I uh I'm not sure where to begin. I guess from the beginning. We went up to Primary's today to have the echo cardiogram and check my little Aiden's heart and see if he does in fact have a heart defect. To keep things short yes he does. The artery connected to left part of his heart is constricted restricting blood to that part of his heart that's is causing the right side of his heart to be enlarged while the left part of his heart to be smaller then normal. Because of this he will need heart surgery 3-5 days after he is born. So I will now be having him up at the University of Utah hospital so that he can be moved to Primary's Children hospital. He will be staying at the NICU at that point and will be staying there for about three weeks.
He's fine know because there is an extra piece connected to his heart that helps give more blood to his heart. There is apparently a drug that keeps that from closing after birth which will be administered to him after he is born. But first thing they will perform is a echo cardiogram on him to determine how and it is and then the drug will be administered. Link for more information about this defect: http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/c/coarctation/
Now they say it happens in about5 out of 10,000 births, I think.. that parts a blur to me. The doctor said they do surgery about 20 times a year at that hospital and that he has never lost a baby who has had it. Connor will not be able to see him until he leaves the hospital and after surgery I won't be able to hold him for several days :/. Now he will need monitoring after this point because there is a small chance 2% that the left size of his heart will not normalize after surgery if that happens there will need to be more surgery. They did say in rare causes they have to do two surgery but its not common and normally they go up a vein in the leg and use it to enlarge that part of the heart. OK there was more to that but its blurry to. I go in again in 4 weeks for another echo cardiogram and check on if the left side has constricted more. I'll post more when I found out more information. I know now that I will be induced and oh one bit of good news he's turned and no longer breach! They said I will not need a c-section unless absolutely needed. I should have more information in a week. Because I see my OBGYN then and he'll tell me on where to go for now. Not even sure if he'll be the one there when I give birth now.
I'm a mom to two boys one of which was born with coarctation of the aorta a congenital heart defect. This is our story and trails in life.
7 comments:
Oh Heath! *hugs, hugs, hugs*
I am so sorry you guys are going through this but the prognosis sounds promising. My prayers are with you!
That's difficult news to receive but wow, how great is it to know before he arrives so the doctors can be prepared to care for him straight away.
So sorry you have to deal with this.
{{{Hugs}}}
Fully understand the blur - panic, fear, pain... I LOVE that he says they haven't lost a baby to this in surgery - that is great odds!
Primarys is the best hospital in the state and among the top 20-30 in the country - he really couldn't be in safer hands.
I will continue to pray for your family and for Aiden.
Love you!
If you need anything - or need me to help with Connor (I know your mom & dad most likely will help) but I am available as well.
Anything you need please let me know!
I am so sorry that you will not be able to hold him for a while. We are still praying for you. I would hug you very tight if I was there.
Heather, I'm so sorry you're having to face this. ((((HUGS)))) It's good to know that all the doctors are on stand by. Praying that everything will go well.
Sending (((HUGS))). It is amazing that they can tell all this before they are born. It's why we paid to have an extra test when I was pg with small boy so we would be prepared for the worst. Luckily he was healthy.
I'm sure you will get the best care. You can ask about expressing some milk for him as he won't be able to feed at first. Or is there a milk bank at the hospital in case you can't express?
Keeping my fingers crossed for you whole family xxx
saw your comment on our blog. Please email me with any questions. I would love to be a support for you as you go through this. Its a battle i do not wish on anyone but I can say we are hopefully on the other side now.
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