Triumphant

Troy came up with several pick up lines for Nash to use when he is older about filling the hole in his heart.

Thankfully, he won't get to use them, because that hole is now repaired. 

Nash's surgery for his Patent Ductus Arteriosis went really well. The recovery has been a little more difficult, but we are sure that this resilient boy will bounce back to himself in no time.

We are so grateful for modern medicine and excellent doctors. We thank our lucky stars every day that we live near such a phenomenal children's hospital.

We have felt so much love and support from our loved ones and others that we barely know throughout this process. We have really felt the power of prayer for our sweet little baby, and we can't thank you enough for remembering our small family.

Pending Surgery

Nash goes in tomorrow for his heart surgery (read more here).

We are gearing up for a long couple of days at the hospital. We are incredibly grateful for all of the kind thoughts and prayers that have been sent our way.

(I also realized that I never did an 11 month post for Nash - so I stuck it in where it should have gone back here. And yes, he is finally crawling - go check out the video (mom) if you are interested.)

Pokes and Shiners

Speaking of worries, Nash's heart issues were brought back to the surface after a few months of rest. We spent a downright awful day at the hospital for him to have another sedated echo. They had a really hard time getting an IV started in him, and after four painful pokes and many scrutinizing search attempts, they called in the "expert" IV team. 

We waited close to an hour for the expert, and in the meantime Nash cried himself to sleep out of shear exhaustion. They wrapped heating packs around his ankles in hopes of finding a place to start an IV. But alas, the expert didn't have much luck starting an IV either because Nash was so dehydrated. What do they expect though when he isn't allowed to eat anything for six hours prior to the sedation? Of course he was dehydrated!

So he was starving and exhausted when they woke him up to put an IV in the only accessible vein they could find...in his HEAD! Poor guy. He went through some serious trauma until he was finally knocked out in sedation.

Oh, and did I mention that I had a terrible case of the stomach flu that progressively got worse throughout the day? My dad was a saint to come with me to the hospital for hours and hours because there is no way I could have done it alone. Every time I stood up to sway Nash and calm him down I thought I was going to lose it. My dad got him right to sleep and stepped in to help at every possible opportunity.

In the end, after the whole ordeal, the echo seemed pretty pointless to me. They found the same PDA that Nash had four months ago, and he still has to have surgery to close it up.

Only a new worry was brought to the surface as well. Because of an increased blood flow to his left ventricle, our cardiologist is worried that there could be some bone marrow in his aorta. If that is the case, Nash will have to have an incision in his chest to remove the marrow. That is a much more complicated surgery than having the catheter in his leg to repair the PDA. But there is no way to find out if there is marrow until he is already sedated in the Cath Lab for the proposed surgery. So we are really hoping and praying that his aorta is clear and he doesn't have to go through a more complicated surgery.

Having that IV in his head isn't something I really wanted to capture and remember, but my mom snapped a picture of Nash in his healing bandage after I immediately passed out upon arriving home.

And what would a trip to the hospital be if Blake didn't impose some sort of injury on himself around the same time as well? These things always seem to come in twos for us. (Remember his staples after Nash's first surgery?) 

This time, Blake fell off the rocking chair and hit the wood corner, creating a nice gouge and shiner by his eye. Thankfully he didn't need stitches, but he'll probably have a nice little scar to show for it. 

It's a good thing he likes band-aids.

Holes in Our Hearts

There are holes in our hearts.

Literally for Nash and figuratively for us.

Last month, Nash was diagnosed with Patent Ductus Arteriosis (PDA), a condition in which a blood vessel called the ductus arteriosus failed to close after birth. Basically, the channel between the aorta and pulmary artery never closed in Nash's heart.

His pediatrician noticed a prominent heart murmur at his six month check up and referred us to a cardiologist. The cardiologist immediately detected the PDA in Nash's echocardiogram as the cause of his heart murmur.

Before birth, the two major heart arteries are connected by the ductus arteriosus. This vessel is open and is an essential part of fetal blood circulation. Within minutes or up to a few days after birth, the vessel is supposed to close as part of the normal changes occurring in the baby's circulation. In rare cases, however, the ductus arteriosus remains open (patent). PDA occurs more often in pre-term infants than in full-term infants. It occurs on average in about 2 of every 1,000 full-term infant births. PDA is also twice as common in girls as it is in boys. Since Nash was considered full-term and is also male, the odds were really against him for being diagnosed with PDA. The doctors were puzzled at the detection, especially since no one noticed a heart murmur until Nash was six months old.

If PDA is left untreated, it can cause too much blood to flow through the heart, weakening the heart muscle and causing heart failure and other complications. It can also lead to an increased risk for bacterial heart infections. People with PDA usually develop heart problems sooner or later unless the PDA is closed.

So, we are opting to repair Nash's PDA by closing the open channel with a inserted coil. He will undergo cardiac catheterization for the procedure.

Nash underwent his first surgery before the age of one yesterday and will have another surgery to repair the PDA in a few months. The nurses, doctors, and anesthesiologists all pointed out how loud his murmur was while examining him pre-surgery. A nurse practitioner even let me listen to the irregular beat.

May I just point out amidst the surgery situation how adorable little baby gowns are? Those ties in the back? Too precious for words.

It felt like my heart had holes in it when I had to hand over our sweet baby to the anesthesiologist. I teared up as I watched her carry Nash down the hall into a room that only people with green scrubs could go into. It was also hard to see his helpless little body on a hospital bed in recovery. He was completely out of it.

Nash did really well with his first surgery, but the poor little guy hasn't been himself since the procedure. With any surgery that the patient is knocked out and given narcotics, there is a lot of sleepiness and pain that follow.

It is amazing to me how many millions of things can go wrong in the development of a child. And how perfect babies can be born with no threatening medical conditions whatsoever. We are so grateful that in Nash's case, his ailments have been somewhat minor and have not affected his growth and development. We love our little Nash and we are confident that he will endure these procedures with strength and resilience. We are also so grateful for the concerns and prayers that have been sent our way. Thank you!