Ultrasound

Well, we had our meeting with our new high risk doctors today,  and the wait time in that office is terrible. That will be fun to deal with the rest of the pregnancy. We had an ultrasound first. The tech was super friendly and explained everything to us as she looked at it and took pictures. It was nice to be informed that all of his internal organs were there and normal. She looked at of his heart for a long time, so they can have a better idea of what they are dealing with since they are our new providers.  She had some trouble with the orientation of the heart and seemed confused but we all laughed it off and made jokes about it.
Once we were done we were sent back to the waiting room to wait for the doctor. Eventually we were called back. We sat down and waited, optimistically. She came in and introduced herself, she asked what our understanding was of what was going on. We briefly explained our viewpoint. She then explained that sometimes heart defects can be secondary to other defects. We were then told that everything else looks good. We were relieved!
However, his heart is on the wrong side of his body. Instead of being on the left side, it's oriented on the right side. A mirror image, is how it was explained. A very rare anomaly.  She explained that typically this doesn't pose any immediate threats to the baby. Thankfully. We will learn more about it on June 3rd when we have another echo and meet with the cardiologists.
We are expecting to be induced at 39 weeks.

I'll update more after our June 3rd appt.

Coping

Now what? We were just delivered news that our unborn baby needs heart surgery. It's scary. We can't be the only ones. My quest began to find other mothers that have gone through what we are about to endure. I have always been one to want to educate myself as much as I can on a subject that is personal to me.

Although congestive heart defects (CHD) aren't very rare, there are so many variations of different defects that can make certain cases more rare than others. I wasn't sure if I would be able to find someone with our same diagnosis.  I searched and searched. I was able to find a group of moms on a website that have children with CHD. Although many have different diagnosis their journeys are similar. It helped to read their stories and positive outcomes, it helped me to be more optimistic. 

It also lead me here. To this blog.  I've never read as many blogs as I do now. I wanted to be a part of the coping process so I decided to write about our journey in hopes it will help ease someone's anxiety that are going through the same thing.

Not only that, but between my husband's large family and our group of friends, I figured this will be the easiest way to keep everyone updated.

Our next appointment is May 21 with our high risk doctors along with a more in-depth ultrasound to be sure there arent any other issues as sometimes CHD is associated with other defects. We then meet our new doctors.

11 weeks to go before we meet our little warrior.

The beginning

At 20 weeks pregnant we went for the ever exciting anatomy ultrasound. We found out we were having a little boy and we enjoyed seeing him on the screen. The ultrasound technician was amazing, but our son was stubborn and she couldn't get a good view of his heart. She knew that parents to be enjoyed having ultrasounds so instead of trying to get a good picture, we were scheduled to come back in a few weeks. We didn't mind one bit! 

4 weeks later we arrive for our second ultrasound, luckily, our little guy is in a good position to get a few pictures. It was a quick appointment, as we were only there for one purpose. Once we were done we were sent to a patient room, as usual, to wait for the good word that everything was okay. The doctor came in and told us that there was a possibility that our little Logan may have what is called Transposition of the Great Arteries. What this means is that the two main arteries leading to and from the heart are in opposite places and would need to be switched shortly after birth. He said that it wasn't a definite, but just to be sure he wanted us to have an echocardiagram done. We left the office with many unanswered questions, and the possibility of facing a long journey, but we were optimistic. 

After our echocardiagram appointment we waited in the conference room hoping for the best. When we saw the doctor he was very friendly and asked us about ourselves and he discussed why we were there. Then I heard him say the most devastating word, "unfortunately". Unfortunately our baby had many issues with his heart. I was devastated. I tried to hold back my tears and concentrate on what he was explaining to us. Logan not only had what we expected, the Transpostion of the Great Arteries (TGA), but he also had Pulmonic Stenosis, a narrowing of the pulmonary artery, Double Outlet Right Ventricle (DORV), both arteries are coming off of the right ventricle, a hole in his heart, (Ventricular Septal Defect, VSD) common with TGA and DORV. It was hard to hear, and even though my husband and I both have medical backgrounds it was still difficult to comprehend all of the medical jargon thrown our way.  

He explained to us what our upcoming journey may include. Open heart surgery is inevitable, along with many other procedures on his little heart. The Dr. explained that he has a very complex heart and there are many variables that could change the plan of action, nothing would be for sure until after he was born and the cardiac team could get a better look at his heart. We left the appointment completely unsure of what our future has in store for us. 

The picture on the left is of a normal heart, the picture on the right is baby Logan's heart. Or at least an idea of what his heart looks like as of right now.