Balloon

Thank you so much for all your comments and good wishes, they mean a lot to us.
Yesterday, December 15th, we had the balloon put in. The procedure went as well as we had expected, Robbie was a very good boy and made mummy and daddy very proud. I had extra fluid which they drained out. I am hoping this will help us keep the balloon in for the full 8 weeks.
The hospital has changed the procedureq a bit, they took some extra blood in case there is a problem with the baby. I was also given pethadine, which made me very ill after the effect wore off and now I am carrying around a bracelet and a big sign for my notes reading " balloon in fetal tracchea, must be punctured immediately at birth". When we were at Kings with Alina in 2009, a CDH baby was born to a family that didn't speak English very well and didn't communicate that the balloon was still in place. It was a massive blunder, the baby's ventilator had to be turned off as he was severely brain damaged. Even though it's on the back of a tragedy, it's good to see that lessons are learnt and the process is being improved.
On good thing is that it seems I have a strong placenta. Prof. Nicolaides had to really push the needle through to get in. So hopefully there won't be a pre term birth. The plan is to have the balloon removed around the February 11th mark and I have told Robbie that he needs to stay in until March 10th, which would make him 38 weeks old. Even though it's hard going through this again we don't see any reasons why Robbie wouldn't do as well as his big sister Alina. Since they both had the same readings, LHR 0.6, I am convinced that the mutation is affecting only the diaphragm and not the quality of the lung tissue.
We're staying very positive and are looking forward to celebrating Alina's 3rd birthday on Monday and a nice Christmas together. 
Merry Christmas to all of you!
Lots of love from the Houchins.