Where do I begin…
I met with the pediatric cardiologist on April 24th. Everything is looking about the same as it has been. Except, the coarctation the doctor was pretty sure he saw in January appears to have corrected itself. However, as they’ve been saying all along, they can’t really tell exactly how everything looks until she’s born and they do an echocardiogram on her. If she only has the AVCD without the coarctation, it increases the likelihood that she’ll be born with Down Syndrome. About 70% of babies with AVCD have DS. But, all the routine bloodwork that I had in the very beginning of pregnancy showed a very low risk of having a baby with DS. Sooo, we’ll see what happens. Not really too worried about it. Children with DS are usually so happy and full of life. Also, the atrial hole in her heart is pretty obvious on the ultra sound, but the ventricular hole in her heart while noticeable, doesn’t look to be huge…of course we’re praying that when she’s born there’s no hole whatsoever…but if there has to be a hole, we’re praying that maybe it will only be the atrial hole and not the ventricular. A really good thing that the doctor said is that he doesn’t see any reason for me to be induced. So, I’ll be going into labor naturally, yay! The only bummer about that is the possibility that Joyce may not be able to meet Faith if she’s not born until her due date! So I’m hoping to at least go just a few days early =)
On Wednesday I got to meet with the pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon who will be taking care of Faith when the time comes for her surgery. He is very nice and I really like him and feel very comfortable with him. He, as well as the pediatric cardiologist, said that they usually do this surgery around 4 months and never later than 6 months. Because of the type of defect, if they wait longer than 6 months there can be permanent damage to the lungs. So, depending on how well she does with eating and putting on weight during the first weeks, she will most likely have her open heart surgery around 4 months. Also got to talk to one of the neonatologists in the NICU and got a tour. Everybody was very nice at the hospital and made me feel very comfortable and confident with the care Faith will be receiving while there.
Today I got to meet with the doula who will hopefully be attending during labor and delivery. She’s really nice and I think her presence will help take some pressure off Matt and contribute to a more “relaxing” birth experience.
We went to the Red Sox vs. Yankees baseball game at Fenway on Friday the 24th. We stopped at Bass Pro Shop on the way there. We all had a good time…for the most part. But there were a couple of idiots who showed up during the 3rd inning and sat behind us…so that was a little annoying. But other than that it was fun.
Okay, I think I’ve updated everybody on the latest news. I hope I didn’t leave anything out. Now it’s way past time for bed!