The first Hat

Norah's First hat and booties from Grandma Saari with Lilly and Claire. Don't mind Claire's face. I had to make some pretty weird noises to get her to look at the camera.  

We met with the pediatric cardiologist yesterday and had the fetal echocardiogram. It was nice because the cardiologist was in the room for the echo. The cardiologist probably didn't like it so much because I started rambling off questions as soon as she walked in the door and while she was trying to look at the echo. I got the answer " well that's what we are looking for right now" more then once. However, she was very nice and very informative. Once again they confirmed that she does indeed have Transposition of the Great Arteries. We were told this is a fairly rare heart condition, but they see about 1 baby a month with this condition so they do know how to treat it and the surgeons are familiar with the operation. They confirmed that I will be delivering at Abbott in the new mom baby center where they will have a neonatal cath lab just doors down from where I will be delivering in the event they need to do immediate interventions. She said I am now a VIP patient. I didn't realize until now that could be a crappy thing. The operation she will need is called an arterial switch. http://www.childrensheartclinic.org/ProcedureIllustrations/ASO.pdf This is an open heart surgery that will be about 8 hours long. Basically they switch the main arteries around as well as the coronary arteries as they too are in the wrong place. This surgery usually takes place with in the first week. She may need a smaller surgery to keep the hole open between her atrium within the first hour of life depending on how she is doing. The cardiologist explained that they try and keep the heart in its fetal state until she has the switch surgery. We also met with a genetic counselor, after three strong NO's from both Luke and I the counselor finally understood that we would not be doing any genetic testing while I was pregnant.

For the most part Norah is fine as long as she is in me and the major problems arise once she is born.  Some research has shown that they may be getting a little less O2 then other babies but for the most part she is fine. It's nice to know that I can do something for her for a short time :). After the surgery Norah will be in the hospital for about 2 weeks. Her length of stay will mostly depend on how fast she learns to eat.

After she is released from the hospital most babies and children do great and the prognosis is very good, they only need to follow up with a cardiologist. That I can handle. The surgery has only been around since the late 80's so the oldest children who have had this done are only in there early 20's but are dong well.

My only job now is to make this baby grow. I have no new restriction. I wonder if this means I can eat more ice cream? I will be followed very closely through the pregnancy. I have an appointment almost every two weeks until she is 28 weeks, then I will be going weekly.

The kids don't really know anything yet. We probably won't even attempt with Claire. She still doesn't even understand simply commands like " don't out that in your mouth, or a simple No." We may explain things later to Lilly. For now I enjoy living vicariously through her that everything is great and we are having a new baby. Her innocents is priceless. 

Thank you all for the kind words and prayers. They mean so much to Luke and I. I know God will provide me with the strength to get through all of this, but I still don't have to like it and I don't :) It is weird because I remember studying this heart condition in nursing school during my pediatric rotation. Never would have I thought the child I would be caring for with this would be my own. Perhaps the Lord prepares us all in different ways.

God Bless,
Luke and Amanda