29 weeks/OB appt.

We met with Dr. Kirshon today for a follow up ultrasound. He said everything is measuring well and that the baby is growing well. The baby weighs approximately 3 pounds 6 ounces. I went in a little early for my glucose test and drank about 5 ounces of what seemed like orange Kool Aid. Dr. Kirshon is not as personable as all of the other OBs that I have visited. I swear he forgets who I am every time I go in. I think it clicks in his head when he reads that our baby has HLHS. We will meet with him every 2 weeks until I am 37 weeks then it will be weekly. We are a little worried about my weight gain. I have only gained 9 pounds this far but with Tylee I gained all my weight at the end so I am not too worried. I just need to make sure that I gain at least one pound a week until the birth, if not more. After my ultrasound I went back down to the lab to have my blood drawn. I haven't received a call yet so I am assuming I passed the gestational diabetes test. I am past 28 weeks so it was time for another Rhogam shot. I can't believe this pregnancy is going by so fast. This little guy will be here before we know it. Next week I have the 9am-5pm appointment at TCH. We were able to fit all of my visits and the hospital tours into one day.

June Appointments Set

I finally made our appointments for the month of June. We will have another echocardiogram done at Texas Children's Hospital. This will not be done by Dr. Falkensammer but it will be by the same group of cardiologists. I will be around 31 weeks during this visit then I think I will have only 1 more before delivery. We also made an appointment with a neonatologist. He will explain to us (again) about our baby's heart condition and let us know what to expect after delivery for the baby only. We made an appointment with a surgeon, FINALLY, who will lead us through the baby's first surgery and let us know what to prepare for. We were told that this is a consultation appointment and that he may not be the heart surgeon operating on the baby. Our last and final appointment we made was for the hospital tour. We will take a tour of TCH and the cardiac floor the baby will stay on. I am relieved to finally have all these appointments. They wouldn't let us make any until I was in my last trimester. So, here we are, 3rd and final trimester.

Cardiac Visit 5/6/11

We had an appointment with Dr. Christine Falkensammer today and it went relatively well. Usually, the ultrasounds take about 30-40 minutes but today it was only 20 or so. After about 15 minutes it actually starts to hurt. He is a very active baby so they usually have to push on my stomach to get a clearer picture but luckily today that was not the case. Once we were done Dr. Falkensammer explained the whole HLHS process again. I think she likes to do this because she can answer any new questions that we may have. We were worried about the size of the baby's foramen ovale but it has continued to remain the same. We didn't want it to get any smaller. From the 1st to the 2nd visit the f.o. had actually improved in size. They call the small opening a restrictive atrial septum. We talked about the 2 openings of the baby's heart; the ductus arteriosus and the foramen ovale. The ductus arteriosus usually closes shortly after delivery. We need the d.a. to remain open until his first surgery so they will administer Prostaglandin to help keep it open until then. The foramen ovale usually closes around 3 months of life but with an HLHS heart they will use this opening to help blood flow for the rest of his life. They will make his f.o. a permanent pathway for blood to flow between the right ventricle and pulmonary veins.

I find that it is easier to explain with a picture. I have labeled the formamen ovale and the ductus arteriosus in orange. You can also see that our baby's left ventricle is almost non existent.

Once her explanation was over she reiterated that all the babies she has dealt with make it through the 1st surgery. They usually lose the babies that have chromosomal problems which our baby does not have. She then told us, again, that they lose most babies between the 1st and 2nd surgery. 20% of babies pass away during that time from blood clots or other problems. We are trying to stay positive and think of the 80% that make it to the 2nd surgery between 3-4 months. After the 2nd surgery the chances of losing our son are very minimal. I don't even want to know how much sleep I am going to lose by checking on him every 2 seconds. She also explained to us that there has not been any long term research on HLHS babies so it is still a case by case basis. Around 20 years ago they started saving HLHS babies and performing these miraculous surgeries so in the medical world this technology is still new and risky.

I enjoy going to these appointments only because it helps us get a better look at what we need to prepare for. The hardest thing about these appointments is dealing with reality. We live a normal life for a couple weeks then we go to these visits and we are reminded time and time again. I stopped reading my Pregnancy Week by Week book because it gets depressing. Every week they tell you what the "norm" is and it gets too frustrating. On the other hand we are doing extremely well. There has been less tears, less emotional stress and more praying going on in our home. Seth and I will never be prepared for what is to come but we pray to be strong. We take each day at a time and sometimes I really forget about all the stress. The hardest part about this is choosing a baby name. Ugh!

26 Weeks

I met with Dr. Kirshon today for my 26 week appointment. We didn't really discuss anything out of the ordinary. We just confirmed that I will be delivering at St. Luke's Hospital. Apparently, Texas Children's Hospital actually owns the Labor & Delivery floor over there. Dr. Kirshon will only deal with the delivery of the baby and then I will have follow up check ups at 2 and 6 weeks post delivery. They have a bridge that connects both of the hospitals and they said I can visit with the baby almost any time. Next time I go see Dr. Kirshon I will have my glucose testing, another Rhogam shot (RH negative) and a follow up ultrasound. I enjoy the ultrasounds with Dr. Kirshon because they have the 3D imaging so hopefully we can get more pictures of this little guy.

Foramen Ovale

As I discussed at the very bottom of this blog our baby has narrow foramen ovale. If it were rated on a scale of 1-3 his would be a 2. It is not the best but not the worst. A complete zero would mean that it is completely closed. (The f.o. helps blood flow in utero.) We have an appointment scheduled with the cardiologist on May 6th. I will be 26 weeks 5 days pregnant. At the Boston Children's Hospital they perform an intrauterine procedure that would place a balloon in our baby's f.o. that would help open it. You are only a candidate for this procedure up to 28 weeks of pregnancy. So please pray that this part of our baby's heart stays open and that it does not get more narrow. The last 2 check ups have been the same and there has been no more narrowing so our prayers have been heard. Let's just keep praying about this and thinking positive. Thanks for all of your support.

Rooming In

Once I deliver our little guy he will be taken to Texas Children's Hospital. The hospital I deliver at is right next to it and I can walk over there when I feel up for it. I am assuming I will stay in the hospital for at least two days so that I can kind of recover and relax. (I'm not sure how much relaxing I will do.) We have been a little worried about where we would stay when our baby was going through this process. We looked into hotels and the Ronald McDonald House. There are actually 4 Ronald McDonald Houses in Houston. At least one of us has to stay downtown to be with the baby. Our doctor contacted us and said that on the cardiac floor they actually have "room in" accommodations for parents. They want the parent's to be as involved as possible in the care of the baby. They also use this time as a teaching opportunity for parents. We are so thrilled that they will have room for us and that we don't have to leave the hospital. I have heard that taking a few breaks is really needed so I am hoping some of you will want to come meet me for lunch or dinner. Any takers? :-) This is one less thing we have to worry about.

Pictures of our little man

This one is my favorite.

IT'S A BOY! When the doctor showed us this picture Seth said, "That doesn't look like Tylee's." I chuckled a little bit.

Our babies little foot.