Saturday, June 16, 2012

levi's heart

last monday we went to st. louis children's hospital for an ultrasound of levi's heart. with our family history, my ob recommended we do this with sam and levi both.

we went in march of 2011 with sam, and it snowed for half of our trip there. the ultrasound was done, and everything was normal and fine.

this time, it stormed terribly, pouring down rain, from about the caseyville exit to busch stadium, which makes for a hectic entrance into the city. people were pulled over to wait it out.

we got to children's in time for the appointment, checked in, and waited for our ultrasound. these ultrasounds aren't fun ultrasounds. you don't get photos, you don't get to look at the baby except for his or her heart and blood flow, and they last 45 minutes to an hour, which is a long time for a fat pregnant lady to lay still on her back.

this time it took longer than last time, but for a while, i attributed that to it being a different person doing the ultrasound. then he sent us into a little conference room with a diagram of a heart to wait for the doctor.

about this time, i started totally freaking out. "justin, they didn't do this last time," i said about six times.

the doctor came in and told us that levi's heart is mostly normal, and for now, i will still be delivering in southern illinois.

he told us that levi's tricuspid valve doesn't close all the way. this can be normal to a point, but his is past normal. the doctor called it mild to moderate. because it doesn't close, the blood that is pumped through it can leak back into the chamber it came from.

in addition to this, the right ventricle, which the tricuspid valve leads to, is borderline enlarged.


a diagram of a heart, with the tricuspid valve and right ventricle labeled.


he told us that if it stays the same or gets better as he grows, levi will live a normal life and be able to do normal things.

if it gets worse, he didn't say what would happen, but the inference was that levi might be born in st. louis, possibly needing extra monitoring and procedures. for exactly what reason and what procedures, we don't know yet, but i think he wanted to wait to see if anything changes before going into the added stress and explanation.

he said we would come back for another ultrasound in four to six weeks. ours is scheduled just about three and a half weeks from now.

of course, we are praying that it will stay the same or get better. we debated telling the world wide web, but we have a lot of friends who are willing and happy to pray the same with us, so i am writing this blog so that you know what we need right now.

please pray that his heart grows normally and by our next appointment, everything is fine. i know that God can heal him with or without medical intervention, but we are really hoping it doesn't take medical intervention.

i will keep you posted as we know more, but for now, please be praying with us for our little boy and his heart.

3 comments:

  1. Oh, friend. I will be praying for him and for you.

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  2. I am certainly praying for all of you!

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  3. Have you had the follow-up ultrasound yet? I know the feeling of being scared that something could be/is wrong with your baby. Our doc gave us a scare about Simon being too small in the womb but he caught up. Praying Levi's heart catches up, too!

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