First update on Benzen

                Benzen was exposed to CMV (google it) we think at about 15 weeks gestation.  It  was fluke that the doctor found the CMV at all.  At our twenty week ultrasound Benzen had an enlarged ventricle in his brain, a prominent pulmonary artery, and pelvic kidney.  CMV is very common.  To a human you may feel flu like symptoms.  To a fetus, it is devastating.  The side effects are hearing loss, complete deafness, learning delays, mental retardation, and more.  In the 3 trimesters of pregnancy it is the worst to get it in the first trimester, still bad in the second, and not so bad in the third.  Also, the severity depends on if the mother has had CMV in her life.  If she has had it before it is less likely she will transfer it to the fetus.  Well, Amy has never had CMV before and Benzen got it in the first trimester.  The worst possible scenario.  The only thing to do was a clinical drug trial called Cytogam.  The Cytogam research stated that of 32 women that took the dose only 1 fetus showed CMV signs at birth.   Pretty good odds right?  Well we did it TWICE and we now know he was born with CMV symptoms.

                He was born May 1st at 11:50 pm.  Physically he was perfect.  We did not know what was in store.  All of our fears from the pregnancy were put at ease that night when everyone told us he was perfect.  It was not until the next morning when they told us he was fine again, that I had some questions.  They induced Amy at 37 weeks due to the enlarged ventricles.  So I asked.  "Shouldn't we check the size of the ventricle?"  The doc said "that might not be a bad idea."  After an ultra sound on his brain, I received a call from Dr. G choked up he said "They found some abnormalities on his brain scan, it does not look good."  It turns out the ventricles were surrounded by calcifications showing us that the virus did affect him.

                This leads us to where we are now, the NICU.  We will be here for 6 weeks while they administer Ganciclovir, a medicine to help decrease the severity of hearing loss and possible vision problems.  He passed his BAER hearing test and we are now waiting on the results of his MRI from this morning. This is a very short synopsis of our very long and bumpy ride.   He is the cutest little guy and by looking at him you could not tell anything was wrong.