What will be done...

The baby will be born at Evergreen as originally planned. It will be a normal birth--there is nothing wrong with the baby until he comes out of the womb, so I don't have to have a scheduled delivery or anything special for his birth. His heart doctor tells me that this is all about me.

Once the baby is born, we'll have a few minutes to "meet" him before he's taken to the ICU. He will be given a drug to help the O2 in his blood, and he will be put on a machine that will breathe for him. He can breathe on his own, but this machine will make sure he is breathing correctly as they will also sedate him.

The baby will be transferred via ambulance to Children's at this point. After arrival he will undergo a small surgery to create a hole in his heart... yes, we just said it's a good thing that he doesn't have one, but this hole between the upper chambers will help the O2 mix in his system. It will help him be stable and make sure he's getting enough O2 to prevent any brain damage.

Now the scans will begin. They will scan his little heart and make sure the pre-natal scans were correct, and to see the configuration of his arteries and blood vessels. If they are not too complicated and the baby is stable, he will undergo his surgery in 2-7 days after his birth. The doctors switch his arteries so that it will properly pump his blood.

After this scary surgery, his little heart will be fixed. There are a few complications with it, but luckily most of them have been addressed over the years. He will probably not have to have another--but this procedure is so new that it's only been done since the early 80s. There is no one middle-aged alive today that has undergone it. That is how new it is.

His recovery time in the hospital should be approximately 3 weeks after his surgery, depending on how he is doing. They will slowly remove the tubes and wires until he's just a normal little baby with a zipper down the front. The scar should heal quickly and fade over time into something that is nearly invisible.

I'm so happy that we know about this ahead of time. I couldn't imagine facing this as a surprise after his birth.

This is all for now... I have an appointment next week in order to look into his heart some more. The last Fetal Echo before he's born!! Wow... only a month to go!