God Answers Prayers

We prayed that the baby's left ventricle would be functioning, and it is not only functioning, it is a good size with good blood flow. We came back from Little Rock with a different diagnosis. While this diagnosis is not perfect it is so much better than what we thought we were facing. The baby has a Double Outlet Right Ventricle. What this means is the Aorta and the Pulmonary valve are both coming out of the right ventricle. The Aorta is supposed to come out of the left ventricle and send all the newly oxygenated blood throughout the body. There is a hole between the left and right ventricle, but that is ok. They will be able to go in and patch the hole in a way that fixes the hole and allows the Aorta to get the blood from the left ventricle only.

I will still deliver at UAMS, and the baby will be taken straight over to Childrens. Childrens has a pediatric cardiac ICU, not very many children hospitals do. Everything after that depends on how the baby is doing. The baby will have the first (and maybe only) surgery at 1-2 weeks old. If the baby is doing well and strong enough they will patch the heart then. If the baby is not as strong as they would like then they do a temporary patch and do the permanent patch at 4-6 months. The pediatric cardiologist we met with yesterday did say this baby had some things going for him/her. There are no obstructions. They usually see obstructions in the large veins with this diagnosis and that is the biggest concern right now. I will have to go to Little Rock every 4 weeks and have another fetal echo done to make sure there are no obstructions or any other complication.

I was on the ultrasound table for like 2-2.5 hours yesterday and we saw every part of this baby except the gender. We don't want to know if it is a girl or boy, but the baby has made sure we didn't cheat! Every ultrasound the baby has had his/her legs crossed and grabbing and playing with his/her feet! The baby has hidden his/her face most of the time, but yesterday we even got some 4D images. They were measuring everything and looking for any other defects so they even had a shot of the lips and we could see nostrils. So we know there is no cleft palate.

I can't wait to meet this baby. I feel like I already know him/her and the personality he/she will have. Which is weird since I don't even know if it is a He/She (although I REALLY think it is a she).

Anyway, please keep us in your prayers. The big thing now is no obstruction!! And thank you! The calls, hugs, prayers, and emails have kept me going the past week and a half! I will scan and upload the 4D images later, they are so neat.