My Baby Girls Heart

While stumbling along looking for something to post today, I found the perfect picture for what Sophia's heart looked like pre-surgery. I thought this would be a good way to show everyone what her heart looked like and explain a little more about her conditions...in non-medical terms. Numbers 1 and 2 are the interrupted aortic arch. The way this was explained to us, is that your arch's are perfect candy cane's and in Sophia's heart it was split. They originally didn't know if this was the case with her because it was very difficult to see this on the ultrasound. They had to do an echo on her once she was born to see if she had the interruption. This was also the spot where she had the obstruction. Number 3 is the VSD or "hole" she had in her heart. I can still remember Dr. Permut telling us the hole was a lot bigger then he thought it was. It is my understanding that they closed the majority of the hole, but left a little open. This is why every time we go to appointment's they hear a little bit of a murmur. (Dr. Penman our pediatrician is very good about telling me if the murmur sounds better or worse then the last time he saw her! It helps since we haven't seen Dr. Wellman since December and we don't see him again until March!) Number 4 are the "extra" valves that are opened in utero to help the blood flow correctly in the heart. This is why they put Sophia on prostiglandon when she was born. It kept these valves open until they could go in and perform surgery and make the blood flow the way it was supposed to.

I was very happy to find this picture, as it shows exactly what Sophia's heart looks like and it give you the reader a first hand look as to what her heart looked like.

We had Sophia's synagis shot today and she of course did very well...at what point do you feel bad about her not freaking out over shots...aren't all kids supposed to?! She is a hearty 17lbs. 4 oz, which is exactly one pound from last month. This is a relief with all the non eating she was doing when she was getting her teeth. We also told Dr. Penman that she refuses to eat baby food and thinks she has a mouth full of teeth and will only eat table food. He said this is okay as long as she is able to digest it.