Week 33 Update

Today we returned to the pediatric cardiologists for an echocardiogram. Really good news to report. Foster is tick-tick-ticking along. Well, more like BAM-BAM-BAMMING away!   We saw Dr. Camitta, the only cardiologist left that we had not met, and he was just as great as the others. What a tremendous blessing these doctors have been. We really could not be in a better place.

Dr. Camitta told us everything was still stable. Her heart rate was in the upper 40's, a little lower than it has been. But the heart function still looked good. He said not to worry about the lower rate. Like the other doctors, he commented on the strength of her heart and its ability to compensate by squeezing out more blood per beat than a "normal" heart.

I asked about the likelihood of making it to term. He thought the chances were good. The last cardiologist we saw told us they would like her to be six pounds for the permanent pacemaker. We were a bit discouraged thinking that she had to  be that big, especially when we heard the news last week that she was at the bottom of the growth curve. Today he said four and a half pounds should be large enough. Whether they can place the permanent pacemaker depends on whether there is enough space in the abdomen to hold the device.  They will just have to look at her when she's born to make the determination. Two wires will go into the heart and those wires are connected to the actual device, which sits in the abdomen below the heart. While she is a baby, the pacemaker will be visible underneath her skin as a box looking thing that bulges from her abdomen.  (It will be all the rage soon. Celebrities will be getting fake pacemaker implants.)

I asked Dr. Camitta how many CHB babies they were currently following. She's the only one. He told us that the team meets once a week and discusses our case. He said that every week they are surprised at how this is going. He told me that they were "not optimistic" at the beginning that her heart could sustain her. Although I've since realized that's how the doctors saw it, to hear him say it out loud was an emotional experience. I told him we prayed a whole lot. He said it was working. Today I've been thinking a lot about that first month and how I was not a total basket case. (Not to say I didn't cry numerous times a day and throw things.) I know we were not burying our heads in the sand and ignoring reality. I know that we heard the doctors, knew what they were thinking, and understood the gravity of the problem. The only way the peace and hope can be explained is that it was given to us in many, many answered prayers.

As you can see, she decided to reveal her face for the first time today. We got several pictures. You can't tell so much from this one but she looks like Joseph.

Some of my diabetic restrictions were lifted today. I was told to "be reasonable" - a term that I need defined as I sit her and ponder what I am going to fatten her up on tonight. Drew won't let me eat my  sardines on the couch so I'll pick something else.

Much love,
Drew & Anna