Fetal ECHO

May 22, 2009

So today we had a fetal ECHO done to evaluate Andrew's heart. From the ultrasounds he has had up until this point, they think everything looks structurally normal, but it was hard to get good views of his heart due to the stomach and intestines being in his chest. When we walked into the children's hospital, the first people we saw were our friends Wendy and Craig who were there with their baby Cameron getting his follow up visit from his big heart surgery he had last week. Cameron has really done well and amazed everyone by going home less than a week after open heart surgery! I know Andrew's story will not be the same, but we are hoping that he will be able to have a quicker than expected recovery as well!

The cardiologist was able to get a good view of Andrew's heart and told us that everything at this point looks structurally normal. The only defect that they are not able to rule out until after he is born is a coarctation of the aorta. The other great news is that because he does not appear to have a heart defect and everything other than his hernia looks normal on ultrasound, the chances of him having a syndrome are very slim! The cardiologist did sort of say to himself as he was reviewing everything, "he sure does have a lot of stuff up there" which was not great to hear from a parent's point of view. His liver still appears to be completely down in his abdomen at this point and when I asked the cardiologist how severe his hernia looks he told us middle of the road. I do appreciate his honesty and am hoping that things will stay this way and not get any worse.

After our appointment, we met up with Wendy, Craig and baby Cameron at Fridays for lunch! It was so nice to spend time with another family who have been down a long road with medical problems and still have a great sense of humor! Gene and I really had a great time!