Okay, well this is going to be a long posted, because I thought I would give an overview on how we got to where we are today.
The last several months of my life have been a roller coaster to say the least. I lost my father on April 1 to a car accident. I know he is up in Heaven right now watching over my family. I have to tell this little story...My parents have this little toy that has four balls that you hit through these holes, anyway, we have been missing one of the balls for over a year now. Shortly after my father passed away, my son was playing with it and I realized all four balls were there. We looked everywhere for that ball. I know my dad got in Heaven and gave the ball to my son; it was his and God's way to let us know they are with each day. God is so good!
I have a history of an incompetent cervix, so we knew there was a possibility with this pregnancy. On April 17th I had a cervical cerclage, where the stitched my cervix closed. I have been on partial bedrest since that time.
On April 23, we had a sonogram at Texas Tech there in Amarillo to check Natalie's heart chambers. I like to have stubborn children that do not cooperate as well during sonograms, so we felt this was routine. The doctor came in and told us she had a heart condition and we would need to give birth in Dallas so she could have surgery after birth at Children's. Needless to say, that was a hard day with everything else we had gone through in the last few weeks. The following Monday, we meet the pediatric cardiologist in Amarillo, who confirmed the diagnosis, Tricuspid Value Artesia (Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome). This is a very rare heart condition, so we are that less than one percent chance you always hear about.
Lives in the following weeks were crazy. I feel like we just got the diagnosis and other days it feels like we have known for a while. We came to Dallas a few weeks later to meet the team that would be planning Natalie's arrival. The doctors are amazing and helped explain things to us much clearer and gave us a positive plan. We also were able to meet a nurse here at Baylor, whose niece went through this exact same thing a year ago. She gave us her blog to follow, which again helped answer questions and we could see in the pictures what we might be going up against.
Natalie will have surgery within a few days after birth to restrict her blood flow to her heart since her right lower ventricle is very small. She will then have another surgery around 4 to 5 months of life, depending on her size, etc. She will have her final third surgery when she is about 3 or 4 years old. She will be on medicine the rest of her life and will have some restricted activity, but other than that, she will have a pretty normal life.
I will give birth at Baylor University Medical Center in downtown Dallas and after birth Natalie will be stabilized here and transferred over the Children's Medical Center where she will stay until after the surgery and we can go home. We have not met the surgeon at Children's yet, but we have heard nothing but wonderful things about him and his team. We feel very confident about everything.
I decided back in April that I could not handle this myself. God always says let me take control and for us not to worry. Well God, take it all, because I do not even want to try. God is so amazing and I know he has a plan for my family and my sweet baby girl. I know in my heart we are all going to be fine. I was reading James the other day and I have heard this verse forever, but it really stuck out to me...James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you are face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything."
The last several months of my life have been a roller coaster to say the least. I lost my father on April 1 to a car accident. I know he is up in Heaven right now watching over my family. I have to tell this little story...My parents have this little toy that has four balls that you hit through these holes, anyway, we have been missing one of the balls for over a year now. Shortly after my father passed away, my son was playing with it and I realized all four balls were there. We looked everywhere for that ball. I know my dad got in Heaven and gave the ball to my son; it was his and God's way to let us know they are with each day. God is so good!
I have a history of an incompetent cervix, so we knew there was a possibility with this pregnancy. On April 17th I had a cervical cerclage, where the stitched my cervix closed. I have been on partial bedrest since that time.
On April 23, we had a sonogram at Texas Tech there in Amarillo to check Natalie's heart chambers. I like to have stubborn children that do not cooperate as well during sonograms, so we felt this was routine. The doctor came in and told us she had a heart condition and we would need to give birth in Dallas so she could have surgery after birth at Children's. Needless to say, that was a hard day with everything else we had gone through in the last few weeks. The following Monday, we meet the pediatric cardiologist in Amarillo, who confirmed the diagnosis, Tricuspid Value Artesia (Hypoplastic Right Heart Syndrome). This is a very rare heart condition, so we are that less than one percent chance you always hear about.
Lives in the following weeks were crazy. I feel like we just got the diagnosis and other days it feels like we have known for a while. We came to Dallas a few weeks later to meet the team that would be planning Natalie's arrival. The doctors are amazing and helped explain things to us much clearer and gave us a positive plan. We also were able to meet a nurse here at Baylor, whose niece went through this exact same thing a year ago. She gave us her blog to follow, which again helped answer questions and we could see in the pictures what we might be going up against.
Natalie will have surgery within a few days after birth to restrict her blood flow to her heart since her right lower ventricle is very small. She will then have another surgery around 4 to 5 months of life, depending on her size, etc. She will have her final third surgery when she is about 3 or 4 years old. She will be on medicine the rest of her life and will have some restricted activity, but other than that, she will have a pretty normal life.
I will give birth at Baylor University Medical Center in downtown Dallas and after birth Natalie will be stabilized here and transferred over the Children's Medical Center where she will stay until after the surgery and we can go home. We have not met the surgeon at Children's yet, but we have heard nothing but wonderful things about him and his team. We feel very confident about everything.
I decided back in April that I could not handle this myself. God always says let me take control and for us not to worry. Well God, take it all, because I do not even want to try. God is so amazing and I know he has a plan for my family and my sweet baby girl. I know in my heart we are all going to be fine. I was reading James the other day and I have heard this verse forever, but it really stuck out to me...James 1:2-4 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you are face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything."
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