Everything is Cooking

We hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

Our week started out with a nerve wracking visit with the Perinatologist. For those that don't know, a perinatologist is a doctor who uses ultrasound to look at a fetus closely and take measurements to ensure that everything is going well with the pregnancy. We were more anxious than normal because of Tucker and because we saw a perinatologist twice with Tucker and she didn't catch his defect, even though she should have seen it.

Because of our previous experiences, we were not really sure what to think and very skeptical of any news that we received during our visit. The main difference for us was that this doctor came to us highly recommended by Dena's new ObGyn and by Dr. Thomas, Tucker's cardiologist. We thought that the doctor would be looking at the entire baby, but because of how early it is in the pregnancy, he could really only check for signs of Down's Syndrome. The good news is that there were no signs that the baby would have Down's Syndrome, they will confirm this with a blood test, results should be coming tomorrow. The "bad" news is that, while he did humor us and look at the heart, it was too early to see anything. We will have to wait until our next visit on January 2nd to look at the heart. Dr. Thomas should be at the next visit too, just to get a second set of eyes on the heart. We should also find out the gender of the baby on the 2nd too, so it will be a VERY big day!

The rest of the week was great! We spent a lot of time with my family and got to relax some. We also took Tucker to his first movie in a theater. We went to see "The Muppets" and Tucker had a pretty big time. He got his own popcorn, drink, and candy and got to sit in his own chair. He did okay, but got a little bored about 3/4 of the way through the movie. He love the songs and danced and clapped during the big finale!

Tucker at his first movie, The Muppets

Too much fun at the movies!

The other big thing on the horizon, besides the holidays, is that I'm about to start a new venture in life. As most of youI know, we are very involved in the CHD world as a result of our experiences with Tucker. For several months I have been working with Matt Hammitt, Bowen's dad, on the new Whole Hearts Foundation. I have been answering emails from new CHD parents, old CHD parents, families, friends, etc. I have also been in charge of the Whole Hearts facebook page. Whole Hearts will be teaming up with a new social network for CHD families, called Heartwaves.org. I have been asked to be a dad blogger for this new website. I am very excited about this opportunity. I hope that my experiences can help other dads and CHD families that are just starting this journey. I'm a little nervous about having enough to say and I will definitely have to improve upon my writing skills, but it should be fun! I will post information about my blog once we are up and running sometime in January. Right now, I've got to come up with a topic for my first blog entry, I feel writer's block already starting to creep in...oh no!

Tucker helping with the tree!

 I do have some more to say this week. Look for a post about our favorite group, Sanctus Real, and Tucker's love for their music!

As always, thanks for visiting and be sure to come back soon!

~Trent