Wednesday, September 23, 2015

First and foremost this is hard. Putting into words what our current situation is feels impossible. Mostly because I'm feelin all the feels in a way I never have in all my life. This experience has been the kind of hard I've never even come close to in my life, and really we aren't even to the hardest part yet. Its the kind of thing you think would never happen to you. How can this be my life, my family?

Second I realize I'm not a cute pregnant person, which is why I typically avoid pregnancy pics, but I feel like these might be very precious to me one day, and so a picture here and there it is.

Here goes nothin....

20 Week Ultrasound
This pregnancy has gone much like my other two. A couple variations here and there but for the most part very similar. That is up until my 20 week ultrasound. I went by myself. We had already taken both the kids to an early ultrasound to see what the sex of the baby was, so this just felt like it would be the standard ultrasound that would go the same way it had the previous two times. It actually did go the same for the most part. She went through all the body parts saying they all looked good, talked about my other kids and how I was excited to have another boy, and how excited Gianni was to be getting another sibling. Then she just kept saying she couldn't get a good look at his heart because of his position. She had me move to my side then back and kept saying  "I can't really get a good look." I literally thought nothing of it. Then she very casually said,  "So one side of his heart looks like it might be smaller then the other, but I can't really see because of his position. Let me show a picture to the doctor and see if he maybe wants you to go see the perinatologist." (ps at this point I had no idea what a perinatologist was) She came back with a sheet of paper with my appointment already made at the Utah Valley Hospital. That's when I started to feel uneasy. She said she wasn't sure at all everything was probably fine, and that they just wanted to be safe, so I would wait 3 WEEKS and go to this appointment that was really no big deal. On the drive home is when it really set in. I just couldn't get out of my head that if this wasn't a big deal why wouldn't she just have me come back there and do an ultrasound just to be sure. When I told Stefano I started crying, and felt like I was being pretty dramatic because of how nonchalant the sonographer had been. He was very reassuring that they probably did this to cover themselves and they have to be extra careful because everyone is sue happy and they would be in a lot of trouble if they missed something and they were just being super cautious. Which totally make sense because if you've ever had a c-section and then try for a vaginal delivery they pretty much have you sign your life away just to cover all their bases. Totally get it. I felt better, but still a little sick inside. That night Stefano said don't go on the internet it will just freak you out. I knew he was right but I couldn't help it, my mind wouldn't stop and I wanted to be informed about what was going on with my child.  If you just look up heart defects there are tons and really a lot of them are pretty minor. Its when you put in one side of the heart smaller then the other that stuff starts getting scary. You start reading things like:
  • Open heart surgery 
  • Heart Transplant
  • Death
My stomach sank. I couldn't find one thing that was minor when one side of the heart was smaller then the other. Stefano woke up to me sobbing next to him. I could tell he was totally frustrated with me. Why was I looking on the internet, I was going to make myself crazy and put all this time and effort into something that was going to turn out to be nothing. That next day after the ultrasound I was crying on and off for most of the day, then I decided I needed to call my doctors office and tell them I was totally freaking out, and basically ask them if I should be. I gained my composure made the call and had to leave a voicemail, and lost it the moment I started talking. The nurse called back and was very reassuring that this was just a question they had, they weren't at all sure, they were just being safe. Okay. I felt better. Kind of. The next few weeks were long. I tried so hard not to look things up, and honestly it wasn't really helpful my knowledge on what was wrong was very limited, and there are SO many different types and levels of heart defects. Did you know that 1 in 100 babies are born with some type of heart defect? I had no idea. 

Perinatologist  
I was able to talk myself out of worrying for the most part until the week of the appointment with the parionatologist. I knew in my heart something was seriously wrong. We went the hospital and the ultrasound tec did the ultrasound, it was pretty much like any 20 week ultrasound but she seemed to take more time to look at everything and took a lot more measurements. She kept saying everything looks great, his size was good, he was right on time for his due date, and then she got to his heart, and she said nothing. I knew that was a bad sign. Then the parionatologist came in, she ask me what my gynocologist had told me. I said they thought maybe one side of his heart was smaller but they couldn't be sure because of his position. She confirmed that's what she saw also. His right ventricle was highly underdeveloped. This meant if he were to survive surgery was the only option. She thought it would be a more minor surgery (as minor as heart surgery can really be which in my opinion isn't all that minor). She said we would need to deliver up at the University of Utah hospital, so that we could be close to primary children's hospital. She said there was a tunnel that connected the two hospitals, so he could be taken there after I gave birth so he could have immediate care. She really was the nicest doctor. She held my hand as I cried said we weren't in this alone, they were going to set us up with the best possible care. I can't even tell you how much her kindness meant to me. She set us up to go see a fedal Cardiologist as soon as she could get us in. Which was about a week later. More waiting. 

Cardiology.
I don't know that I can go through the blow by blow of this appointment. It was all so overwhelming and extremely emotional. It basically consisted of a full hour receiving an echocardiogram  (sonogram of the heart), then an hour and thirty mins with the cardiologist giving us the rundown of what our child's diagnosis is, and what possible outcomes may be. In short it was worse then what the perionatoligist had thought. It was explained to us that in the best case scenario he would need at least 3 open heart surgeries one of which would need to be within the first week after birth, and all of which would happen before the age of 4.

Currently
We've had several appointments since with various doctors, and with each appointment we seem to get another piece of disheartening news. The hard thing I think to really explain to people is that although someone may know a person that has a child with what may seem like a similar heart defect, even a child that had the same type of procedure our baby will need, our child's condition is extremely rare. As in I asked if maybe I could speak to a parent with an older child that has our same heart condition, and they couldn't find one, not one that she felt could give us an accurate representation of what our little boys life could be like when he is a teenager. With that comes a lot of unknowns and potential complications, and when I say potential I mean the complications will come its just a matter of what exactly, when, and how bad they will be. Some of those unknowns will be clearer once he is born, but really the truth of it is there is no way of foreseeing how he will do. At this point we are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. Constantly praying for understanding and for strength. Strength to face what is ahead of us, and to be thankful for the time we will get with our sweet little boy however long or short it may be.







Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Its Christmas, Its christmas time

If you have ever heard the song Business time could you please read the title of this blog post to the tune of that song. If you haven't, don't be shy go ahead and click on the link... you'll enjoy.






Any who Christmas, loved it. I think it is much more fun with kids. It was exciting to start traditions of our own and all that stuff. Gianni is at a way fun stage and all in all it was just fun!







I love this kid. He is a charmer.. wonder where he got that from? :) He is so funny. He is just perfect.


that's all.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Lovin it







I. Luf. Him. Obsession, in a good way:)


That's all.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

This is Halloween

I love me some Halloween. We had some laughs good food with some good people. We went to the traditional dinner at my sisters and then for G's debut trick or treating. We had fun. PS husband is genius! He loves to dress up. Makes the holiday way more fun when he'll dress up how ever you want:) Love him.


Can you tell what we are? I'm prob the lamest. I worked mostly on Husband and G-loves:) I am a pillow G is a tooth and husband is the tooth fairy.




Here is the crew.


that's all.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

La De Da De we likes to PARTY!!







My little man had his first birthday. It was a kick your woopie pie good time. G may have had no idea what was going on... BUT maybe he did know. MAYBE he had a hard time sleeping because of his excitement. I'm gonna go ahead and say he was excited for this event:)








First the invite that I made on my dinky outdated computer.... I was proud of how it turned out with limited resources.
next on to the peeps that came
Please excuse my appearance. It was one of those parties that you're still in the same thing you worked all day in until 20mins before erbody is supposed to be there. hence the wet pony. Speaking of appearance I must say I have some good lookin friends and family. PS not sure how my mom and dad got out of the pics, but they were indeed there and I must thank them for saving me by coming early and helping with the last min deets!











I drew this on G's shirt with a fabric pen. It is actually the logo from Stefano's Dad's restaurant. I thought it was appropriate for the occasion.













sorry if this was a picture overload.

thanks for stopping by.

xoxox

megs.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Guilty Poop Face



So this my be a little graphic for some so if you don't like the Title of this post you should def not continue.....................................

Okay so this last weekend we went to st george.It was nice to just get away for a little bit and my niece came so husband and I got a few date nights out just us two which was hella awesome:). In all our fun we captured a GENIUS moment. Here is how it went down.




Stefano was in the front room with GP and had just changed his diaper. He was letting him air out a bit and crawl around 'flying free' or naked. G pulled himself up to the coffee table and husband thought what a cute pic of him and his cute little cheekies (really is there anything cuter then little naked baby cheeks?). So he zooms in to take the pic snaps and this is what he got:



Ever wondered what a guilty poop face looks like? Wonder no more friends. Can you believe this? Oh we shared a good laugh. Love this kid. I bet he'll love it when we show his high school girl friends:) Oh I would and I will.


*****To all family members the poop didn't hurt the carpet at all!!! It was a solid quick clean up:)!!!!*****


this is all.... and sorry if it was too much


xoxo




Tuesday, August 9, 2011

10 (and some change) months






So my little man child is about 10 1/2 months old. I'm sorry did you read the correctly? YEP he is almost one whole year. I wanted to jot somethings down about my little man b/c clearly he is awesome and it must be documented upon this blog.


He is in the 71 % for his weight ( down from 87% at 7 months)



He is in the 91 % for his height (up from 76% at 7 months)



He has 6 teeth- 4 on top 2 on bottom-1st tooth came on May 5



He switches back and forth from mama's boy to daddy's little man



He is friendly and will go to most anyone if he's not over tired



He loves to eat, but prefers veggies over fruit



He is holding a yellow sign in his middle pic that reads 10 months



He is a good sleeper and will sleep 12 hours a night



he loves to play fetch with Bruce although Bruce does not share that love



He took forEVER to roll over, but once he did he was crawling within weeks of getting rolling over down. He made it seem like he knew how to do it all along and we were idiots for thinking it was such a big deal.



He thinks it is hysterical to put things over his head ie: blankets, napkins, hymn books :)



He sweats a lot, and it smells good



He is a huge flirt



Love him.