Cardiologist Appointment #2

Your ways, O God, are holy
What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles…”
-Psalms 77:13-14

On Friday we had our follow up appointment with Dr. Danford the pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital. We had quite the crew with us as both Mike's parents Stew & Peg, and Erin's parents Craig & Donna came with.Baby H sure has an awesome support system already!

The appointment started out with an ECHO of Baby H's heart. This is basically like an ultrasound, where they are able to get incredibly close pictures of the baby's heart including valves, arteries & ventricles and can color it to see how the blood is flowing. This process takes about 45 minutes. Both the tech and Dr. Danford were able to get all of the pictures they needed- Baby H did great at cooperating!We continue to be amazed by the technology that is available to help us heal Baby H's heart!

From there, Dr. Danford met with all of us to explain the findings from the ECHO. Again, we can't say enough about the Doctors and nurses we have met so far. The talents and skills God has provided them with are remarkable!He explained that no additional defects were found from the previous ECHO we had- Praise the Lord- we are so blessed by this news!

He then continued by telling us that there was one change from the previous ECHO, which was that they were able to look at a valve in the right ventricle which appears to be allowing blood to flow through. Because of this new development, he provided us with a a preferred Option A for surgery. This option is much better long-term.This process begins with a heart cath, which is performed right after birth. This allows the surgeon to go in and look directly at the heart to confirm the original finding, as well as look closely at the coronary arteries. These coronary arteries must look strong enough to continue with this process. If so, they will go in and open the valve in the Pulmonary artery which is not functioning. This will allow blood to flow through the heart in the normal manner. They will also place a shunt, which will optimize all blood flow. Once blood starts flowing through the right ventricle, the hopes are it will start to grow. This entire process is obviously the most ideal, as the heart will function in a much more normal process in the end. We feel God's amazing blessings being sent down and are so thankful for all He's provided us.

If the surgeon goes in and see's things during the cath which do not allow us to proceed with Option A, than Option B- the original three step open heart surgery process will be done.This is the process which re-directs the blood flow around the defective areas and to the lungs. In the end with this process Baby H will function only on a one ventricle heart.

>We walked away from this appointment feeling extremely blessed with the additional option for surgery. We are uplifted by this news, but know that God has a definite plan, and we continue to follow this whether Baby H is able to go through Option A, or Option B.

A few other things we learned: I am now seeing a high-risk doctor to assist with delivery at Methodist Women's Hospital, and have an appointment Tuesday morning with him. We go back Tuesday afternoon to meet with the surgeon who will be operating on Baby H, and also get a tour of the NICU. I go to my regular OB on Wednesday for my weekly appointments.

Oh, and a few updates from the last post- I did in fact past the three hour glucose test!! We also ask for prayers for our good friends the Johnson family from Oakland, who welcomed baby Landon into the world this week. He also has some heart defects and will soon be undergoing surgery.

We thank you for your continued prayers! We are so grateful for them, and know that God is hearing them!