Questions, questions, questions

Thirty-eight weeks down, eight days to go! Can you believe it? The future holds so many questions right now…how will the delivery go, when will Nugget be ready for surgery, will she be at risk of infection, will any other complications arise, how long will she be in the hospital, what does the next year hold???

But with so much uncertainty, there are exciting questions too. The one we keep getting recently is “What is her name?” After much thought and deliberation, we decided Cletus-the-Fetus Nugget Meabon might not do. Jared and I have gone back and forth, back and forth, back and forth on names. We had our boy name picked out for quite some time but a girl name was always up in the air. We’ve had about six options since we found out Nugget was a she, as well as the occasional name that’s slipped in every once in awhile. But we’ve finally come to a strong conclusion on this debate. First off, we needed a name that was strong - a name for a fighter. We suspect this little girl will be a firecracker and will probably give her mom and dad a hard time later in life. But for now, we need her to give life the biggest right punch she can and fight her way through these first few years. We wanted a name that was a little unique, something that will be different from the other little girls in her class, but not something so out there that people will have a hard time pronouncing it. Lastly, if you know Jared and me, it needs to be something that can be turned into about a million nicknames. Our friends laugh at us because its rare occasion that we call each other “Jared” and “Brooke”. Most often, it’s something like Lover, T, Knucks, Beats or any other random name that probably makes sense to no one else but the two of us. So we needed a name that could have multiple variations. We went through our list of the final top three and pictured the girl of each name at ages 5, 13 and late 20’s to early 30’s. We talked all about her personality, what she’ll be like, what kind of job she might have, what people say about her….when we put it this way, it was a no-brainer. And man, we think our little girl is one cool chick! What, you ask, is this proposed name??? Well, we’ll let you know in eight short days.

Another exciting question is what will she look like? Will she have her mom’s straight, blonde hair or her daddy’s pretty brown curls? Will she be freckled like mom or olive skinned like dad? Will she be tall or short? Will she be like her mom and be so fat as a baby that she’s can’t walk? Will she have the swiftness and endurance of a runner like her mom or will she have great hand-eye coordination of a tennis player, golfer or basketballer like her dad? Oh, the possibilities! Here’s a few pictures of us growing up – what do you think?

Jared as a newborn


Brooke as a newborn


Jared


Brooke


Jared - 1st Birthday


Brooke - 1st Birthday


Jared


Brooke


Jared


Brooke

As far as answered questions, we do know that she had another good report from the doctors yesterday. She got a score of 10 out of 10 on fetal movements, amniotic fluid and non-stress tests. We will go back for our final appointments next Monday and will have a full report on her growth at that time.

Should all go as planned, we will arrive at Methodist Hospital at 5am on Wednesday, August 4 for our scheduled c-section at 7:30am. We will have the OB team for me and a full neonatal team on hand for Nuggs. I’ll get a quick look at her and then she’ll be taken immediately to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit where they will work to stabilize her. Jared will follow her straight to the NICU and has been instructed to be on full camera duty. He should be able to stay with her for the majority of the day and continue to come back for frequent checks. I’ll be in recovery and will hopefully be up for a wheelchair visit later that evening. By Thursday, I should be up and walking so will be able to make frequent visits to the NICU. The pediatric surgeons and neonatologists will meet on Wednesday and Thursday so we hope to have a plan of action by the end of next week. They will have to assess her situation in person before any determination of the next step is made. The NICU has pretty strict rules about visitors, allowing only 2 parent passes and 4 grandparent passes. Of these passes, only 2 visitors are allowed at a time. Jared and I will spend the night in the hospital until Sunday when I’ll be discharged. From there, we’ll be able to visit the NICU around the clock with the exception from 6:15am – 8am and 6:15pm – 8pm when the nurses have shift changes. Another uncertainty is what our schedules will look like once we are released from the hospital. We hope to fall into some kind of normal routine but I suspect most of my days will be spent in the NICU. Jared will need to get back to work but does have the flexibility of working from a laptop if necessary at times. I keep joking that this will be my new job. Some moms become stay at home moms, some become soccer moms, some become stage moms – I will be NICU mom. I wonder if I can get business cards printed???

One good piece of advice that our neonatologist gave us was to make sure to take time for ourselves outside of the NICU, both as individuals and as a couple. I’m sure this will be hard at first but I think it’s so important to help keep our sanity. I’m hoping I can get back to running soon. It’s been part of my routine that I’ve missed so much. So I ask you, friends and family, to serve as a reminder to us to make time for ourselves a priority.

So with all of these questions, I continue to pray for peace of mind and to not let the questions get the best of us. We need to trust in God’s plan and know that there is a road mapped out specifically for the Meabon family. We don’t have a GPS, we don’t have a map, and heck, we don’t even have a compass - we don’t know what the final destination will be but must trust that it will be well worth it in the end, regardless of the potholes we encounter along the way. It reminds me of our trip to Costa Rica. Jared and I decided to rent a cart to drive from Papagayo Peninsula to Arenal. The roads were treacherous and we thought there’s no way we weren’t lost. A two hour trip on paper ended up being a five hour trip in the car. There were strange animals standing in the middle of the road and, twice, the road stopped altogether and we had to off-road to get back on path. But low and behold, we came around a corner, the view opened up and we saw the most magnificent view of Lake Arenal, blue waters surrounded by rainforest mountains. It was well worth the trip. I know there is a beautiful view in our future and I can’t wait to see what it is.

I’d like to wish a very happy birthday today to Sutton Elaine Kelly, born to Amanda (Knocke) and Patrick Kelly this morning! Congratulations Amanda and Patrick. Baby Sutton and Amanda are doing great.

I’d also like to ask for your continued prayers for Baby Lincoln who will have surgery later this week to repair a diaphragmatic hernia and possibly his omphalocele. His parents Elisabeth and Tendai have had a rollercoaster of the last two weeks and I ask that you keep them lifted up through this difficult time.

Much love to you all as the countdown continues,

Brooke