High – Risk OBGYN visit

Wednesday 1/23/08
They got us an appointment to the high-risk doctor the next morning. Bradley and I went hoping for some positive news and that is was all a mistake. We got called into the Ultrasound exam room and the Ultrasound tech went through the normal ultrasound taking pictures of all the organs, etc and labeling them and then they looked at the heart again, you could see on the ultrasound and using the Doppler that part the left part of his heart was only getting a small amount of blood and only sporadically. Dr. Campbell came and was looking at the ultrasound of the heart and the Doppler and explaining that all chambers of the heart should show the same amount of activity and blood flow and in our case the left ventricle of the heart he diagnosed him with a condition called Aortic Stenosis and explained that if the baby can make it to full term that he will need to have surgery on his heart as soon as he is born and that we might have to have the baby in Cincinnati or Michigan where the surgeons who specialize in this type of surgery on newborns is located. He assured us this was not anything Bradley or I done to Dr. Campbell suggested that we go ahead and have an amniocentesis to determine if there were any other abnormalities. He explained the risk with the amnio and we agreed that we wanted to be prepared if there was something else wrong. I figured Bradley and I would be sent to the hospital for the test, but to my surprise just minutes after we decided on the test they laid me back on the exam bed and cleaned my stomach with iodine and continued to numb my stomach where they were going to insert the 7.5 cm needle. Bradley stood beside me and held one of my hands and gently brush my hair away from my face with the other.
I did not watch the amnio needle go into my stomach, instead I felt the stinging pinch watched on the ultrasound monitor and saw the needle piercing through my abdomen, when the procedure was almost done I saw our baby boy’s little hand like waving on the monitor. In that moment nothing else matter except him and as strong as I wanted to be I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. We were told the that the results would be back within a few weeks. They instructed me to go home to rest and take it easy the remainder of the day since I could experience some cramping from the procedure. After we left the doctor’s office I called one Shannon- one of my peers on my team to ask if she could cover for me. When she answered I could barely get out the words to say anything except ask that she cover for me the rest of the day. She could hear the hurt in my voice as she said Missy, “You don’t have to say anything, I will cover you the rest of the day no problem, when you want to talk I am here.” In her not only do have a great co-worker, but a wonderful and dear friend. Already I was blessed with the supportive chain desperately needing.

We got home from the doctors office and I knew I would have to start making phone calls and trying to re-explain all the information the doctor provided about our little boys condition. I told Bradley he could go onto work, because I knew he needed to stay busy and focused - that is how he is built.

First call was to my mom and then Bradley’s mom and I tried to explain the best I could of what they found was wrong with the baby’s heart and that he was going to need surgery as soon as he is born, in additional to we may have to travel to another state to deliver the baby depending on where the surgeon is who can perform the surgery. Both my mom and his mom stayed positive while they were on the phone with me which made it a little easier and they offered prayer and support. Next call was to my sister(Stacy) who is a proud mother of 2 children a girl Allie and a boy Scott, she cried with me and said we can’t lose our faith God is going to help you and Bradley thru this and watch over your special baby boy. She asked if I needed anything and I said I would like the company and to see the kids, they always cheer me up. She came out and visited with the kids, my mom and little sis (Lindsey) came out, and then Bradley’s mom and dad stopped by, it felt nice to have the company, we all watched the ultrasound video and they saw him moving around and saw the imaging of his heart and where it was not working the way is it supposed to.

When Bradley got home that night, I insisted we needed to give our little boy at least a first name and he picked out Colt, I said Colt it is. Our special little Colt.

I knew going to work was going the next day was going be hard, since not only is being pregnant an emotional roll-coaster but having complications just doubles it.
Everyone at worked asked out everything went and I did my best to hold back the tears, I explained what was going on that that we would hopefully know more when we see the pediatric Cardiologist.