The doctors are about 90% sure that Skyelar has a neuroblastoma which is a malignant nerve tumor. Its in his adrenal gland which is actually good because it could have started out in his neck or spinal cord. Its the most common type of childhood and infancy cancer and usually they dont catch it until later in the childs life when symptoms present and by that point its pretty much too late to do anything. The doctors say that because they caught it while he is still cooking the curability rate is excellent. A few cases when they catch it this early do still end up being fatal, but that number is really really low. Basically they caught it before it has a chance to get big bad and nasty and they should just be able to remove the tumor completely. They will get to him immediately after he's born and run any of the necessary tests to confirm the diagnosis. Its bad, but not as bad as it could be. The hopeless case would be if it was the adrenocorticoid carcinoma which is really really aggressive, but they dont think its that. Even the pediatric oncologist said that he should be find because they caught it this early. The good news with moving back to texas is that scottish rite and the childrens hospital are pretty much right down the street from my moms house. So we are staying positive and hopeful because the doctors are positive and hopeful that he will be just fine with treatment. Its just difficult knowing that he's going to have to go through all of that, but at least he should be done with treatment and healthy by the time he can actually remember anything.

Our Little Boy

Well I found out that we are having a boy! Steven is excited and so am I. Thank you to everyone who has wished us well. We have a bit more news on our bouncing baby boy. I am currently 26 weeks and Steven has astounded me by picking the best name ever for our son. His name is Skyelar Ray Ryan. For those of you that think Skyelar is a girls name, I did lots of research on the subject. It is more commonly used as a boys name and our particular spelling is the masculine form. It means guarded, protected, and scholar depending on what form and spelling you look up. Steven's middle name is Ray so we are keeping it in the family. he has the same exact initials as Steven and my same initials minus the middle name. Our next child will need to be an SR too otherwise they might feel left out :-)

That was the great news, and now I do have a bit of potentially sad news. When I went in for my 20 week ultrasound they did find a possible mass in the baby's abdomen. Because of this they sent me to Dr. Boddy, a perinatal specialist. He did a very indepth ultrasound and looked at EVERYTHING and told me it was either a hemorrage, which is good and it will fix itself, or its an adrenal gland tumor which could potentially be malignant or benign. The good thing is they caught it incredibly early. I go back to Dr. Boddy on March 12th for a repeat ultrasound to find out which one it actually is. The doctors seem like they're leaning towards hemorrage because he's growing well, he's incredibly active, and his heart rate is good. They said they're not too worried about him which makes me hopeful. Ive talked to a couple other people who have been told the same thing and it was just a hemorrage. Prayers are definately welcome and appreciated though!

In some other happy news, I am planning a trip to Texas in less than 2 weeks. I fly there on March 5th and my mom, stepmom, and stepsister are throwing me a baby shower on March 7th. Im so excitd to get to see everyone that I havent seen in a while. Its going to be an exhausting trip probably because I have to squeeze lots into about 4 days, but it will be worth it. I havent seen my family in about 6 months so Im definately looking forward to it.

Okay and on to the Army and PCSing. I know everyone was looking forward to us going to Colorado, but unfortunately as I said in the last post, that fell through. Steven has now gotten a new assignment and we arent thrilled about it. He has to report to Korea for a year on Sept 9th, and he cant take me or Skyelar along with him. I will be moving back in with my mom in Texas for that year that he's gone. At least I will have lots of help with our little man. Steven and I have already started planning all the ways that we will keep in constant contact so that Skyelar will know his daddy when he gets home. We will video chat all the time via the wonderful webcam and we are going to get a video camera so that I can record all of Skyelar's firsts and cuteness! Just wish us luck, because this is going to be a difficult time.

Well I think that about wraps up update. I go in to the OB today to get my belly measured and then in a couple weeks is the lovely sugar test. Here is a recent belly pic, enjoy!