Amnio Day

Today was the day I have been anxious about for three weeks. I am finally far enough into my pregnancy to allow for amniocentesis to be performed in order to give us a more concrete diagnosis for the baby's condition. I went in on Monday for a regular ultrasound to detect the baby's heartbeat. The news from that ultrasound was not reassuring. On Monday it appeared that the edema from the cystic hygroma had spread to the chest wall. As of today, the hygroma has almost doubled in size and the edema has spread to the lungs. This is a huge problem because it can constrict the growth and function of the lungs, and eventually contribute to death. The bigger issue is that it appears that the condition is significantly worsening, though the doctor could not give me any predictions on how long the baby might live. He explained that since I am doing most of the work sustaining the baby right now, the baby can survive in utero for a long time, even though it may not have any chance of survival later in the pregnancy. Though a small percentage of cystic hygromas will resolve on their own, the doctor told us today that he had never seen a baby survive with a hygroma of this magnitude. He rather bluntly told us that it is just a matter of time.

So, despite all of the really rough news, Tim and I chose to try to make the best of our gloomy trip to Topeka today. Allow me to relate the "Adventures of Timmy Decker and the Quest for the Perfect Pancake." For those who have spent any amount of time at our house on a weekend, you will know that Tim has an immutable Sunday morning routine of making pancakes. He takes this routine to an art and has been working diligently to try new pancake recipes and perfect his own recipes to make The Perfect Pancake. This has led to a series of interesting combinations for toppings and a few pancake "flops" over the years, but usually he does a fairly good job. Tim also has a routine for how h eats his pancakes, which borders on Obsessive-Compulsive, but his weekly "Pancake Zen" seems to relax him. To each his own.

At any rate, the first time we went to the hospital in Topeka, we had some down time between speaking to specialists. The receptionist suggested that we go to the hospital cafeteria and grab a bite to eat i between appointments. We went downstairs and had a really, really good breakfast. Both of our breakfasts consisted of the largest, fluffiest pancakes I've ever seen. These pancakes have become the stuff of legends over the past few weeks since our visit. Today, we left the house extra early for Topeka so we would have plenty of time to go to the cafeteria and get some more of these heavenly pancakes. Today as we munched on our pancakes, Tim told me how he intended to get the recipe from the cafeteria and wondered if they would give up the secret. All morning we talked about the pancakes, even joking about it through the amnio procedure. The doctor instructed Tim to take me out fora huge lunch to help replenish me after the procedure, but he stated that cafeteria pancakes would always do the trick. Anyway, after the procedure, we went back to the cafeteria, speculating all the way there about what exotic recipe or brand of mix could possibly result in the world's most heavenly pancakes. When we got to the cafeteria, Tim asked to speak to the "pancake chef" and kindly asked for the recipe. The kind lady behind the grill looked at us for a minute (as if you ask--"are you serious?") and broke out in a snicker. "You can get these at Wal-Mart....nothin' special. We just add water. Look..." She held out a bag of Krusteaz pancake mix. The look on Tim's face dropped. He was completely deflated by the idea that his precious pancakes could possibly be the result of your run-of-the-mill pancake mix. So, the secret's out: Krusteaz pancake mix is the way to go for perfecting the art of Sunday morning Pancake Zen. Who knew?