August 30th Update
Today I had an anatomy ultrasound done. Lenah is growing right
on schedule and everything looks good besides her heart defect. Her
weight is estimated at a smidge over 6lbs. She is also finally
vertex/head-down, which tells me she is getting ready. She has been
transverse or breech in all previous ultrasounds. It looks as though
my c-section will be scheduled for September 23rd. So her
birthday will be exactly two weeks after her big sister Sofia's
unless Lenah decides to make her own unscheduled appearance.
I had a cardiology consult with one of the pediatric cardiac
surgeons last Tuesday. I have heard all good things about him from
many different sources. I liked him. He seemed a bit like the
engineer-minded type of person. I think that is probably a very good
thing for a cardiac surgeon. He said that all of the information
that they have gathered from the fetal echocardiograms is very
helpful but there is so much that they don't know until Lenah is out
and on her own and they see how she does on her own and get
measurements from a transthoracic (chest) echocardiogram. He said
that her particular presentation could actually need a less
complicated surgery than the open-heart Norwood procedure to start
with, but we will not know everything we need to know until she gets
here.
I find myself being far more concerned about the logistics and
planning care for my older children and balancing that with time at
the hospital with Lenah than I am about the “scary” life and
death decisions. I absolutely hate the idea of leaving my sweet
little baby by herself for even a moment- it makes me quite nauseous
to even think about it. I can't really even wrap my head around it
all. I am having trouble sleeping and I feel like I will never get
everything done that I feel needs to be done in the next three weeks.
I desperately need peace in this storm. Once again, I covet your
prayers. I am sure that it is in part due to the prayers of our
loving friends and family that have helped to sustain us through this
time. Thank you all once again.
Lenah's mommy- Edie
To read Lenah's story from the beginning, just go to the side bar under blog archive and start reading from May 2013.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Saturday, August 10, 2013
August 6th Update
Well, this update has taken me
quite awhile to get together. While we were at our Dr. appointment
on Tuesday the boys spilled a glass of water on my laptop and I have
spent the rest of the week trying to get that taken care of. We had
another fetal echo-cardiogram on Tuesday morning and a consult with
the neonatal specialist in the afternoon. We had much better news
this week than at our last appointment. Our cardiologist showed the
images of our last echo-cardiogram to a few of her colleagues and
they were also immediately concerned and noticed the leaking of the
pulmonary valve right away. It was moderate and constant. Praise the
Lord! He has heard our prayers,because at this last ultrasound, our
doctor watched the pulmonary valve for a long time and only saw a
very intermittent slight leakyness. She says that she has no
explanation for this difference. She said that it is possible that
the flow from the placenta was just too strong before for some
reason, but she really just had no explanation for the difference. I
said that I prefer to believe that God chose to intervene. So, at
this time we are planning to have her delivered by c-section as close
to 40 weeks gestation as possible – the longer her heart has time
to grow- the better. She will have immediate intervention after
birth to assist and prepare her for her first open heart surgery. We
were very happy to learn that Texas Children's hospital has a very
sibling friendly environment and all of the children will be able to
spend time with Lenah in the NICU. They also have sibling classes to
help them prepare and know what to expect when they come to visit.
At this time I feel much more hopeful than I did after our previous appointment. Between these two appointments I had a biophysical profile ultrasound and the doctor said that she saw fluid on the heart and lungs. This added to my concern for Lenah. No fluid was seen anywhere at our most recent appointment.
Also, I will begin seeing a new OB on August 22. I had chosen my current doctor because she is known as one of the only doctors in Houston that will allow a woman a trial of labor and VBAC after having more than one c-section. She is the chief of Obstetrics at Ben Taub Hospital and only attends deliveries there. I am changing doctors because I will need to be delivered at Texas Children's Hospital Women's Pavilion so Lenah will be on site for treatment. I am guessing they will schedule a c-section for the last week of September. I do not at all like the idea of having yet another c-section, but I know I need to do what is best for Lenah. I do concede that there are some advantages to scheduling everything so we can have childcare covered and all of that.
So, once again, thank you to all of you for your prayers. We most certainly appreciate them and you. Please continue to pray for Lenah and for us as we continue to plan for her arrival.
At this time I feel much more hopeful than I did after our previous appointment. Between these two appointments I had a biophysical profile ultrasound and the doctor said that she saw fluid on the heart and lungs. This added to my concern for Lenah. No fluid was seen anywhere at our most recent appointment.
Also, I will begin seeing a new OB on August 22. I had chosen my current doctor because she is known as one of the only doctors in Houston that will allow a woman a trial of labor and VBAC after having more than one c-section. She is the chief of Obstetrics at Ben Taub Hospital and only attends deliveries there. I am changing doctors because I will need to be delivered at Texas Children's Hospital Women's Pavilion so Lenah will be on site for treatment. I am guessing they will schedule a c-section for the last week of September. I do not at all like the idea of having yet another c-section, but I know I need to do what is best for Lenah. I do concede that there are some advantages to scheduling everything so we can have childcare covered and all of that.
So, once again, thank you to all of you for your prayers. We most certainly appreciate them and you. Please continue to pray for Lenah and for us as we continue to plan for her arrival.
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