Dear friends and family, Today has been an interesting day. I posted the pics because I wanted the happy to come before the not so happy. I will warn you right off the bat, this is going to be a very long post. Much has happened in our little world in the last five days. Our little man has had a rough first few days of life. As you all saw, I had a more difficult labor then some. We eventually had to get a C-section despite my best efforts to avoid one. Well, what most people dont know is that when he was first delivered, he was not doing well at all. He had an Apgar score of 4, which moms and doctors will tell you is not good. Basically, he was struggling in an extreme way to breathe. They had to work with him for 30-35 minutes to get him to the point that he could breathe on his own. There was some talk of having him go to the NICU for observation, but thankfully they got him to the point that he didnt have to go that way. So Sunday morning the lead pediatrician came in to check Gideon over and she felt that he might have a heart murmur. This lead to an echo cardiagram that was given Monday afternoon. We got the results from that procedure today. Turns out our baby boy has two holes in his heart. My understanding is that the blood gets stuck in a continuous cycle through the heart and doesnt get sent out to the rest of his body like it should to spread the oxygen and nutrients throughout the way that it should. This especially affects his lungs and is why the symptoms that we see are breathing related. She said the heart and lungs are intimately connected and when one has a problem, the other often does as well. The important positive is that this problem is not an immediately life-threatening issue. Its something that we watch for certain things and if they happen and then begin progressing, it means it has to be taken care of ASAP. It does mean a few things for us though. First of all, we have a meeting with the cardiologist in about three weeks. At that point we will learn more about his condition and what we need to do. Ultimately the impression that I got from the pediatrician was that it will have to be repaired within the next six months or so. Second of all, Gideon is a special baby. His immune system is not as strong as some. My understanding is that he isnt necessarily more likely to get sick. His issue is that he would struggle to recover from a sickness as quickly as a more normal child would. This means we have to be those parents and be stupid and ridiculous when it comes to who can hold him and what has to be done before they can hold him. And I hate that. I am praying though that this is not a forever situation. My feeling is that its something that will be addressed in the next few months and then he can be a normal kid. I debated for a while on whether I should post this all on Facebook or not. I work very hard to not be one of those people that always seems to have a crisis on FB. I try to have a scale tipped in the favor of positive posts. My dad told me I didnt have to put all this out there, as its all pretty heavy personal life situations. But I told him that the worst thing that happens is that more people know whats going on and then are hopefully subsequently praying - and that can never be a bad thing. In this case, my dad pointed out (and hes right) that Bobby and, more specifically, I need as much prayer over this situation as Gideon does. Of course, a miraculous healing would be welcomed and greatly appreciated. However, if that doesnt happen, Bobby and I will have a lot of important decisions to make over the next few weeks. Also, if Im being honest, the stress and overwhelming amount of information weve received in the last few days has pushed me to a fairly precarious emotional state. And to add to that, I am very stressed out with how to balance my sons needs with other peoples natural curiosity and desire to hold him and whatnot without coming across as a hateful, controlling mother. I dont want to hurt feelings or cause strife, and Im afraid Im going to whether I want to or not. Anyways, suffice it to say, we need our friends and familys prayers, supporting and understanding. Which is why Im posting this ridiculously long letter on here. If youre reading this, you either know me or someone that knows me. I choose to only be Facebook friends with people that I know in real life, but again, in this instance I dont mind for extra people to know about this and be praying about it. Thank you to everybody who actually wades through this all. Lol. Youre the best. 😊 Love you all, ~Katie~
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 05:49:32 +0000
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