It was approximately 8:30 AM. I was supposed to be across the street at our church helping with last minute items for the MOPS Open House, which would start at 9 AM . Instead, I was in the accessible restroom stall at Target, along with the great big red shopping cart, which held Greg (age 3) and Savannah (not quite 2).
I considered waiting till after the open house to make my trip to Target, but I HAD to know. I couldn't wait a moment longer to find out whether or not I was pregnant with Wild Thing # 5. So there I was, taking a pregnancy test in the Target restroom.
I stared at the 2 lines. Yup, Wild Thing #5 was in the works. I laughed. The whole thing was just comical. If I didn't laugh, I was going to cry - we were done having kids - this wasn't part of the the plan. Our plan was four kids, we HAD four kids. We planed to take the proper steps to ensure we only had four kids - Rob was going in for his "appointment" in a mere three weeks after being on a WAIT LIST for nearly 3 months! For heaven's sake, the appointment reminder card was on the bulletin board at home.
I had my answer, now I had to get to MOPS. Within ten minutes, I was back across the street loading the stroller with kids and calling Rob. I hadn't been feeling great and after a call the day before and a quick conversation with the advice nurse, she strongly urged me to take a pregnancy test and call back. I had LAUGHED during my conversation with her! I informed Rob about her recommendation and he LAUGHED when I filled him in. It WASN'T possible. Nope, no way, I was NOT pregnant.
I dialed and heard Rob's voice. He didn't even say hello...he said, "Well, are you pregnant?!". My "yes" was followed by his immediate, uncontrollable laughter. I was a tad surprised and mentioned I was glad he was finding the humor in it and he quickly responded, "Well, it is what it is and there's no going back now", which was followed by MORE laughter from him and then a question, "When do you think you're due? Do I still get to go to Walt Disney World for my 40th?". Nope, Wild Thing # 5 would debut sometime in April, assuming my prenatal math was correct. The dates we'd set aside wouldn't work. Maybe for this 50th we could go...
My morning continued and I headed into MOPS. This wasn't the time or place to share my pregnancy news, so it made the morning very interesting. I was catching up with old friends and meeting new ones for over two hours. For those who knew us, they new Savannah was our "last". Various comments were made all morning about our family being "done" having anymore kids. A few gals I was closer to asked if we'd "officially" made sure there would be no more Wild Things. It was all the typical mom chit chat about babies, etc, etc. I just shook my head and said Rob's appointment was a few weeks away...
Now about that appointment, you know, the one to "close up shop" of the Wild Things, well, it would happen. We had four, we were going to get five. Three out of four had odds and ends of medical stuff going on. After Savannah had been born and we handed her over for heart surgery at a mere seven weeks of ages, we agreed we were DONE. We couldn't do this again, didn't want to risk something "else". We had four, we wanted four and despite their "issues", it was all manageable, but we were still done.
Yet, here we were - again - pregnant and wondering what would arise with this little one growing within me. Wild Thing # 5 had a 1% chance of Down syndrome, a 3% chance of a heart defect and as for another hormone deficiency, who knew - it was ridiculously rare to begin with - just 1 in 7,000+ has the condition Wild Thing # 2 was born with, so we didn't even bother to try and figure out that statistic. Honestly, what was the point? We'd get what we'd get and keep moving forward - we always did. The odds were never in our favor and likely something would arise, it was really a matter of what.
Some figured we'd hold off on Rob's appointment, just in case anything happened with this pregnancy. But here's the thing, we had made our decisions and never second guessed them. The Lord, however, had the other plans. The Lord wanted us to have another, so I was pregnant and if that was going to change, then what would be, would be. We were moving forward with Rob's "appointment".
Appointment day came. I dropped Rob curbside and would return once he texted that he was ready for pick up. Easy-peezy. Pick up time came. He swung the car door open and I asked how things went - the look of bewilderment was written all over his face. He told me he had to fill me in on some interesting developments that arose during his procedure.
First, the appointment had taken longer than expected...this was because only one tube could be found?! Second, the doc had asked him if we had fertility issues...uh, NO, that's why he was there. Well, then, Rob's second tube was LIKELY there, but an additional surgery would need to be done to find it and it may or may not be found, which would mean I would need my own "appointment" to ensure no more Wild Things came about. But, before we traveled that road, Rob was told to find out if he had TWO KIDNEYS?! Wait. What? Apparently, 50% of the time a doc can only find one tube during this procedure, you may only have ONE kidney. However, since we hadn't had fertility issues, the doc was certain Rob had two tubes and ordered an ultrasound to do a "kidney count". Once we knew how many kidneys he had, we would know how to move forward, to ensure there would only be 5 Wild Things.
Fast forward to Rob's "kidney count" day. The tech started the ultrasound and commented, "Well, I can't seem to find either kidney...", to which Rob replied, "Well, I gotta have one in there SOMEWHERE?!", and the ultrasound tech stated, "yes, let me look a bit lower...oh, there it is, you have one, Pelvic Pancake Kidney...". Rob: "I have a what kidney?!"
Yup, Rob was born with one kidney, commonly referred to as a "pelvic/pancake kidney". When you're developing in the womb, your kidneys ascend upward and one lands on either side. That was not the case for Rob's kidney's. His fused and grew together, creating one, over sized kidney, which proceeded to get "stuck" in his pelvis, due to it's size. Since his fused kidney's were larger than one kidney, it was able to compensate for the job it does and he has never had any issues, which is why he never knew he had one kidney. In typical Wild Thing fashion, that wasn't the end of it. This was a genetic disorder. We needed to do a "kidney count" of all the Wild Things. A few weeks later we were back - four wild things divided between two ultra sound rooms, getting an official kidney count. Once # 5 arrived, they'd do his kidney count, as the prenatal ultrasound wasn't considered thorough enough. Yes, all of Lincoln's kidney's are accounted for.
So there it is. We are a family of 13 Kidneys. We're the family with odds and ends of medical anomalies. Nothing is hereditary, not one single diagnosis or issue is related to another. The final count - as of now - is 13 kidneys, 1 Down syndrome, 1 hormone deficiency, 1 heart defect and 1 medically quirky child.
All bets are off as to what the future holds...