Wednesday night we went to bed knowing the weather would be awful Thursday morning. We had to drive to Galveston and be in the waiting room at 7:45. We got up to crashing thunder and many weather alerts on the morning news. We thought we had a good plan and had plenty of time to make it to the hospital on time.
We were W-R-O-N-G!
We left with 45 minutes to get there. Not much traffic, but lots of heavy rain! I mean pouring down, windshield wipers going as fast as they could, and we still couldn't see much type of rain! I don't do well driving (or riding for that matter) in the rain. I would cancel any appointment to avoid the stress (well, except this one!!) We hit a torrential down-pour that caused the water to pond on the freeway and the traffic slowed to a crawl at 30 mph. GREAT! We were going to be a little late, but not to bad! Then Ron announced he was starving and we were going to stop by Shipley's Donuts! I had my bowl of plain cheerios at home before we left and haven't had the luxury of eating a donut in several weeks. And I knew not to have to much sugar before this ultrasound. We didn't want the baby bouncing off of the walls! The line at Shipley's was long! GREAT, we were going to be a little bit later!
We left Shipley's and headed for the hospital. Now, Ron knows Galveston pretty well. I asked if the road we were to use to get to the parking garage ever flooded. "I'm not sure." We hadn't run into any major street flooding, so I thought we had nothing to worry about!
W-R-O-N-G A-G-A-I-N!!!!
We came down off of the elevated bridge and saw some water on the road. No big deal. We would stay in the left lane. Then the left lane had a few inches on water. Then we found ourselves in quite a mess. The middle of the road was OK, but there was no escaping. We would have to keep going and hope & pray it didn't get deeper. We passed a flooded out car & this was when I pretty much lost it! I was terrified! We were in my small car and I wasn't sure how much water it could handle! Ron watched the tires on the car in front of us to make sure we could make it. It was still POURING down raining. Finally, the road started to reappear and it looked like we were heading toward higher ground! Thank God! It was truly terrifying.
We made it into the parking garage and the real stress of the day hit me. We were here. It was time. I hadn't had any time to even prepare myself for what was to come.
We made it to the right place and were so relieved to find that the Genetics Counseling was now in the exact same place as the ultrasound lab. HUGE relief!! Last time we walked back and forth across the UTMB campus 3 times between the genetics and ultrasound. It was a very,very long walk and we got lost several times along the way. We checked in with the registration clerk and were told that most of the doctors were running very late because of the weather. No kidding, we were already about 30 minutes late. So we took our seat in the waiting room and watched the rain outside & some CNN news.
About 20 minutes later Dr. Lockhart (the head of the Genetics department) & two interns were at the door calling our name. Dr. Lockhart is about 80 years old and the sweetest lady you could ever meet! She's smart, direct and to the point! We sat down and she congratulated us and told us she remembered us from last time, she had gone through our history to refresh her memory. She was very happy to see the NT scan had come back with perfect results, but still wanted us to know we had the option of an amnio. We updated our family tree (we have two new little nephews that have or will joined our family recently or soon! We went over the general genetic defect that are most common and then we were asked for a decision about the amnio again. We decided until we have a reason to think something is wrong, we would not do it. If the ultrasound in a few short hours showed us anything questionable, we would schedule it ASAP. Dr. Lockhart thought this was a great idea. So after about 20 minutes, we were finished with the Genetic Counseling.
One down, one to go. Whew!
We went back to the waiting room and waited for Carol (the sonographer who performed our NT scan) to arrive. She was is major traffic and flooding. We didn't mind. I wanted to have Carol do this ultrasound. I really like her and we had taken off the entire morning, so we were in no rush. Plus, who knew if it was still horrible and flooded outside! We were in no rush.
Carol arrived and apologized for being late! Everyone was late, including us, so no apologies needed! We would have waited another hour for her!! We made our way to the same ultrasound room as the NT scan. I was so nervous! I told Carol and reminded her this was when everything went so horribly wrong last time. She reassured us that this time was different and everything was going to be fine. Did I mention I really like this woman! We told her that we DID want to know the sex, but only after we knew everything was OK. She said, "not a problem, I completely understand."
She turned off the lights and we started. First thing was the heart. She talked us through the entire process and pointed out everything she was looking at and measuring. She would tell us that's a good measurement every time. We saw everything. Heart, lungs, umbilical cord, liver, spine, kidneys, brain (no hydrocephalus at all), feet, hands, lips, eyes. We were both in total awe watching the baby wiggle around. We had no idea how long this would be or when the end (when she would tell us the gender) would come. It seemed to last forever, but also fly by all at once!
I think the profile picture is so cute!
Then she said...."Congratulations, this is definitely a little boy!" as she finally showed us "the goods" on the screen!!
I'll never forget that moment! Ron was so happy he looked like he was ready to jump up, give Carol a high-five and do a Tiger Woods fist pump!!!! It was pretty hilarious!! I know he was secretly hoping for a boy, but he was pretty sure it was going to be a girl! We were both so excited & emotional. I had a few tears ( OK more than a few) in my eyes and Ron reached over and grabbed my hand and squeezed it so hard it hurt! He had the biggest smile on his face that I have ever seen! Then she told us he was a BIG boy! He is measuring 10 days ahead and weighs in at a healthy 12 ounces!
I can't explain the feeling of everything going well this time. I am always prepared for the worst at every appointment. We left the hospital with a list of people to call and share our news with. We didn't! I just wanted to spend some time with just us knowing. We planned on going to grab something to eat, but it was only 10:30 and our restaurant wasn't open yet for lunch. I was starving!! We drove down the Galveston seawall thinking of things we could do to pass some time until lunch. We decided on a trip to Walmart! We stopped and got some gas since we were already running very, very low from sitting in traffic/flood on the way to the hospital. I couldn't stop looking at the ultrasound pictures. While the gas was pumping, Ron tapped on the window and said "it's a boy" again. I died laughing and said "I know, I'm looking right at it!" He is so excited and thrilled to have a son on the way. And I am too.
It looks like this handsome little man already has his daddy's cute pug nose!We made it to Walmart and found some prenatal vitamins & just wandered around killing some time. Then after two years we finally felt comfortable taking a stroll through the baby section and looking at all of the stuff. We purchased our first item. A diaper bag! It's the exact colors I want to decorate the nursery in, so I went ahead and bought it! Ron said the colors aren't his style and jokingly picked out a Spider Man back-pack he will buy for himself to use as a diaper bag!
We went back across the Island and made it to our favorite restaurant "The Original" for some awesome mexican food & lots of talk about our boy. Our Son - that still sounds so awkward.
I'll never forget this day. It was better than I could ever have imagined. The reality that we might actually have a baby this time hit us and it became more of a reality. I know this got very, very long so thank you to anyone who made it this far. This is more for me than anyone else. I want to chronicle all of this and remember it, so I can hopefully share it with our little boy one day. How much we went through to get him here and how much he was loved before we ever met him.
Oh, he already has a name......
though it is still very strange to actually say it or write it.....
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.
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Daniel Kaden Gogle
(Ron's first name is Daniel and we really love the name Kaden or Kade for short). And Ron thinks "Kade Gogle" sounds like a really cool baseball players name!
Great day with a great outcome.......but we will still pray every single day for his safe arrival. Until I hear his screaming & crying, I'm not convinced that everything will actually be OK & he will come home with us.
