Update

We went to the perinatologist on Wednesday July 6th. The markers of the choroid plexus cysts were still there. I was hoping they would be gone in the two weeks since the last scan. But the doctors say they usually don't disappear til 26-32 weeks. Anyway, the scan with the doctor was uneventful besides seeing the cysts again. He said he did not see anything wrong with any of the other main organs and the baby was measuring fine. For a baby with Trisomy 18, he said, you would usually see many other gross anomalies with the cysts. He does want to rescan me at 26 weeks to see if the cysts were still there. That will be August 31st. This doctor was very short and dry unlike my ob/gyn. Now that we have had some time to let this sink all in, I will have many questions for my ob/gyn when I see him this month. We are so thankful that he did not see any other markers. We are also so thankful for all the concerns and prayers we have received from all our friends and family. We will keep you updated.

News...

I went in to have my 16 week exam yesterday which included an ultrasound . During the ultrasound, they saw
a choroid plexus cyst on the brain. This "marker" has been connected possibly having a child having some form of
chromosome abnormality (like Down syndrome). No other markers were detected during the ultrasound or previous ultrasounds as far as I know. The baby having Down's syndrome went from 1/3000 to 1/100. My doctor says many times, if no other "markers" are found, these cysts go away between 24-32 weeks.

In about two weeks we will be having a very detailed scan with a perinatologist that will give us a better
idea. After those results and talking with the doctor we will be given the option to do an amniocentesis, which is consider 99% accurate, the scans are still very accurate but not as accurate. An amniocentesis involves slight risk, so we will decide after the scan results.

I've tried to be as accurate as possible from the top of my head with this information. When the doctor was talking to me, my head was spinning and everything went into slow motion, lots of tears were shed.

We're so blessed to have you guys as support as we place our trust in the
Lord. Liz

My Famous Hubby

Student Screams, 'I Need My Library!': MyFoxHOUSTON.com

Song of the Siren

Big News!!!

I quit TCH. Yes, almost 4 years of working at Texas Children's Hospital, I quit, my last day being May 19th. My friends at work brought lunch and brought cupcakes and gave me nice card they all signed. So sweet!!! I will miss TCH, mostly my awesome coworkers. The main reason I quit is because the hospital took the vanpool away this past April. So for two months I have been cummutting by myself which is about an hour commute plus paying the $12 parking to get to work, round trip, around 59 miles. When I had a free ride for almost 4 years with the vanpool, I could not take it and started applying at Methodist Willowbrook. I started May 23rd and now I have a 7 minute commute, round trip, 5.1 miles. My position is not a NICU nurse but a transitional nurse. Basically I will go to every delivery and transition the baby and either send it to the NICU or back to the mom. My first week was all in the classroom last week. Yesterday, Sunday, was my first day on the unit. I went to 3 deliveries-one set of twins. It was very different! We were busy. I would explain more but I don't want to get in trouble or get fired for HIPPA reasons.

Also this past Saturday was my birthday celebration at my parents house. We all had a good time and ate way too much. My mom is the best cook. She made my request of shish kabob, slaw, chinese rice, rolls and my birthday cake was LAVA an ancient Mears receipe that is the best. Plus Ryan and I, or should I say, Guen, revealed the great news! See pics below. Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend.

Hi

A few excited things have been occuring at the Fennell household. First off, Ryan and I went on a date this past Saturday night. We went to Roller Derby!!!!! Yes, very interesting and fun. I think I am trying out next Saturday. The only thing is I can barely walk on my own two feet much less with wheels on the bottom. We went out to dinner before at the Saltgrass. It is one of the only restaurants close to the new arena. They just recently moved the Roller Derby from down in the Washington St area up northside. We went with Chris Homer too and some of Ryan's work friends. Tootie and Chad her boyfriend came to babysit. My parents were so crushed they were not asked to babysit, they came over anyways. So there were 4 people watching Guen, that spoiled girl. The weekend before was Tootie's birthday. We had a delcious homemade lunch prepared by mom and opened prezzies. It was a good time and my sister Missy came into town too so it was great. This past Sunday was Guen's first Easter egg hunt and, boy, did she catch on real quick. It was with our Sunday school group at a park by our house. The weather was perfect!!! Here are some pics to keep you occupied til next write. Love, Liz

Wowzers!

It is been exactly a month since I posted. I need to get on the ball cause I have no excuse. I guess it is that not much is going on recently that has been exciting enough to post. But on Sunday, my sweet girl turned 18 months. She is getting so big and has mastered many words. Of course these words are hard to understand unless you are around her a bunch. She knows: park, bus, school, mailman, Elmo, ball, please, bird, moo, baaa, ruff, mama, dada, papaw, memaw, more, hi, hey, car and her favorite word --no. She loves to eat meat, cheese and any kind of carb. She loves to brush her teeth. She know most of her body parts especially her belly button, she loves to show that. When I am off, we go to the park almost daily. She wears a 6.5 shoe. She had her 18 month checkup and is 75% in height and weight and 90% in head circumference. That comes from the side of the Mears family. We have gone to the zoo and out to eat a few times recently and she was well behaved.

About us....My vanpool to Texas Childrens, that I have used for 3 years, was nixed due to the economy, the hospital took it away. I am now driving myself starting April 1st and really want to find a job at Methodist Willowbrook which is 5 minutes away from my house when their NICU expands this fall. Ryan is still having aches/pains with his back 6 months post op so we went back to his surgeon and had back xrays again. Basically he believes that his back is healed but it is just going to take longer for the nerves to rejuvenate and gave him another course of steriods. He said that if his back continues to feel the way it does at a year mark that he can do a CT scan. He offered to do it now but he truly feels like it is healed. He offered physical therapy but says that Ryan is doing all the right things with his exercising so if we did not want to do it, that would be fine. So we are just saying our prayers that he will feel better with time. Here are some pics to tied you over til next month unless something crazy exciting happens this month. It is my sister's birthday this coming weekend so there may be another post sooner than later.