Friday, April 6, 2012

Ultrasound - January 12, 2012

Dear Charli,

I attended your 29th week ultrasound with your Mommy on January 12, 2012. Your ultrasound tech at the time was so patient it seemed, taking many many measurements and printing lots of photos to share. The sweetest and my favorite of all was printed that day:




Looking at you that day we never imagined anything could be wrong. You appeared chubby and healthy and so perfect. After viewing many images we were sent into another room to wait for the doctor. Dr. Kirchner wanted to see us before we left. We were later glad we didn't know ahead of time that Thursdays are not a day she is in the office or we might have been concerned. We didn't realize it was unusual for her to be called in after an ultrasound. So your mom and I waited, not worried or concerned, just at the time wishing we could leave and get back to work. Little did we know Dr. Kirchner was arriving with the news that something was not right according to the ultrasound images.

Dr. Kirchner arrived carrying some photos from the ultrasound. She shared with your Mommy that she would need a level 2 ultrasound to look more closely at your stomach and intestines. A "double bubble" seemed to be evident from the ultrasound. She said the words "duodenal atresia" as well as another term but it wouldn't be until much later and after hearing those words a few more times that we remembered what the words were or what they meant. I remember trying hard not to cry, and failing, and trying to understand all she said.

Your mommy and I began to google "double bubble" because those were the only words Dr. Kirchner said that day we could remember. The results of those internet searches raised  many questions that your Mommy wrote  down and asked Dr. Kirchner, who so patiently answered all of them.

We spent the next week googling, praying, writing down questions and waiting for the next ultrasound that we hoped would reveal all was well.

Love,
Grammy

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