Matilda's Strength

When I heard Dr. Haddock say alright guys get ready here comes Matilda! They started pulling her out and Dr. Haddock said oh my goodness look at that hair.........to which I quickly responded "What color is it?".......we have a history of gingers on Paul's side. Dr. Haddock replied dark!!! Then I breathed and heard the most beautiful cry! Paul and I cried tears of relief as we had been anticipating this moment since we found out about CDH.......Will she cry? At that moment I knew Matilda was showing us her battle cry! She just looked so amazing, Paul and I are absolutely in love with our little girl. She was born at 7:52am weighing 7lbs 11oz and length was 20inch. So at 38 wks she weighed more than her big brother! So far our little fighter is doing well. She has had two great days in the NICU thus far. And her organs seem to be responding to the Oxygen even her right lung expanding more and moving her heart to the left where it should be. So we believe if everything keeps moving in the right direction then she should have surgery by end of next week. And part of Matilda's strength comes from all the support! The pink and purple day was amazing. Seeing all the photos really helped us get through the day. Even Dr. Haddock was wearing purple scrubs which I hadn't mentioned to her previously.........so that also lifted my spirits of a smooth delivery! Thanks to auntie Mer for being the official blogger when I am away. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and thank you all for the support we feel so strong!

It's Snowing Pink

Megan's co-workers (top) and Nonnie's teachers (bottom) wore pink to support Matilda.

Going Strong

Matlida is continuing to improve! Dad says that her blood levels have improved again and the x-rays still look good. "She'll be chillin' all day," says Paul.

Megan has been able to visit Matilda in the NICU (see picture in the previous post), and the nurses have already fallen in love with Baby Crowe - and why wouldn't they? She's the cutest!

I apologize that I don't have more to write, but Paul's the one feeding me the info to post - and you know descriptive dads can be versus moms. No offense, Paul.

More updates later!

(In case you're wondering who's writing, this is Matilda's Aunt Meredith)

Meet Matilda!!

SHE'S HERE!

Matilda is here! Here are some words from Paul:

"She came out pink and crying." (These are a good things!)
"Megan is doing well and going into recovery."
"Matilda came out screaming and wiggling around."
"They got the baby stable and took her right to the NICU."
"She looks like Megan."

Paul was very encouraged and it sounds like things are going well. Megan will be in recovery for an hour and a half.

Pretty in Pink

From Dallas, Texas, to Colchester, England, Matilda's family sports pink to cheer for her on her birthday.

Thank You

Well ofcourse its the night before surgery and I can't sleep. Too anxious as knowing our normal lives are about to change and mimic something out of greys anatomy (hopefully the docs won't have any personal drama going on with eachother and can focus on Matilda). As the next days, weeks,months are going to be filled with a long rollercoaster ride. I wanted to take this time to let our family know how much we appreciate them. Matildas Nonnie & Grandma are taking such good care of us. I feel as though Nonnie has recruited a whole army of prayers and strength from so many people. While Grandma has come in for three weeks to make sure Freddie is taken care of.....I am hoping she can turn into the "nanny" and get Freddie out of his throwing stage. Then we have our siblings who have been amazing offering dinner, taking Freddie, etc. And even our siblings/cousins in England while they are not here,getting daily emails of support and getting the best pic of Matildas cousin Isla in a pink tutu with pink fairy wings....bringing on some magic for her little cousin! And then the rest of our friends and family. So spoiled with support and all the texts/emails. I will be re-reading these in my head tmw. Everyone Thank you! I know yall will be there every step of the way. I had some time by myself where I just held my belly and talked to Matilda and told her how much we needed her and that we are here with her. To which she started kicking my hand. I'm hoping that's a love tap for you got it mom! Love to you all.

Battle

I have to say this has been the hardest week of our lives. I can remember being in college and dreading that midterm that I had to do later that week. I would get so anxious at the thought of taking it! I think I would take 20 midterms just to know Matilda had a guarantee that she wouldn't have to fight so hard at the beginning of her life......just to live. Paul and I have been doing everything we need to go to appts, get care ready for our dear Freddie. Which without this would be so much harder. I really feel for parents that their first child has CDH. At least we have Freddie to snuggle with even if his favorite word is No. No new updates to report as I am sitting in the fetal care center as I await my weekly sonogram. I guess we are all just getting ready for the fight up ahead. I went to the NICU on Friday which I came back in tears as I just didn't know if I had the strength to be in there. But I know Matilda will be strong for us so we must be strong for her. She is still so active inside, literally kicking me so hard I jumped in pain! So I guess as we go into this fight I know we have so much support from families, friends and even strangers that heard about little Matilda. In every big gameday you wear a color to support that team, so I ask if everyone can wear something pink or purple (don't know what her color is yet). And if you like send us a photo to my email. We are absolutely scared of the unknown and hope for the best. But we have appreciated everyone's support. Matilda is already so spoiled with love. We feel so lucky to just be her parents. Thursday at 7:30am is when Matilda will be arriving. Will keep you all posted on this long journey ahead. lots of love, the Crowes

That day!

February 9th was the day that changed everything. What we thought was a little Cyst around the abdomen, turned out to be Congenital Diphragmatic Hernia. The Hernia that baby has consist of the bowels and colon in the left chest cavity, obstructing the left lung from growing. When the words came out of the fetal cares specialist mouth "Im sorry this is not good" all I could do was cry. Though when we saw the cardiologist luckily the heart looked great was just moved over. That was a relief. The rest of the week would consist of an MRI scan where the radiologist went over the findings with us. One of those findings was this was a very chubby baby. I felt bad as my diet did consist of anything from betty crocker bakery - but hey guess thats good baby will already have a good fat content. The fetal care specialist saw us at the end of the week to go over the MRI Findings which weren't horrible but not great either. There are two zones the fatal and stable. We are in the more stable zone. We were so happy with this we asked what the sex of the baby was as Paul and I decided it would be so stressful on the delivery date we wanted to celebrate this baby now. Dr. Magee was excited to tell us it was a girl I was so excted. Paul was shocked in a good way! I bet he was wondering how the heck am I suppose to do girls hair! We both thought surely this was a boy. Dr. Magee said what is her name and I said Matilda. And that is the day that this became Matilda's Fight. I saw my obstatrician the following monday and she was shocked as the hernia did not present itself at the 20 wk scan. They think the hole in the diaphragm was just a little pin prick at that time. As she said I wish I could give you some guarantee we just can't, so little known. But she felt postive we could get through this. We met with the surgeon on Wednesday I was dreading this a little, as we met with a neonatologist last friday who hadnt looked at our MRI and consulted us on general CDH cases. We had gotten great news from Dr. Magee that morning but by the time I saw this neonatologist it was very doom and gloom. Which I do understand as they see so many things in the NICU everyone wants to prepare you. So when we met with the surgeon I was nervous but he was the nicest man - so positive, and really explained why CDH is so difficult on babies. He said they haven't come up with a "rule" on how to treat these babies and you just kind of go with latest techniques as they have all changed throughout the years. He said from the MRI the things he has to repair for Matilda are easy - she has to do the hard part of stabalizing and breathing with help from the nitric oxide they will give her. Some babies do very well and some just never get it. But he was very positive that he can take care of her surgically. He said sometimes just becuase they cant identify the left lung on MRI, he said they pull the bowel down and you see the shiny pink thing that is the lung. Then he started telling us stories from previous experience and I thanked him and he said hey Im always positive its the only way to be. So wednesday was a good day. I met with the fetal care specialist on thursday again it was the other doctor in that practice. When Dr. Magee explained things last week I think I was overwhelmed and didnt really hear him. But she explained again that Matilda since her lung mass avg (right and left lung) was 32.3 cc she had a 75% chance of survival as long as there isnt anything else going on. If the lung is 40cc and over then the baby has a 90% survival rate. Then she looked at everything again and she was pleased that nothing had changed and Matilda looked good. Then she told me that they diagnosed 3 other cases of CDH in patients last week - which she said never happens and is scary! She said two of them were third trimester like mine and the other was late second trimester. The ob gyn dept had a teaching conference on wendnesday and our case was presented as were the other 3. I got some satisfaction as the neonatlogist who was there said that he consulted with one of the mothers "Me" last friday and he wished he had my MRI report and he could have consulted better. The conference was basically teaching the GYN residents how to consult patients with different defects where the outcome of baby is so unknown. So I take a tour of the NICU today which I didn't really want to as it makes me nervous and can't bear to see those sweet poorly babies. But the coordinator from the fetal care center said I really need to go. So we are just getting prepared, I feel so lucky that they found this 3 weeks before Matilda will be here so we are prepared. The Surgeon Dr. Roden said this is great that they found this he said some babies come out and you never know and they cant breath and it delays everything. He said could you imagine meeting me from your hospital bed trying to process this whole thing. We will have my OB deliver Matilda then the Neonatologist team will intubate her right away. And poor girl has to literally fight for her life. We got the name Matilda about 2 months into pregnancy, I looked up her name the other day and it means "strength in battle". And February 26th is game day and we are all ready to see our little girl fight. I will be updating this blog if you want to subscribe. We want to thank everyone for their love and support! Megan, Paul & Freddie