Following a wonderful weekend with some amazing people showering my sweet baby girl, we received some more news about baby girl. Starting with the positive -- she is getting bigger and in some really good percentile rankings. I believe they said she is in the 40% percentile ranking for weight which is really good considering low birth weight is a risk for omphalocele babies. However, this news was followed by some more concerning news about baby girl. Her superior Vena Cava vein is located on her left side of her body. Normally this vein is located on the right side of a typical persons’ body. This alone is not too much of an issue, and it would just be one more thing that would make her unique like that she won’t have a belly button. The doctor’s concern about this vein is that they cannot see where it inserts into her heart. This is concerning because this particular vein takes carbon dioxide blood to the heart. If the vein inserts on the right side of the heart this is not a problem, however if the vein inserts in the left side of the heart then she will have heart problems. This will be distributing carbon dioxide blood to the side of the heart that sends out oxygenated blood. Our MFM said that if we do another Echo and confirm that incorrect insertion then one main change we will see is where we deliver her, in the OR at Children’s National versus the labor and delivery rooms next door in Washington Hospital Center. This will be due to the fact that they may have to whisk her away immediately and do open heart surgery to correct the insertion. We have since talked to the MFM again and our wonderful cardiologist and they have decided that they will diagnosis at birth the heart defect and will correct it within a few days. This will require them to give her some medicine that will keep the flow of blood going in the backwards direction it is now instead of having it switch itself to the correct way around 12 hours after birth like almost all babies do.
I don’t think I have ever felt so helpless in my life. Just as I become prepared for the last news they have given me, they find other things “wrong” with my baby. I have become really familiar with the stages of grieving during this pregnancy, and I am only human if I admit that I am stuck now in the anger stage some days. What I thought to be the most exciting and anticipatory time in a new families life has become filled with doctor appointments, medical terms, and hospital plans all different from the “normal” pregnancy.
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