Okay...an update...finally...

Harrison wants us to thank everyone for the fan mail and the knucks/hand explosion. However, he's a little concerned that Dad isn't communicating with everyone all that well right now, so he sent his parents back to the postpartum ward to get some stuff done.

Here's the latest:  He is a super strong boy who kept pushing against the nurses and doctors as they poked, pinched, and pressed all over his little body.  We kept telling him to fight back, but the nurses weren't all that thrilled with that so we cheered him on quietly from then on.  He has the previously diagnosed omphalocele minor and a few new findings that are a little interesting.  He may have a slightly larger than normal tongue and very clearly has a super small "stork bite" (nevus flammeus) on his forehead between his eyebrows.  These findings all put together suggest (but do not definitively assign) a diagnosis:  Beckwith Wiedemann Syndrome.  You can look this up as there is mucho information online about it, but here's the skinny:  big tongue, midline defects (like an omphalocele), low blood sugar (Harrison's was normal! Nice!), abdominal tumors (less than 10% of BWS patients develop a tumor, but it requires ultrasounds every 3-6 months for a few years to make sure we catch them early), and the stork bite.  If the blood sugar is controlled, brain issues are usually unlikely, and tumors are usually found very quickly if the screening is done correctly.  After a few years, the risk of tumors drops down to the same likelihood as anybody else in the population, so the surveillance is not a lifelong concern.

Overall, we're totally pumped about Harrison's prognosis and believe he will do very well.  We are still waiting for the genetic tests to rule out the main chromosome problems, but the docs don't expect any major abnormalities.  Again, we don't know for sure about BWS, but we have some reasons to expect that diagnosis now.

To end on good news:  Super H is going into the OR either later today or early tomorrow to get his omphalocele fixed.  The surgeons say they're going to try to create a belly button with a purse-string suture...sweet!  Anyway, that's the news for now.  Get excited!  The Big HT is looking great!