Happy New Year's (Belated!)

We've made it to January (which probably excites me the most because I am ready to have this baby)! And the New Year has started off with a bang by striking down 3/5 of the household with a stomach virus - Clare, Simon, and me. Simon is back on his feet again, but Clare is still totally wiped out. She started vomiting on Friday night and has spent the last two days in bed. At least today is an improvement in that she is spending it in MY bed watching Disney versus sleeping in her bed all day. (Actually, Clare and I spent a good portion of yesterday sleeping in my bed together.) I am somewhat back on my feet, but I still feel very weak. If you've ever had a stomach virus while pregnant you know what agony it is, not only to have the virus and the unpleasant effects of it, but have this little person beating you up inside at the same time. I have to be really good while pregnant about keeping up my calcium and potassium levels on a daily basis or else I get muscle cramps everywhere. Unfortunately, I was not able to do that yesterday, so today I am plagued with cramps and spasms, primarily in my legs. Poor Shawn has been such a trooper with all the invalids in the house! Thankfully he and Jamie escaped unscathed.

On a better note, we met with Clare's new ENT up at Children's Hospital at Dartmouth this week. Armed with our list of concerns regarding a possible frenulectomy and the anesthesia associated with one, we were very satisfied with the new doctor. He answered all of our questions and interacted great with Clare. She did not want to sit on the chair (similar to what is at the dentist's or eye doctor's and surrounded by big, scary-looking equipment), and he was fine with her sitting on my lap on a regular chair while he examined her mouth. He stated that Clare's tongue-tie is moderate to severe, and we would most likely see improvement in speech and eating if it was released. There are two types of procedures that can be done to release the tongue. For now, we are opting for the less invasive procedure. This involves general anesthesia, but only under a mask (no breathing tube, no IV sedation), and literally for a few minutes. Plus by going to Dartmouth, Clare will be under the care of a pediatric anesthesiologist familiar with her type of heart condition and Williams syndrome. The actual procedure will take about 5 minutes, and there is very little recovery (the doctor said Clare will feel as if she bit her tongue too hard). She won't have to come off any of her medications for the procedure, although she will have to fast because of the anesthesia. There will be no diet restrictions and hopefully we will notice improvement. The highest risk (percentage-wise, that is) is that too much scar tissue will develop and Clare would end up more tongue-tied than she already is. If that does happen or the frenulectomy is not successful for any reason, we would proceed to discuss the second option. This is a longer, more invasive procedure and entails more than just the gas mask for minutes and other areas of her mouth are involved. So we are praying that this procedure is a success! Since our baby girl is coming in the next few weeks,we opted for a March 2 surgery date.