Thirtysomething

The Dark Cloud

Two days before the wedding, Ron's sister, who is pregnant with her second child, found out that there is a problem with the baby. Possibly several problem, ranging from defects requiring surgery to an actual syndrom. The doctors were leaning towards it being a syndrom that comes with heart and kidney defects, lowered IQ, and a host of development problems. It definitely cast the wedding in a different light.

By the time we got back from the honeymoon, there had been additional tests and the chances had been lowered to a 15% that the baby had the condition. The tests showed that while the baby definitely did have the heart and kidney defects, it didn't have the chromosome commonly associated with the condition. The baby would still need surgery within a day of being born, but still, it was a better prognosis.

Then on Monday, Ron's sister had more tests at a different hospital that has a program that specializes in this particular condition. They upped the baby's chances to 50% of being afflicted. Not good news.

Then yesterday, Ron's sister was admitted for preeclampsia. They're running more tests today to see if she'll be confined to bed rest at home or will need to remain in the hospital until she delivers. Depends on how high her pressure is and also, how well she responds to rest. You may know that the only way to cure preeclampsia is to deliver the baby. Ron's sister is not due until the beginning of August. The baby's cardiologist--yup, unborn child already has a cardiologist--says that baby needs to stay put for at least another 5 weeks. Which may or may not be possible, depending on the preeclampsia.

So now the baby has heart and kidney defects, may or may not have a serious development condition and now is mostly likely going to be born pre-mature.

Ron's sister is one of the sweetest people I know. It's just not fair.

posted by DJ Heavy D @ 1:45 PM