Update

Well, I just wanted to update you all on information about Myles. Lanny and I went to a genetic counselor last week to discuss what happened to Myles. The counselor told us that his chromosomes were fine. They all matched up and there weren't any translocations. She suggested that what happened with Myles probably just happened in him since we don't have any issues in either side of our family. She suggested that we get out kidneys checked out to make sure we weren't living with a kidney issue and don't know it. We thought that was a great idea and are wondering why we didn't think of it first.

We then asked her what our chances of this reoccurring were and she said little to 25%. While that sounds high, one of Lanny's friends said yeah but think about it like this...you have a 75% chance that the next baby will live. Who knows what the future holds for us, but for know we are thankful that we got the chance to meet with the counselor and find out all we could about Myles.

Thanks again for all the support and prayers on our behalf.

We love you!!

J and L

A Picture of Myles

Myles Porter Gridley

Myles Porter Gridley was born on November 12th at 12:21 pm, he weighed 4 lbs and was 16 inches long. He fought for 8 hours and was very brave. We were able to hold him, love him and say our goodbyes.

We will have a visitation on Sunday from 2 to 5 PM in Wellington at Day Funeral Home, 1030 Mission Road, Wellington KS for more information go to http://www.dayfuneralhome.info/

We request in lieu of flowers send a donation to:

Wesley Neonatal Special Nursery
550 N Hillside
Wichita KS 67214
ATTN: Cindy Harman or can be left in care of the funeral home.

We will have a private graveside service on Monday. Thanks again to everyone for your continued prayers and support.

Love

Lanny and Jenny

BPP

Sorry for being so late with this post but it's been a busy couple of days for us. We went in on Thursday afternoon for our Biophysical Profile thinking this might be the day we have the baby but hoping he would be able to stay in my tummy just a little longer. Michele (our favorite tech) came to get us, which we were pretty excited about since we think she is just so good at her job.

She took us back to do the sonogram and started the test. She checked the fluid and it was low like last week, about 3.5 cm is all we have left right now. It looked like there was one pocket of a little over 2 cm. Anyway, Michele mentioned the issue with the baby's stomach (a possible mass on his stomach) and said that maybe the issue is just bits in the amniotic fluid dead skin cells and stuff. She had me get on my side and was hoping that the "stuff" would move around and not be a mass...well guess what...it did move and we then told Michele how much we appreciate her and how hard she works to find out what she is looking at, she is the one who found the horseshoe kidney.

She checked out the rest of him, what she could see anyway. She mentioned that it is getting harder to see him clearly because his bones are calcifying and she is can't see through them anymore. His heart rate was about 135 and they had us do the non-stress test again just to make sure everything was still going well. We went in there and he was really quiet and didn't move much and then all of a sudden he started moving all around pushing on the belts and his heart rate when up to the 150's and even at one point up to 170's but then he dropped back down to the 135's and just relaxed. The nurse said, "You have such a good boy in there!" I laughed and said "Really, really...he seems pretty ornery to me." She then said, "Well, yeah but at least he performs well when you need him to." "True" I said and laughed. So for now we are just waiting and hoping things all work out for the best!

We have a full sonogram and appt. with Dr. O'Hara on Tuesday so we will see how much he is weighing and hopefully get a better look at the kidneys. Again, please keep us in your prayers! He is surprising the doctors with how well he is doing, as you know they thought we would be delivering him several weeks ago so he is already a miracle in our eyes! We just want to keep that trend continuing!

Thanks for all the encouraging comments!

Love you all!!

J, L and baby G

OB appt. & BPP

On Tuesday (the 28th) we had an OB appt with Dr. Lopez and she told us that at the last BPP we had that Dr. O'Hara was a little concerned about the baby's stomach bubble, that it looked a little larger than normal and that the baby's size was in the 15th percentile (which is lower than we would like to see). The stomach issue seemed minor and was something they were going to keep their eye on...the bigger issue was his growth, or lack there of actually.

Today we had a BPP and the baby was moving around a lot which was good because it seems like he has been sleeping or resting during the sonogram. He was kicking the technician's wand during the test. There was an issue with the amniotic fluid, it was a little low so they had us go back and do a non-stress test. During the test the baby was moving all around and kicking the fetal monitor (he is like his mom, he doesn't like tight things on him). He then got the hiccups, which was good for me to hear and feel because I had felt those for a while but wasn't sure if it was hiccups or what was going on in there. :) I also had a contraction during the test which was a weird and scary feeling, but totally normal the nurse said. After about 20 minutes the nurse came in and took me off the machine. She gave the readings to Dr. O'Hara and we heard her say, "What a good boy!!". Then the nurse came back in and said that he did a great job with how active he was being during the test.

For now we are continuing with our weekly BPP's unless we hear back from the doctor. It looks like it won't be long now before we deliver him so please keep up those prayers that he will arrive safe and sound!!

L-

Jenny, Lanny and Baby G

Full Sonogram

Yesterday Lanny and I went in for a sonogram and what we thought was an appointment with Dr. O'Hara but instead was just a normal sonogram. They did all the normal checks on the baby. They checked his heart, lungs, stomach, kidneys, measured his bones and checked out the fluid level.

Things looked good overall. His heart rate was 140, which we thought was low but Tara (our tech) said was normal because he was resting and she also said that the bigger he gets the lower his heart rate will be. He is weighing in at 2 lbs 11 oz. which is exciting...he is getting bigger it's not just me! The fluid level was about the same and the largest vertical pocket was a little over 3 cm. Tara couldn't see the kidneys too well because his leg was in the way, she wiggled my stomach all around but he just wouldn't move. She said he is just being ornery...I think that is a theme for him, he must take after his dad, can't be from my side of the family :)

We can't say enough about how much we appricate your love, support and prayers! God is good! Keep up the prayers!!!

L-

Jen

BioPhysical Profiles (BPP)

The BPP basically just checks the baby's heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, and measures the amount of amniotic fluid. I didn't update the blog last week because the BPP was confusing. Last weeks sonogram was done by a tech we didn't know and she was in a hurry because the doctor needed to leave but wanted to review our sonogram before she left so there wasn't really time to ask her any questions. As she was doing the sonogram she told us that his heart rate was 151 and we saw the largest pocket of fluid was almost 5 cm wide (which is awesome!!). Other than that we didn't learn much information last week.

This week's BPP was much better! Tara was our tech (we have had her before, she isn't the one who found the horseshoe kidney but we like her anyway) and she explained much more than the other tech. She told us that she was measuring the 4 quadrants for amniotic fluid, this week the biggest pocket was almost 4 cm (still awesome!) and that his heart rate was at 148. She also showed us his diaphragm and how she could tell if he was taking in fluid, it was neat to watch it go up and down.

He wasn't moving much right then (I think he was napping) so she just shook and shook my belly until she could get him to move around. She printed off several pictures for us a profile and several face shots. He is so funny because he always has a hand up by his face and he also had a foot up there as well. My sister Jami swears she saw 6 toes in one of the sonogram pictures (because of the hand and the foot both up by his face) so she has decided to call him Six from now on...I don't see the humor in that but whatever!

Overall we are happy with the news and are praising God that things are continuing to look better each time we check on him. Thanks again for all of you who continue to check on us and pray for the three of us, we really appreciate it.

Love to all

J, L and little man