Anna at 37 weeks

A common sight in our house these days!

Nearly complete changing table for little Pitrone by Papa Nicholas

One week away and counting...

And that would be one week from the due date for Baby Pitrone!  Unreal to think about as we approach that day.  Every morning I wake up and think, "this could be the day" - the day when everything in life changes in some way.  A good way, but scary of course.  It is also a reminder that we are not in control of the events to come.  I'd love to be able to prepare and know the how and the when and be ready for the pain and the decisions in labor, but that's not the way it works.  For now, baby seems quite content to stay right where she is.  The lady at the candy store this weekend gave me a sideways look and predicted that I'd deliver on Tuesday... and she's only been wrong four times!!!  Oh, my.  Well, make that five.  And yes, the candy was for the baby, though I chose all my favorites.  It was my 30th birthday, after all... have to live a little. :)

So before I get too tired or wrapped up in some activity of nesting, I thought I'd update you all a bit on what we know now.  At our last meeting with the cardiologist, she was quite encouraging and gave us quite a bit of hope that because of the large size of baby's VSD (the hole in her heart between ventricles), the chances look good that the first surgery at birth may not be necessary.  In essence, one of her three (!) heart defects may actually prevent the need for surgery!  This obviously is what we hope and pray for, though of course we just wait.

Upon birth - and we are assuming that unless there are signs of distress or unless she wants to hang out in there for an extra couple weeks, we will be able to go through with a "regular" delivery - we will have a few moments together and then baby and Nick will go to the neonatal intensive care unit for testing and monitoring and an eventual echocardiogram.  They will be watching her breathing and the levels of oxygen in her blood.  The echocardiogram will be given to help the surgeons decide on if they are comfortable with forgoing the first surgery, and waiting until the 6 month surgery.  There is a chance that after testing and monitoring, baby will be able to return to my room and possibly be discharged at the same time.  That would be absolutely wonderful.

Of course in all of this there is no way to predict, so we just ask for your prayers and support in these days.  We're very excited as we wait for her arrival.  We'll be sure to post an announcement and pics when we're able to, though we're not planning to prioritize blogging and facebook updates in those first pivotal hours and days which will be very precious to us.

Thank you all... with love from the Pitrones!