Saturday afternoon (4/12/08) my pregnant wife Kristen started to feel really uncomfortable with the number of Braxton-Hicks (false-labor) contractions she was experiencing. We called the doc and he suggested that we come into the hospital to have her evaluated. Kristen received some Terbutaline to slow down the contractions and they monitored her until morning.
Sunday morning we had an ultrasound with Dr Lopez-Zeno which indicated that Kristen's contractions were being caused by an excessive amount of amniotic fluid. The doctor then noticed a cyst in the baby's throat which he thought was the likely reason for the amniotic fluid buildup. Apparently, the baby should be constantly swallowing the amniotic fluid and the cyst might be preventing him from doing so. The doctor scheduled us for another ultrasound with a specialist Sunday morning.
Monday afternoon we had our followup ultrasound with Dr. Stone. He was able to determine that the cyst was actually a birth defect called Esophageal Atresia with TrachEoesophageal Fistula (also referred to as EA/TEF).
The baby will most certainly need to have surgery soon after birth to reattach the two disconnected ends of his esophagus and disconnect the esophagus from the trachea (fistualas). We are having a consultation with the surgeons tomorrow. In the meantime they have started Kristen on steroids to help mature the baby's lungs more quickly in case they have to take him early.
The good news is that other than this problem the baby is quite healthy (strong heartbeat, active, good weight) and the mommy is quite healthy as well (but anxious to get out of this hospital bed).
We will post updates here as we learn more.
Matt & Kristen
P.S. Here's other useful links about EA/TEF :
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