To me, this has been the biggest appointment. I was so scared of what we might hear but somehow I felt at peace during the hour we spent in the waiting room before seeing the doctor (apparantly they were really backed up that day).
When we went back to see the doctor, we talked for a few minutes and we told him all of our concerns and asked lot of questions. He was so patient and listened to everything we had to say, it was a great experience. He started the ultrasound and studied our baby's heart for about 45 minutes.
When he finished, he left the room to get a "mirror-image" diagram of a heart so that he could show us how everything was working and how everything looked in our baby's heart. He showed us which area was smaller and showed us how everything was working. Typically one side is 10-20% smaller where our baby's is more like 40-50% smaller. The mitral valve is the one that goes through that side and he said blood was flowing through and everything was functioning properly (He said a lot of the time when he sees this in babies or children, the valve will be completely blocked) so that was great news!
The doctor was very optimistic that the heart will continue to grow the way it is supposed to be and everything will be normal but we aren't sure yet. That is the best case and what we are hoping and praying for.
We also have two options about things that could be going on that are causing the left side to be smaller than the right side. The "worst case" is something called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. He said if this ended up being the case that it would be a mild case and we would be able to fix it after birth with surgery. It could be more than one surgery, but he said it was not life threatening and it was a great sign that everything is working properly.
The other thing that could be going on is a better situation, but still might require a surgery. It is coarctation of the aorta. He wasn't able to see this completely and won't be able to until after the baby is born, but again, it is not something that is life threatening and that is what we have been praying for.
So, this appointment was filled with lots of information and some news that maybe wasn't the best, but I can only think it was a great appointment because we recieved the news that I wanted to hear: Our baby is going to be ok! Praise God! I do not take any of this for granted. I am so grateful that this isn't something more serious. I am so grateful for God's blessing in our lives!
On May 18th, we will go back to the pediatric cardiologist and do the same thing to see how things have grown and see if things have changed at all. In the meantime, we will continue praying for good news and we ask for everyone to continue praying for our sweet boy as well. I really believe in the power of prayer especially when the people praying believe in that power too!
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