Autopsy Report

We finally have the autopsy report two months later! For those of you who are in the medical profession, or may have taken medical terminology, here is the diagnosis from Marshall's autopsy report:

• skin sloughage consistent with intrauterine fetal death
• nuchal cord reported at delivery
• bilateral subcapsular renal hemorrhage
• hepatic infarction
• enlarged spleen with decreased white pulp and distention of the sinusoids
• bilateral pleural effusion, moderate
• moderate ascites

For those of you who don't understand that "language", the results tell us that Marshall had a blood clot in his kidney that ruptured, causing his death.  It is nice to have answers, and now I will go to a high risk OB to see if this can be prevented in the future and what steps need to be taken before we have another baby.  I had blood work done to see if I am somehow a carrier for this clotting. Other findings are because of the kidneys:  fluid in his stomach and lungs (I think that's what the OB said), something with his liver, and he had an enlarged spleen that wouldn't have necessarily caused any problems.

My Toddler is Toddling

I am not ready to deem Penelope a walker quite yet, but she is more readily taking steps.  Whenever Dave and I aren't looking she takes a few steps.  She's even starting to walk to us when we want her to, as evidenced in this video.  But, the situation has to be just right: she has to want to, she can't be grumpy, she's got to feel steady on her feet, etc.  We're proud of our little girl for having the courage to start taking little steps (she's kind of a scaredy cat, so it's a big deal)!  Frankly, it's amazing we've caught this on video.  We've been trying to catch her animal noises and other cute things she does to no avail!

Thoughts

Things I think when I look at recent pictures of myself:

1. Get your jacked up haircut fixed (long story, it looks good from a distance, but it's a really bad haircut)!
2. Having two babies sure made me put on weight...dieting is on the to-do list
3. Man, I need a tan!
4. Penelope likes me so much she's always looking at me and not the camera...smile.

Luray Caverns for Labor Day

 We went to Luray Caverns for Labor Day (well, technically on Saturday).  It's a series of caves that were discovered near the Shenandoah Mountains in 1878.  If you're familiar with Mammoth Caves in KY, it's very similar.  I went to Mammoth Caves back in grad school, but my computer crashed and I lost all the pictures, so I guess this was a redo...but this time with a husband and toddler.

 Group shot with some stalactites

 A reflection of the stalactites onto an underground lake...which is only 18-20 inches at its deepest point.

 P was glad to get out of the stroller.

 Some guy had the idea to build an pipe organ down there using the stalactites as pipes.  They apparently tapped on stalactites to find the correct notes, then set up a system of hammers to lightly tap on them when the organ is played.

Here is the wishing well

This is the rigging that is used to play the pipe organ.  The black piece at the end of the tube extends out and taps on the stalactite.  The organ played "A Mighty Fortress is our God."  We have tons of pictures of the stalactites and stalagmites, but I won't bore you with posting any more of them.

Natural History Museum

 Last Thursday Dave had the day off so we drove into DC and went to the National Museum of Natural History

 We knew the elephant (I think he's named Harry) would be a hit with Penelope.  She's really into elephants lately.  Don't let the picture fool you.  The second she saw him she started doing her elephant sound over and over.

 We didn't go see every exhibit.  That's the joy of a free museum; you only see what you want to and stay for your allotted two hour parking meter time.  Penelope enjoyed the mammal exhibit.  She pointed like this at almost every animal, except for the ones that scared her.

 She especially liked the gem section.  After ooing and aaahing over the shiny jewels she liked the "touch me" portion of the exhibit.  She loved the amethyst geode so much that she didn't want to go, and tried to lick them as well.

This one was also fun, but not as cool as the amethyst (or so thought P, she headed back towards the amethyst after this).  I think it's quartz, but I'm not a geologist, and I never took rocks for jocks, so it's just a guess.