19 weeks Fetal Echo

So we just got back from our first fetal echo.  After laying on the exam bed for over an hour and trying to make out some of the pictures they were looking at of the heart, the doctor told us Gianna has  Ventricular Septal Defect ...layman terms a hole in her  heart.  There is a rather large hole in the muscle tissue and membrane that separates the left ventricle and right ventricle.  Obviously not what we wanted to hear, but she did say that sometimes the hole repairs itself with monitoring and medication.  In other cases where the hole is too large and after a period of months the baby is not responding to treatment they will go in an surgically repair it.  The other questionable thing she saw was what could POSSIBLY be Tetrology of Fallot :
The classic form of Tetralogy includes 4 defects within the heart structures:

• Ventricular septal defect (hole between the right and left ventricles)
• Narrowing of the pulmonary outflow tract (tube that connects the heart with the lungs)
• An aorta (tube that carries oxygenated blood to the body) that grows from both ventricles, rather than exclusively from the left ventricle
• A thickened muscular wall of the right ventricle (right ventricular hypertrophy)

Little miss Gianna wasn't being very good and the doctor was having a very difficult time getting some good pictures of her heart so she would like us to follow up with either Boston Children's Hospital for another fetal echo or if not with them again with her in four weeks.  She is e-mailing all of her pictures and reports to her colleague at Children's and we will wait to hear from them.  Next appointment is scheduled for next Tuesday with our OB for a normal checkup followed by an ultrasound to see how things are developing with the omphalocele etc.

On to some happy news...Dan and I both have felt Gianna kick!  It was so entertaining watching my stomach twitch and move as she pressed against it.  Dan came over and I had him put his hand on my stomach and as soon as he did she kicked right against his hand!  She loves her daddy :) 

Trying to stay very positive!  God already knows the outcome and knows that whatever happens we will be able to handle.  It is very comforting knowing that we have so many people out there praying for us and little Gianna...keep the prayers coming!

Until next time...

(Isaiah 41:10) Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

K.E.M