Yep, it’s all happening very quickly.  We will fly to San Francisco on Sunday.  We knew in advance that it would be a whirlwind if we did get accepted for this MOMS trial, but it’s still bewilderingly fast now that it’s actually happening.  

 

Yesterday we received the amnio results, which confirmed no chromosomal abnormalities, e.g. Down’s syndrome, trisomy 13, etc.  We knew that it would be unlikely (there is only a slight correlation between those issues and spina bifida), but it was still a huge relief.  That was the last bit of info that the MOMS group needed in order to determine whether we’d qualify for the trial.

 

This morning we learned that we had met the preliminary qualifications and that they were going to go ahead and refer us to the people at UCSF.  We got in touch with them, they checked the schedules of all of the surgeons and other personnel who would be involved, and let us know that they would be ready to get us in next week.  

 

So, we are flying to SF on Sunday, and then they’ll do a bunch of tests (more ultrasounds, MRIs, etc.) on Monday and Tuesday to make absolutely sure Shelly is a good candidate for the surgery.  It’s looking very likely that she will, but you never know; sometimes issues pop up.  But even if we’re disqualified, it will still probably be a worthwhile trip, from what we’ve heard from other moms Shelly has met on online forums, because we’ll get tons of information from visits with neurosurgeons, perinatologists, social workers, etc.  If everything still checks out ok, then on Wednesday we’ll get one last chance to decide whether we’re ready to go through with it, and then we’ll be randomized by a computer.  If we’re assigned to the post-natal surgery group, they’ll fly us home on Thursday.  If we’re assigned to the pre-natal group, Shelly will have the surgery on Thursday.  So crazy it’s happening this fast.

 

We tried to figure out a way to update our website from SF, but it looks like it isn’t possible if we don’t have our mac.  So, we have joined all of you and started a blogspot so that we can post while we are away.  We may only be there for a week, but if we are there for a few months, we wanted a way to update everyone on what is happening.  Here is the link to our new blog:

 

 

So, in other news, our other two children are still very cute.  Here are a few new pictures of them.  If we do have to go, this is what we will miss BY FAR the MOST!