Last three Dr Appointments

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. I am not the best at keeping a journal! I guess I need to update everyone on the last three visits to the doctors. Balancing the many appointments with work and our home life is getting tough, but worth it. The Doctors are doing an outstanding job on keeping up with Gabe and how he is growing. The visits haven't been very eventful, but normal and uneventful in this situation is wonderful news!

On May 11th, I went to see Dr. Parra, the Cardiologist. He performed another echo on Gabe's heart. With Gabe's growth, it was much easier to look at his heart and arteries a little better. Although his heart is still unchanged, we did get some news. With his transposition of the arteries, it was first thought that they would have to switch his two main arteries back to the way they should be. (in case you don't remember, his aorta and superior vena cava are transposed). But it turns out that his aorta is large enough to do the job of the vena cava and they will leave them as is. This is one less detail to work on in surgery. It also increases the possibility that his first surgery won't have to be open heart with bypass. They can do the Taussig shunt procedure through an incision on the right side of his back. An echo upon birth will determine this more clearly. We also found a VSD (ventricular septal defect). This is a hole or opening between two of his lower chambers. Typically, this isn't a good thing, but in his case it helps the blood flow into the right side of his heart. I am not sure if this is something that we will have to deal with later with his other two surgeries. Dr. Parra said that he was happy with the results of today's visit and he seemed much more optimistic than our last visit. We really felt good when we left his office. He said that he would not have to see Gabe anymore until the day of his birth. So that's one less appointment to worry about!

After this appointment, one of the Vanderbilt social workers took us on an indepth tour of the NICU (where he'll be upon birth), the PICU (where he'll be after surgery), the 6th floor (where he'll be right before going home), the surgical waiting room, and the Labor and Delivery wing at the Medical Center. I had heard stories about the distance between the labor and delivery rooms to the Childrens Hospital, but upon taking the walk, it wasn't bad at all. I had a bit of a hard time in the PICU. The reality of the situation really set in. It was tough seeing the babies and children recovering from heart surgeries or waiting for transplants. I wondered about the fairness of it all. Why them?? It's heartwrenching. But I realized that it is not my place to question the Lord. There is always a reason. Even if its one we will never understand. I just need to continue to have faith in him solely. To let him carry the burden and trust that regardless of what happens, he loves us unconditionally. I will never give up on a miracle.

On May 19th, we went to see the high risk OB at Vanderbilt. They performed an in-depth ultrasound. We got to see so much of the little guy! He has gained a little over a pound. He weighs 3 lbs and 6 oz so far. He is not as big according to the growth chart. Last month he was at 73% in growth. This month he is only 36%. But the doctor was still very happy with his growth. She said that the percentile will fluctuate a lot in utero. We'll have to wait and see what its like next month! The best part of this visit was that we got to see a clear close up of his face!!! And Let me tell you....he is soooo stinkin cute!!! He looks a lot like Jessie. But his cheeks are a little chubbier and he definitely has my nose (poor guy). He seems to have my mouth too, but Jeff's dimple chin. I cried when I saw him. He looked a little pouty about being disturbed. It was so cute! Besides seeing his little cherub face, they looked at his everything. And he seems to be growing well. His limbs were proportioned correctly for his size and weight and with the rest of his body. I will go back for follow up next month.

On May 21st, I went for my "every two week" appointment with Dr. Brown. This is the fastest and easiest of all appointments thus far. They simply keep up with the typical OB type stuff. Weight, size of my belly and they listen to his heart rate. It was in the 140's. You would never know...
We discussed the non-stress tests again. They will begin soon. So that will mean that I will be going to see him twice a week. Initially, it was going to be at 32 weeks but they are going to wait until I am around 33-34 weeks. I am currently 30 weeks. These tests will monitor Gabe a little closer to make sure that he is moving, swallowing, etc. as he should be.

Well folks, there you have it, a recap of the past two weeks. Fairly uneventful, but no news is always good news in Gabe's case. I also want to add in closing, that my thoughts and prayers go out to the Bibb family, whose little boy, Ethan, passed away last weekend from a long battle with cancer. He was a very courageous little boy. No parent should have to bury their child. I pray that the Lord keep them strong in the minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years to come.