Visit to UNC

Today mom and I went for my regular visit with the OB clinic at UNC. We met with Dr. Kim Boggess and really liked her! She was very helpful and was able to answer a lot of general OB questions I'd been collecting since starting birthing classes earlier this month. Unfortunately, I failed my 1 hr. glucose test at last month's checkup so I've got to have a follow up 3 hr. glucose test on Friday. I will be able to have that done at Rex since it's a little closer than UNC, but I'm still not looking forward to it. It involves drinking a sugary orange carbonated beverage once an hour for three hours and at the end of each hour, having my blood drawn. This test is used to confirm whether or not I have gestational diabetes.

On a brighter note, it's such a relief to be treated like a "normal" pregnant person and to just be able to focus on the "normal" questions a first-time mom has with trying to understand the process of labor and delivery, without the equation of Ethan's heart problem. Dr. Boggess assured me that since nothing can be done to treat Ethan until after he's born, that I'd progress with labor and delivery like any other mother out there, no special treatment because of his heart problem. This means I can have pain meds :-) and a regular delivery without need for a C-Section (unless some other complication arises...unrelated to our son's heart defect).

After meeting with my OB, my care coordinator took us over to meet one of the cardio-thoracic (CT) heart surgeons - Dr. Robert Stewart. He and the other CT surgeon, Dr. Michael Mill will be tag-teaming Ethan's heart surgery. Both doctors are very skilled at what they do and they operate on at least a dozen HLHS babies a year! Our pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Cotton has done a great job at our previous 2 appointments at explaining the 3 heart surgeries, and today Dr. Stewart re-explained the procedures once again and answered a lot of our questions about what to expect post-op and also for years to come after all 3 surgeries are completed. Mom and I left UNC feeling a lot more confident about our hospital choice and about the whole situation overall. We are definitely thankful to be blessed to live in a day and age with so much technology and medical expertise to be able to help our sweet son live. It's hard to believe that treatment has only been around since 1980 for this congenital heart defect and we are very thankful that God has allowed our son to be in such good medical hands.

Now that we're well into our third trimester, it's time to start having more frequent checkups. We return on July 10th, where we'll talk about possibly induction for labor because Ethan's surgery needs to be timed to be 3-5 days after he's born and they want to make sure that he's born in time to have the surgery during a work week and not have to extend it a few days by having to wait through the weekend. That week, we'll also have one last ultrasound to check Ethan's growth once more before he arrives! Not long now until we get to meet Ethan at last!

Baby Shower

Today my friends, Leah and Sarah through me a very beautiful and fun Storybook-themed baby shower! It was fun to see all the hard work they put into planning the food, decorations and games! Thank you ladies for all your hard work and for all the fun we had. Also thank you to everyone that made it to the shower and for all the great baby gear and gift cards we received! It was great to have a day to focus on the fun part of becoming parents, instead of the long road we know lies ahead as we trust God with our son's life during his surgery. Today helped me to forget about that for a few minutes and just enjoy all the cute, small clothes I'll get to one day dress Ethan in!

Thanks also for all the prayers and support we know we have as we face the challenges that lie ahead. It's comforting to know we'll be covered in prayer, 24/7 through labor, delivery and the surgery. What an awesome God we serve - to Him be all the glory forever and ever! We rest assured in knowing that God, our Abba Father, will be with us every step of the way. Lord, from the day he was conceived, we have committed Ethan to you. He is not ours, he's Yours and we thank You for the priviledge of getting to be his earthly guardians for as long as You let us!

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Prov. 3:5-6

32 weeks and counting

Yesterday we went to see the pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Cotton for our second echocardiogram of our son's heart. Dr. Cotton confirmed that Ethan still has HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) and spent over an hour and a half with us, being very thorough with his exam and explanation of what he was seeing on the echo, then in describing the series of 3 heart surgeries that our son will be having.

His first surgery is called the Norwood Procedure, and it will most likely occur when Ethan's about 3-5 days old. The surgery involves stitching the large pulmonary artery together with the small aorta, to make a new larger aorta. Then a small tube (shunt) is temporarily put in place to connect the artery going to the lungs with the new aorta. Then the wall that separates the top two heart chambers is removed (this is called an atrial septectomy), allowing blood to flow between the two atrium. The narrowing of the aorta is then opened and the connecting blood vessel is removed. As a result, this surgery helps the heart bypass the underdeveloped left ventricle, allowing the oxygenated blood to reach the body.

Even though we had heard all this detailed explanation from Dr. Cotton nearly 13 weeks ago, it was great to have him take his time with us and not make us feel rushed! We are thankful to have such a great doctor on our son's medical team and look forward to working with him for years to come!