echocardiogram for baby #3

Some of you know that we had a bit of a scare after the mid-pregnancy ultrasound.  The day after our appointment I got a call from Kaiser saying they wanted me to come back and see a specialist based on what the radiologist saw on the images.  Apparently they were concerned that a part of his heart looked enlarged.  I made the first available appointment for an echocardiogram which was going to be a four day wait.  During those 4 days I had to wrestle with the thoughts of all the horrible possiblities and worst case scenarios.  I can't help but think of the worst.  However, I fought the urge to run to the internet and google search what an enlarged heart could mean.  I knew that my findings would most likely put me in a frenzy rather than calm my nerves.  So I waited and prayed.  We had many friends praying with us and for us.  It was actually a very heart-warming feeling to know that so many people were lifting us up in prayer.

On Tuesday afternoon Travis and I went to Riverside to meet with the specialist, Dr. Montgomery.  He made us feel comfortable right away by telling us that he already looked at the images and didn't see anything of concern.  That said, he still wanted to take a really good look anyways and make sure.  The echocardiogram wasn't much unlike a regular ultrasound except that it took much longer and the viewing screen was larger.  Dr. Montgomery explained a lot of what he was looking at.  He mentioned several times that baby boy was constantly moving and making things difficult.  I laughed and told him that was quite normal.  He is my most active baby in the womb.  He said, "You're not kidding.  This baby is all over the place!"  After a lot of "shop talk" between him and his assistant, he told us the news.  He said that the baby does have a very tiny ventricular septal defect.  It's a fancy name for a hole in his heart.  He said that the hole is so small (about 1 to 1.5 millimeters) that he thinks it will close before birth.  We will go back to see Dr. Montgomery in 4 weeks again to see if it closes on its own.  The good news is that he is really optimistic about the hole closing.  The bad news is that the VSD means that we have a slightly higher risk that baby boy has Down Syndrome.  Add that to my age risk and we are only talking about a 2% chance.  Travis and I feel so relieved with this news and we know that we will love our baby no matter what challenges we face with him.  We know that God is in control and he will make all things work together for our good.

We did get some pretty cute profile pictures of him while we were there.

Please keep baby boy in prayer over the next 4 weeks that the hole would close up and that we would have no complications with the remainder of this pregnancy and with the labor.  Thank you so much for your prayers!