hello everyone, thanks for checking back in at Lily's Pad. Above is a diagram of the heart but shown in a more helpful and less confusing manner. The heart has 4 chambers and you can see the 4 chambers are shown as rooms in a house. Lily's heart does not have the lower left hand room which represents the right ventricle. This effects how the blood will flow back into her heart after it is pumped through her body. There is no way to create this fourth chamber so the doctors will basically have to rewire the heart to function on 2 chambers. They will need to do three separate open heart surgeries to complete this process. The first surgery will be within three days of Lily's birth. The second surgery will come at about 6 months. The third will happen at about 4-6 years of age. Please visit the links below for more information. Please keep checking for more postings. I plan on posting more information about Lily's condition, her progress and future ultrasounds, pictures of the nursery(after I finish it....actually maybe after I start it!) and other fun or interesting things that might come up with Emily's pregnacy in the next few months. I am sure Emily will roll her eyes when she reads that line! Anyways, here are a few links:

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1303

http://texasheart.org/HIC/Topics/Cond/patresia.cfm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulmonary_atresia

Look what's Inside!

Lily at 8-9 weeks

Lily at 18 weeks

Most of you have seen these pictures but I thought I would put them out there for those of you who missed them on my personal blog, O-Mazing: http://www.jonderko.blogspot.com/ The next posting I make will probably contain information on Lily's heart condition known as Pulmonary Atresia. This condition is sometimes called Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome but is not really the proper medical term. Pulmonary Atresia falls into the group of conditions known as Congenital Heart Disease and/or Congenital Heart Defects. Check out the links on the top right hand side and the web searches on the lower right hand side of the blog for now. I plan on posting tons on information for anyone interested in doing some reading. Thanks for visiting.