T.J. Tuesday

2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope everyone had a fun, safe time ringing in the New Year!!! We sure did! We got to go to Daddy's cousins house and I got to play with their kids...I had such a fun time and didn't want to leave. Unfortunately I have another cold this week and we had to cancel my g-tube hole surgery that was set for Friday. We have rescheduled it for January 22nd.

January is EA/TEF awareness month! Most of you know what EA/TEF means, but did you know that very rarely is a baby diagnosed prenatally. Usually a family goes the whole pregnancy without knowing that there is anything wrong.

Some ways an OB/GYN may pick up the signs of possible EA:

1. No or small stomach/no stomach bubble.
2. High levels of amniotic fluid.
3. Linked to vessel cords anomalies. (2 vessel cords)

-T.J. had no stomach bubble which was caused by him being unable to swallow.
-I had extremely high levels of amniotic fluid. I was drained twice and both times they drained 10 lbs
-T.J. did not have 2 vessel cords, but the umbilical cord was off to the side instead of in the middle of the placenta which was the reason we were sent to a high risk doctor in the first place and they are the ones that noticed the first two signs. Thank God!

Had my OB/GYN not sent me to a high risk doctor we would not have known that T.J. had a birth defect until he was born because all they noticed was my cord issue they said everything else looked normal and that wasn't the case. Either way its hard, but knowing in advance let us prepare ourselves, learn as much as possible, take hospital tours, talk with surgeons and so much more. These things that helped me the most are things most families don't get to do because these signs are often over looked...probably because people don't really know about EA/TEF. Please educate yourself and help raise awareness so maybe ultrasound techs will pay more attention.