Llamatorium

Here is The Bean at 23 weeks!

More specifically the mystery dissapearence of Todd Gross, (seemingly) Former Chief Meteorologist for WHDH channel 7. He was literally just suddenly stripped from the newscast and the website.

I know Dave blogged about it already.. but I just wanted to say... I already miss you, Todd Gross!

I dont need my meteorologists to be hip, young and good looking (sorry Todd, no offense!) .. I need them to know what they are talking about. I need them to be passionate about their craft.. and THAT my friends, was Todd Gross. I didnt even watch another weathercast.. all I wanted was Todd and his flowy arrows to tell me how I needed to dress for the next 7 days.

21 years at WHDH, he even had someone play him in the movie "The Perfect Storm" .. because of course, Todd is the one that called it "The Perfect Storm" on air in the first place.

I'll miss the geeky technological weather speak on the website and I'll miss his knowledge and passion about weather. Shame on WHDH for being so shortsighted.

With advanced interutero images comes advanced knowledge of potential problems. As many of you already know, our son was diagnosed with Hydronephrosis.

On Friday, Dave and I spent the day at the Advanced Fetal Care Unit at Children's Hospital in Boston to have some specialists take a look via ultrasound.

We learned nothing new

Which is not a bad thing at all

We actually got to see the problem with the one kidney and had it all properly and professionally explained. Lots of little details that we all went over together about our little boy. Basically.. as we already knew.. we just have to keep an eye on his kidneys (scans every 4-6 weeks) and have him started on amoxicillan right from birth. There is a VERY GOOD chance that just doing that will do the trick and within 3-9 months all should be fine. My amniotic fluid levels are perfect.. and the kidneys themselves look very healthy and functioning... which the specialist said was the best scenario we could hope for. Noone seems to think this will turn into a bad thing at this point, we just need to keep an eye on the kidneys.

We are very relieved that these specialists all seem to think everything will be fine in the long run with minimal treatment.

Depending on the next couple of ultrasounds, we'll probably have to do the reflux catheter test on him at 2-3 weeks after birth. Whether it is reflux or a slight blockage, either way, they say he should grow out of it.

We loved these doctors that we saw today.. they were all so wonderful. We feel like we're in good hands. The only thing that creeped us out was the social work councellor that came up to us to tell us that she was there for us if we needed to talk and told us we are all in good hands while her lip trembled as if she was about to sob over our "sad sad situation". She was really creepy and for a second we wondered if she knew something we didnt. She didnt.. she was just creepy and weird and scary. Granted.. most people who go there are there for much more serious problems than ours but she was just over the top without knowing our situation.

So we are fine, the baby is fine, we just have to keep an eye on his kidneys. I will say this though... we are so incredibly lucky to have the easy access that we do to the best Childrens Hospital facility in the world. People worldwide with sick children come to Boston to be treated by the best doctors and specialists and all we have to do is drive. We're glad we're in such good hands.