Emalinn

I had a few people ask me why Emalinn is going to UAB and why she is having a CT scan. I have tried to make sure that everyone knows what is going on, but since the blog is new....I will update everyone.

When I was 36 weeks pregnant, we were told that Ema had excess fluid on her brain which is referred to as Dandy-Walker malformation. She had a cyst that formed in the back of her brain near the 4th ventricle which caused her to not have room to develop all of her cerebellum. The potential for birth defects was anywhere from no signs of the malformation (The genetic variant) to possibly not living past her birth (full blown malformation). Of course, there was a lot of possibilities in between as well. They did not move up my delivery date for fear of causing any more complications for her health. It was a LONG three weeks to wait for little Miss Ema to come. We had tons of support from our family and friends.

(Just a side note...The cerebellum is responsible for your balance, gait and gross motor skills)

On May 26, 2009 at 7:53 am, Emalinn Ann Mitchell McLaughen was born without any physical signs of the malformation. She went straight to the newborn nursery. During our hospital stay, we had some extreme highs and lows. She had an ultrasound, CT scan and MRI of the brain in a three day period. There was varying schools of thought from different doctors regarding the scans. We were told at one point that she would for sure need a shunt in her brain. Ultimately, we saw Dr. Boehm (neurosurgeon in Chattanooga) who assured us that she was doing well and could potentially not need surgery.
(For those of you non-medical people, surgery would mean a shunt.
A shunt is a "drain" that is placed in the brain and goes into
the abdomen to redirect the fluid that can cause pressure on the brain.)

Next, we then went to her two week check-up with her pediatrician and found that her head size had increased. We were sent directly to the hospital for an ultrasound where they diagnosed her with increased fluid. That pretty much was a one-way ticket to UAB.

At UAB there is a Pediatric Neurosurgeon, Dr. Jerry Oakes. While he pretty much lacks a personality, I feel that we are blessed to get to see him. He is well-known nationally for his work with children. He gave us a lot of good news. He told us that Ema would likely never be a tight-rope walker, but she could very well be a perfectly normal child. He also told us that while he cannot guarantee that she will not need surgery, he could say she for sure doesn't need a shunt right now. He was also hopeful that she will never need it. We will go see him on a 2 - 3 month basis with CT scans done at UAB.

So.............that is our story about our little miracle baby! Right now we are waiting to go to UAB. We go on August 25 and have a scan that morning and see the doctor that afternoon. It will be pretty stressful, but for now she is doing great! She's a little fatty compared to her big brothers. That's a good thing though!!