Thursday, September 24, 2009

I have an announcement to make. Not that it will be as big a surprise to you my cyber-friends as it was to my in-laws on Monday night, but I am now 26 weeks pregnant.
My husband and I have been playing a game. We thought it would be funny not to tell anyone unless they flat out asked us "Are you pregnant?" I guess we're cruel. We thought it would be fun to watch people squirm. Let's face it - you've either got to be really brave or really rude to ask a woman if she's pregnant. So, that's what we've been doing. Slowly a few people have caught on, but my in-laws have not known. Nearly 7 months into this thing, I'm showing, we've been dropping hints like crazy and they hadn't caught on. So we finally gave in and told them.

Of course I can confide to this group that beneath the surface there have been a lot of other reasons to keep things on the down low. The intense fear I have for one thing. I just haven't wanted to have to hash over things and answer questions over and over again about all the possible problems we might have. People are well-meaning. I just haven't wanted to deal with all that. Including all those people who think we're crazy to be having another child anyway.

It's been an emotional roller-coaster for me. Sometimes scared and worried. Sometimes just excited for our new little girl to come. We've had a few scares along the way, but everything has been fine and is fine now. But I'm also at the point where things have happened in my past pregnancies, (preterm labor resulting in losing a baby, other issues causing pre-term emergency c-section, miscarriage, etc.) which makes me a little nervous. I can't help but be a little paranoid and overly cautious.
Today was 'walk your kid to school day' and I drove anyway. I feel a little guilty about that. But it is painful for me to walk, and I'm too scared to 'push' anything.....I'm sure many of you, if not all of you can relate.

I wanted to ask you all about something that was brought up to us a few months ago. Someone mentioned the umbilical cord blood and told us that there have been cases where cord blood has 'cured' cerebral palsy. Have any of you heard anything, or do you know anything about using cord blood? I've done a lot of research about it on the internet. There actually are stories about CP 'going away' after treatment. But pretty much everything I've found on the subject has been produced by the blood banking companies -- none of it negative. It just seems too good to be true -or as easy as they make it sound. There's got to be more to it. We've got an appointment with a neurologist at Primary Children's in a couple weeks to find out about it. I'm trying to build a good detailed list of questions to ask. I have no idea yet if it's something I want to try or not. But I really want to learn more about it. From what I can tell, it has no risk, for the new baby. If it could help MK even just improve the slightest bit, I feel like maybe I should give it a try. On the other hand, it seems so new. Is it safe? What are the risks anyway? What is the procedure? ya know? Do any of you know anything, or do you have any good questions for me to add to my list?

Thanks for listening. I'll appreciate any input you can give.

7 comments:

Kristyn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Happy in Holland said...

CONGRATULATIONS!!! That is so exciting! I hope and pray that all goes well for you guys. My husband and I also want to do that "game" for our next pregnancy. I happen to "show" like immediately so we will see how far I get before someone says something. I have heard the same thing about CP and cord blood banking, but I don't really know much about it. It will be interesting to see what you find out. Good luck with everything!

Melissa said...

Congrats!!! I am so amazed that some of your family didn't guess before that! I think it was a funny idea to see what would happen! I don't know anything about cord blood as well, but please share what you do find out!

Katie said...

Hooray for you guys!! I totally understand your worries. I think we all do. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. You are so funny! I can't believe you are so far along and they didn't know. I wish I knew more about cord blood. It seems to me that it couldn't possibly cure CP. JT has CP because he has brain damage. No amount of cord blood could bring that back so how could it cure him?

Unknown said...

There is a study taking place at Duke Univ. to treat cerebral palsy using cord blood. I believe about 100 kids have been treated so far. Because it's in the clinical phase there is no proven "cure", but families are seeing improvements. The results are encouraging, but they vary from child to child.

It's important to know two things 1) to be in the study you have to have your child's own cord blood -- a sibling's or a donated unit can not be used. 2) the treatment is safe. these kids don't have blood disorders. giving them their own blood back is not harmful.

Families are sharing their progress on blogs and many are trying to raise money because participation in the study is expensive and not covered by insurance (it's experimental). Here are a few sites --

http://home.comcast.net/~dylancc/
http://cadyscause.blogspot.com/
http://www.dallashextellfoundation.org/our_kids

Hope this helps and congrats!

tiptoe mama said...

oh thank you thank you for the information. I am so excited to read the blogs of the kids going through treatment. I'm sure it will bring lots of things to light.

and to answer other questions... HOW IT WORKS...at least what I understand from the research I've done. The stem cells in the umbilical cord blood, build new tissues and brain cells to replace the damaged ones. Almost as if they are creating the brain cells for the first time- like they work for the baby. Studies in rats have even shown that they know exactly how to find their way to the damaged part of the brain to rebuild the damaged brain.

Lori said...

CONGRATS!!!! I can completely understand the worry and stress that comes with the second pregnancy after the trials and worries you had with your first.

Looks like everyone has answered your question, so once again CONGRATS!