2nd Echo

On Tuesday, September 30, we went to the cardiologist for our 2^nd fetal echocardiogram. Dr. Van Gundy told us during the echo that it looked like the aortic valve had grown which was great news! But, he wasn’t sure exactly where it should be until he looked it up. When he was done with the rest of the echo, he looked up the size that it should be and it turns out it still wasn’t good news. They use a statistical number called a “z score” to determine the severity of the valve opening. On Caden’s 1^st echo, his z score was -4.7. On this echo, the z score was -4. When they are looking at these numbers, they don’t want to see anything less than a -2. So, it is still not great news regarding the aortic valve. However, the VSD did appear to be getting smaller so that is good news.

The other thing Dr. Van Gundy talked to us about was viability of Caden if he was born premature. In his opinion, he would need to weigh at least 3 kg in order to have any chance of survival if we were choose to intervene. This would be close to what Kyler’s birth weight was being born at 38 weeks (only 2 weeks early). Dr. Van Gundy said if we chose to intervene, they would probably want me to go into labor naturally and not induce, and they would want to give me a round of steroid shots at 38 or 39 weeks. However, I don’t know if Caden would stay in until that time. It’s hard to say. But, knowing this information, at least from his opinion, helps us understand where we’re at even better.

Also, on Monday afternoon, September 29, I got a call from the genetic counselor with the results of the test on chromosome #22 for velocardiofacial syndrome. It came back normal so Caden doesn’t have that. This is another piece of good news regarding the possibility of something that could have been wrong and turned out to be fine.

It’s interesting because even though we didn’t receive great news regarding Caden’s heart, Greg & I both left there feeling positive. The news hadn’t gotten worse and had even gotten slightly (very slightly) better. And, we seem to have a sense of peace about the whole thing. It doesn’t necessarily make sense since things still don’t look good. But we know things are completely out of our control at this point and God is in charge. Regardless of the outcome, he will sustain us and get us through.