It’s Sunday!

Some of you may remember this post. Sometimes we are called to Good Friday. And sometimes we are called to Easter Sunday. It’s Sunday here in the Plett Laurendeau residence. And the tulips are up!

On January 10th we felt as though our world shifted. We were told some shocking news about our unborn son and from that point until May 23rd we felt a heavy load that affected every aspect of our lives. Our son had a very large tumor on his back and we had no idea what our future would look like.

I was very guarded about showing a photo of the tumor on this blog as I felt rather protective of him. I didn’t want people to come on to gawk at my son. I showed close friends and family but that was it. That has changed a bit now and I’ll explain why later.* Below is what the tumor looked like in February. It might be tricky to understand the image completely but at the top is the back of his head and neck and then his shoulder comes off into his arm. As you can see, the tumor covers a large part of his back, basically from his neck down to his elbow. It also sticks out quite far. (If you click on the photo it opens up larger and the labels might help.)

The next photo is Jack directly out of my womb. Already not as dramatic.












And the third photo is Jack on Friday, May 23rd, a day after his birth – a completely different looking growth than what we saw in the womb.









We felt less worried the moment we saw it. And yet, we didn’t know. We waited. Yes, it seemed much less dramatic but perhaps it would still affect his heart a great deal. Or, perhaps he would still have to spend some time in NICU and be poked and prodded and tested. And perhaps he would still have to have surgery or not be able to go home with us as the growth would be too sensitive or tender.

But, just as our world changed dramatically on January 10th it did again on Friday, May 23rd at about 12:15. The pediatric surgeon made his way to our room to take a look at Jack. He removed his sleeper and turned him over. And basically the first words out of his mouth were "that’s it?" And we exhaled. He went on to tell us that he no longer thought it was an AVM at all (it was so hard to tell in ultrasound photos) but that it was an angioma and that it had shrunk dramatically since the first image. (Angiomas are a lot more common and a lot less frightening than AVMs.) In his opinion (and we’ll keep it since he’s one of the top pediatric surgeons in the city) Jack doesn’t even need to go for an MRI at this time and… HE CAN GO HOME WITH US. And there is a chance that he might never need surgery! (Or, if he does it will be more for cosmetic reasons.) Basically, right now we’re just to keep taking photos of the growth to see if it changes and then in a month we are to meet with the surgeon again to see where we go from there.

Life is just so very, very good. J-L and I had moments of dreaming of the best case scenario (maybe he can stay in the room with us! maybe he can go home with us! maybe the tumor won’t look all that bad after all!) but we rarely allowed ourselves to imagine it could be this good.

We’ll always remember Good Friday as we are called to do but for today we are putting on our Easter Sunday clothes and enjoying the tulips.

Thank you again for all of your prayers. We serve an amazing God. (One that shrinks tumors.)

* I felt it necessary to show the original tumor photo so that you could understand how frightening it looked and how banal it looks now.

A quick update

Just came home to water the flowers, grab a bite to eat, and drop a quick note. I'll keep it short:

Jack is great, Abby is great, Cynthia is great, the future for Jack...great.

I will post more (much much more, and photos too), but not for a couple of days as I help out at the hospital.

Thanks all of you. At the risk of sounding cheesy, we love you all.

Thank God.

J-L

May 22nd

So, here it is. Jack's birthday. I have to admit, back on January 10th I never thought we'd make it this far. But, in about 15 minutes we head off to drop our excited daughter (she's having a SLEEPOVER at Auntie Hedder and Uncle Cel's!) off and then we head off to the hospital. And we're equal parts excited and scared and deliriously happy.

And if I type more than that I'll likely start crying and these days it's hard for me to stop so I'd best keep this unemotional. There will be enough time for crying later.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. I have been completely overwhelmed by the amount of people who have taken the time out to visit this blog on a regular basis. We will definitely keep the blog updated as our adventure continues.

In the meantime, there's something I want to ask of you. (Besides continued prayer today.) I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind putting a postcard in the mail to us. I think it would be a very cool addition to Jack's memory box. I know there are a whole lot of you that have been reading this blog anonymously and that's fine, I read lots that way too. And frankly, if you don't know what to write that's fine too. Seriously, all you have to do is find a postcard from your city/state/province or whatever and put our names on it and send it off. You don't even need to sign it if you don't want to. Here's the address:

Cynthia Plett or J-L Laurendeau
221-294B BELIVEAU RD
WINNIPEG MB
R2M 1T4

For those of you who think I'm ridiculously unsafe for putting my address out on the internet, don't worry. That's not our address. Frankly, it's not even the address of anyone we know. Tricky, hey?

So, could you do that for us? Even if you live in the same city or we see you almost every week - I just think someday it would be nice to tell Jack about all the thoughts and prayers that people were sending our way from all over the world.

Thank you. And now, we're off. Hopefully the next time I do this it will be one-handed typing.

In thinking about tomorrow

Today might prove to be the very fastest day ever at the same time as being the very slowest.

Week 38 - The Last One, and a few random thoughts

Well, today was it. Our last ultrasound EVER. But before that, we had the PAC (pre-assessment clinic) with a nurse to fill us in on what to expect next week (next week, holy cow!). Where to check in, where the surgery will be, where the recovery room is, etc. All the fun stuff. For those of you that know me, I am a planner, so knowing more details about the c-section was very good.


The ultrasound. Nurse L was back, and it was very good to have her do the last ultrasound; it wouldn't feel right if someone else did it. Jack is really good, and quite big. Our boy hit the 8 lb. mark, and has these crazy big cheeks. His heart and blood flow are great. In fact, Doctor C even mentioned the chance that Jack may not need to go into either the NICU or T1 (intermediate care) after his birth, that he may actually be able to stay in Cynthia's room AND may be able to come home with us when Cynthia is released from the hospital. I have to say a tear rolled down my cheek as I thought of Jack being able to sleep with his Mommy his first night. But again, there are no guarantees, but it sure does seem promising.


It sunk in today as we were discussing the surgery with the nurse; we are having another baby. A boy. A son to carry on my family name. A boy named after his Pepere. You have no idea how proud that makes me. It never really mattered to me about having a boy until we found out that Jack was, well, Jack. Believe me, I would have been over the moon with another girl, but this is really cool on a whole other level.


I am so proud of Cynthia. This pregnancy has not been easy on her, for many reasons. But she has been so strong throughout it that I can't help but sing her praise. Moodge, once again, thank you for making me a father, and for enduring two very difficult pregnancies. You are the best.


We will talk again soon. Thanks for stopping by, we appreciate it.


J-L

We are down to single digits!

Yikes!

Random thought that occurred to me last night as I tossed and turned: You know that ad on tv where they show how the bed partner won't feel the other person's movements? And they prove it with the glass of wine and the person jumping? I'd like to see it redone with a 9-month pregnant woman trying to turn over in bed. I bet you they'd be cleaning up wine faster than you can say "bowling ball mattress".

Week 37 - And then there was one

We had the second to last ultrasound this afternoon, and all is well. Jack now weighs 7 lbs 8 oz., and is still breech, but moving like crazy and causing his Mommy to lose her breath more and more. In fact, Doctor C. didn't even talk about TH today, which is definitely a first for us. Our fantastic Nurse L. was away sick, and while her replacement was a nice enough lady, she was no L. We really missed her today. She has become an integral part of all this, and all for the right reasons. We hope she is back for next week.

Doctor K and Doctor C will be in and out of the hospital over the next 14 days. For a planner like me, this is a little disconcerting, because I need to know how things will unfold (will we make it to the 22nd, will both doctors be there, etc.). But alas, there is nothing I can do; no answers once again. It still bothers me to not have any answers to my 7 million questions, so we'll just have to wait and see, again.

Next Thursday is our PAC (pre-admission clinic) for the surgery and the aforementioned last ultrasound. I can't believe that 17+ weeks have passed since we found out about TH. And now, in 2 weeks we will get to meet our little boy. We. Can't. Wait.

I have to say it again; thanks so much for your prayers and positive thoughts. We are grateful for them and for you.

J-L

16 more days

Did you know that a hamster's gestation period is 16 days? I'm not saying I'd LIKE for ours to be that small (how would you possibly get mentally prepared?) but I'm not so sure that I'm crazy about 266 days either. (Although, I know, it could be worse: elephants? Around 645 days. Ugh.)

And thus concludes your science lesson for today.

There's an update, must be Thursday (Week 36)

3 weeks from today our son will be born. Wow. That's THIS month. Which, is good 'cause I'm pretty much ready to be able to see my feet again and to be able to breathe with some normality.

The appointment went well today. He's still doing well. Yes, TH is still there but outside of that everything is good and normal.

He's got quite the chubby cheeks, our boy. (Stay tuned for an updated ultrasound photo, hopefully tonight.) He's right around 7 pounds. Apparently that's fairly average but with 3 weeks still to grow I'd say there's a definite probability that he will be heavier at birth than his sister (7 lbs. 13 oz.)

Interesting to note: He is still breech. Most babies (to the tune of 94% according to our doctor) have turned by this point in the pregnancy. Only 3% more turn in the next 3 weeks. Apparently he's decided that he wants to be born by caesarean section even if TH weren't in the picture.