Carter Shields

(posted by Amy) Little Carter arrived on Nov. 20. He is a healthy little boy and weighed 8 lbs., 4 oz. and was twenty one inches long. He's got the hands and feet of a future basketball player. I'm posting this update for Lara and Eric while they are still in the hospital waiting for the green light to take little Carter home. I went to visit them today and Carter is doing great! Here is a photo of him sleeping…isn’t he precious?!

He had surgery yesterday (Nov. 23) to have the shunt placed in his head to drain the fluid. The Dr. said that everything went well and he is doing great. Lara said that as soon as he is eating enough, they can take him home. Can you believe it? Homeward bound already…wow! I am so happy that everything is going so well for the Shields family.

Congenital Hydrocephalus

Most of you know that our precious baby has a condition called congenital hydrocephalus, which is simply fluid all around his brain. There are 180 different causes and we've went through about that many tests to figure out what caused it, and the finest doctors haven't been able to figure it out. We found out through the routine 20 week ultrasound. We were devastated. We just expected pink or blue and we walked out of that office with our lives changed forever. We've since excepted the condition and we truly feel blessed that he has been sent to us. We know that he is an angel that will touch our family more than anything in the world could. Since our 20 week ultrasound we've been through 11 more ultrasounds, amniocentesis, an MRI and we've met with numerous specialists to learn and prepare. After all of that, all we know for certain is that he will need a shunt placed into his brain the day or two after he's born. We are delivering at the University of Utah hospital and he will be at Primary Children's. We feel comfortable with the doctors we've chosen. We are delivering on November 13, 2007 and we will keep everyone updated as news comes in. We would like to thank our families and friends for all the love and support that you have shown to us, we know we have some hard days ahead and your support helps us know that we can get through each day.