2 Big Events

Lorelai's baby blessing was such a special day. I had surprise family come from out of town; Chris and William! I love those boys so much and it just made everything a little more special for us. Ryan did a wonderful job blessing Lorelai. There were instant tears because the very first words were, "We bless you with health, and wholeness". With the pending heart procedure approaching, those words really meant something to me and I couldn't hold back. Ryan is such a tender man, and I love his emotion when he talks about his kids. He loves us so much.

Grandma Brower made her blessing gown top to bottom and it is just lovely. The little bloomers really tie it all together. Thank you grandma! You're so talented and wonderful and we just love all you do for us.

The heart procedure was today. It went very well. Dr. Womack is amazing and extremely down to earth. He wears old red converse sneakers every day. He came to Pre-op with his left elbow all purple and blue. When we asked him what he did to hurt himself he said it was from gearing up for a sweet slapshot during a fooseball match yesterday. Funny Dr.

He said that Lorelai responded very well to the dilation of her valves. There was only one glitch that made this procedure less than perfect, and that was that they had to take a different route through her heart than originally planned. But it's nothing to worry about. He is very optimistic that she will not have to have this surgery done again. I asked him about her numbers compared to a normal person so I could put it into perspective; a normal persons blood flows through at 1 or 1 1/2 meters per second. Lorelai's WAS flowing at 4 meters per second, which is too much pressure, which is moderate concern. If it was at 5, it would have been extreme concern. NOW it is at 2 meters per second, and that's a happy place to be. She will always have a small murmur, but it's the loudness of the murmur that counts. And her murmur has changed from high pitched to low pitched. YEA!  Another number comparison is that her gradient, or pressure of flow, went from 50 to 15 or 20 after this. I would say the procedure worked for sure!

It took a little while for Lorelai to figure out how to nurse effectively. Her throat was really sore and irritated from the oxygen tube that was down her throat, and she kept choking on the milk. They wouldn't let us go home until she'd fed three times and wet two diapers. She did that just fine by dinner time. But after we had been home for about 30 minutes, she projectile vomited a lot all at once and now she's sleeping and tired and has an empty tummy   : ( but we will keep a close eye on her through the night and make her eat a little at a time so that her poor little tummy can get back on track.

We are doing well but we are so exhausted at this point. It's been a long day. Gabe spent the night last night at his grandma Warner's (my mom's) and he was an angel I guess. I hope! Sometimes grandmas see the world through rose colored glasses, if you know what I mean. Gabe usually has a couple of monster moments every day, but I'll humor his grandma Warner this time. Apparently he put himself down for a nap today and slept for an hour and half. And now he's in his room singing himself to sleep at this very moment. He sings himself to sleep every night. It's either Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or a new variation of the Alphabet song.

Well, I'm pooped.

The Haps

A lot of our family is already aware of what is going on in our lives right now. But for the rest of my friends, I thought I would fill you all in. On the day Lorelai was born, our pediatrician, Dr. Johnson, came in to meet her and found a heart murmur during his routine exam. It was a loud one, and concerned him enough to have the pediatric cardiologist take a listen too. Dr. Alexander, the cardiologist, was also concerned enough to order an EKG and an echocardiogram before we could leave the hospital. The results showed that Lorelai has a condition called Pulmonary Valve Stenosis.

This is when two of the three leaflets in her heart are fused together, not allowing the blood to flow properly to her lungs. We were sent home with instructions to come back in a week for another echocardiogram. Well things got worse, although Lorelai looks, acts, and eats like a normal baby. We were told to come back at two weeks; things got worse. Her aortic valve had begun thickening, which means it's working too hard to pump blood on behalf of those fused leaflets. So the plan now is that Lorelai will have to undergo a procedure called balloon valvuloplasty on Tuesday March 8th at 9 a.m. It will take about 4 hours to complete.

The procedure will involve the doctors inserting a catheter through a major vessel in her groin, sending it straight into her heart where it will be weaved in and around until it finds the leaflets. A balloon on the end of the catheter will be dialated slowly in and out, bigger and bigger until the leaflets are either stretched to normal size, or come apart on their own. 70% of babies who have this procedure don't need any more treatment and are normal. The other 30% will need it done again by the age of 5 or 6, and might require a full valve replacement by the time they are middle aged.

Lorelai will be put to sleep for this procedure. I am quite stressed and nervous about this whole thing. But I find great comfort in knowing that if was me getting this procedure done, the doctors would let me stay awake. It's not supposed to hurt, and Lorelai has to remain perfectly still; that's why she'll be put to sleep. The risks are low and the success rate is high, and I am pretty hopeful. When Lorelai wakes up around 1 p.m. that day, we will be put in a room to snuggle her for about 4 hours, hopefully seeing our little girl acting normal and eating well. Hopefully the swoosh swoosh sound of her heart murmur will be gone! If anything seems amiss, we will be staying the night at the hospital with her.

Her blessing day is March 6th, two days before the procedure. As this day is also a Fast Sunday, we have asked not only our entire family, but also our fellow ward members to fast for her. I am overwhelmed with the support we are recieving! I have never felt more loved in a ward than I do in this one. Especially while I was pregnant and in and out of the ER so many times for my own issues; they brought us dinner, took care of Gabriel, and then after I delivered Lorelai, we recieved about 10 more dinners!

I think what I am most nervous about, is the fact that I have to stop nursing Lorelai at 5 a.m. Tuesday. I just hate it when she cries from hunger (like when we are driving somewhere), and I don't know how I will bear it. I can give her water until 7 a.m., but nothing else until 1 p.m. after the procedure. During this time, the hospital will lend me a nursing pump, but since I've never used one, I am worried about it's effectiveness and I just pray that I will be able to nurse her okay when she wakes up. I guess the only plus side to this whole thing, (besides Lorelai being healthy, of course) is that I will now have some milk storage for our freezer! Yea.

So, that's the latest on medical issues. Ummm...so we bought a new couch yesterday and it will be here in 2 weeks. : D  Gabe is happy and healthy and loves his little sister. Ryan is happy and healthy and working hard for us. I love his guts for his amazing support of me at this crazy crazy time.