Prayers continue to be answered. We returned to Duke today and saw the pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Barker, who is the last of the four cardiologist that we have not met. He was awesome, to say the very least. He spent about two hours with us discussing Foster's heart and what her delivery and the medical intervention thereafter might look like. This was the first time we've really talked about her being born with the folks at cardiology and it felt good.
As of now, her heart status is unchanged. This is good! They tell us these things don't "heal" and we need to maintain status quo. He did a lot of close looking at different things about her heart and body. He described her heart as "very strong." Her ventricular heart rate remains 53 to 54 beats per minute. This low number causes concern and they say its on the low end of the threshold. They say if it were in the 60's, they would be a lot more comfortable that her heart could sustain her until she's big enough. But she's a tough little nut. Her heart appears to be compensating for the low rate by squeezing out more blood per pump that normal. Strong like bull! Most importantly, there is still no sign of "hydrops", or fluid collecting around the heart. The doctors appear more optimistic than two weeks ago. They still can't say if and when her heart might take a turn and start to struggle as she grows larger and the demands on her heart increase. We just don't know.
Dr. Barker talked a lot about what delivery would look like. He told us about a premature baby they delivered that they were able to put on medicine to raise its heart rate until it was big enough for a pacemaker. This was encouraging. He said they would "take" 32 weeks but would be extremely happy if she made it to 36 weeks. He said they probably wouldn't let her cook past 36 weeks. I will be 36 weeks February 11. We pray I am still pregnant on February 10th. Delivery will be very scary as they don't know how her heart will react to being on the outside. We pray for peace in our hearts. Every specialist on board (there's a lot of them) will be ready to do their thing and the heart surgeons will be there and ready to put in her pacemaker. We pray for wisdom in these doctors.
We are still constantly being reminded by the Lord that this is ok. Those reassurances are everywhere. (I can tell you some really cool stories.) We continue to feel peace and know there is a purpose here. We feel your prayers so much!
Much love,
Drew & Anna
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