William Jude: March 2012

Less than two months until we get to meet William!

Since my last post, we have had another echo, toured the CICU and met with the surgeon. Everything on the echo looks "good" (by good, they mean the same). He is still considered an uncomplicated case of HLHS. I guess being as uncomplicated as the most complicated heart defect can be is something worth being thankful for. The right ventricle was still pumping strong, and he is growing well.

After his echo, we were able to go up to the CICU at Children's. It is in a different area of the hospital from the cardiology floor, so I am glad we were able to learn how to get there! The rooms were bigger than I expected, but not as private! We will have a room all to ourselves, but they are glass rooms. There are curtains to pull shut, but I suppose the nurses and doctors need to be able to peek in and make sure all is well. It was definitely intimidating to see all the medical "Stuff," but also a bit comforting to at least have seen where we will be spending the first month of Will's life.

We had a long wait to meet Dr. Manning (Will's surgeon) afterwards, but it was worth it. He did a fabulous job explaining the Norwood procedure. He told us they plan on doing a BT shunt, as opposed to a Sano, because that is what they are most comfortable with. But, he said they are flexible and don't have one set way of doing things... that is, if a Sano turned out to be a better option for Will, they would do that. The good thing about Will's surgery, he said, is that it is not going to be an emergency surgery. They will spend the first days of Will's life monitoring him and building a plan on how to best perform the procedure, so nothing will be rushed. We definitely love the idea of having a game plan before they open him up! Of course, this means we won't know the date of his first surgery until after he is born, but that is an easy sacrifice to make! That being said, he told us we could at least plan on the surgery taking around six hours if everything goes smoothly and there are no complications. Jared and I were both very comfortable with Dr. Manning and appreciated the hour he took out of his day to answer our extensive list of questions!

Meanwhile, Will and I are having two non-stress tests a week and a growth ultrasound every 3-4 weeks. So far, he has passed all of his NSTs with flying colors. His heartbeat is always perfect, although he hates the monitors! He starts kicking them as soon as they strap them on. I am now supposed to be resting so that baby boy cooks as long as possible. Easier said than done. On his last grown ultrasound, he was measuring a whopping 3 lbs 9 oz, and has moved up to the 74th percentile. The u/s tech also pointed out that he already has hair! We have at least one, maybe two more growth ultrasounds before the big day... if he keeps growing this quickly we are looking at a 10 pounder!

We are mostly finished unpacking at our new house. It is hard to believe I only have two more weeks here until I move to Cinci. We have one more echo, and lots more appointments. I can't wait to find out when Will's birthday will be!

Before I am done here, I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of those involved with the God's Will efforts. Jared and I could never express how much we appreciate the support we have received from all of you. It has really made a difficult situation so much more bearable. I hope all of you who attended the dance had a good time! We heard it was a lot of fun.

I will probably have another update once we find out Will's birthday. Thank you everyone for reading and supporting our little boy.