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.