Wow, the last time I posted anything in this blog was when Arlee was a wee little 4 week old babe! Heh, I really need to post more regularly.
Well, yesterday was our 20-week ultrasound and we found out that we're having a BOY! Austin is incredibly excited to have a son :) And, I know Arlee's going to be such a great big sister. It was so much fun seeing his cute little head and feet and limbs during this ultrasound, and its still so amazing to me that the female body is able to form another human being. How great is that?!
After the ultrasound tech looked at everything and printed off some pictures for us, she left the room and a few minutes later the doctor came in. We were just expecting him to double check the tech's measurements and yada yada, but soon after entering the room he told us that the tech noticed a hernia in our little boy's diaphragm. The doctor double-checked the tech's observation and then confirmed that our little guy, did indeed, have a diaphragmatal hernia. The official medical name is a Congenital Hernia of the Diaphragm. The diaphragm is a muscle that separates the chest cavity from the stomach, making sure the intestines don't invade the space of the lungs and hearts. So, the hernia means that there's a hole in his diaphragm, allowing the stomach/intestines to enter the chest cavity. This invasion of the stomach has pushed his heart from the left side to the right side and is putting pressure upon his lungs, so they're having a hard time developing. The main concern right now is the development of his heart -- if the invading stomach puts too much pressure upon the heart, then it may stop developing and there's nothing we can do to stop it... At that point, it would be considered heart failure and I'd deliver a stillborn. According to the ultrasound yesterday, he's growing normally, though, which means his heart is still developing right on schedule and the hernia isn't too severe. I'll be going in for ultrasounds every 4 weeks so they can keep a close eye on this little guy and make sure his heart is developing right on track. Thankfully, there are no other symptoms associated with Congenital Hernia of the Diaphragm and the chance of a miscarriage is very very low, as long as his heart keeps on developing.
After discussing the logistics of what's happening with our son and explaining that this is a genetic disorder, the doctor also informed us that when there's one genetic disorder then there's a chance of more -- such as a chromosomal disorder like Down's Syndrome. In the next few weeks I'll go through a blood test that looks for chromosomal disorders in the womb, so at least we'll know what to expect upon birth on our son. We also learned that I'd need to give birth in the University of Utah Hospital or Primary Children's Hospital, both in Salt Lake City, because they have excellent pediatric surgical units. So, right after our little guy is born, he'll be rushed to the nursery to be stabilized (ie, breathing tubes and possibly a heart and lung machine, depending upon how under developed his lungs are) and then he'll immediately go into surgery to move his stomach/intestines back into the right place and close the hernia in his diaphragm. The hope is that his heart will then move its way back over to the left side and his lungs will start to properly develop. If this doesn't happen, then he'll need more surgeries to fix these problems. And, we were told that there's a 1 in 3 chance he won't survive surgery. Congenital Hernia of the Diaphragm may cause long term problems, but every situation and every baby is different.
Needless to say, the past 24-hours have been an emotional roller-coaster. Never would I have imagined one of my children would develop a genetic disorder, especially since neither Austin nor I have history of genetic disorders on either side of our families. Apparently, things like this just happen for no apparent reason -- its nothing I did or anything that I could have prevented. At this point, there's also nothing I can do to help the situation. My body knows what it needs to do to help this little baby, and all we can really do is hope and pray that everything will work out. I truly believe in miracles.
After the doctor explained the first little bit of what's going on, he left the room and gave Austin and I time to talk, cry, and pray together. After the prayer, we felt such a peace in the room and just knew that everything would work out. I've learned that "everything will work out" doesn't always mean it'll be the outcome that I want, but I know it'll be the outcome that the Lord had specifically prepared for us. I really feel like this little guy will be a fighter and he'll work through this trial.
So, we're hoping and praying that his heart will continue to develop without any issues and that I'll be able to carry him to full-term. Like I said, I know miracles happen and, who knows, he could be born without any chromosomal disorder and develop perfectly fine after surgery. But, regardless of the outcome, I know he will always be our son and will always be a part of our family. For now, we're going to keep praying and be grateful that he's happily kicking around, and prepare ourselves for end of April/beginning of May.
