A letter

Dear Friends,

Three and a half years ago we had a beautiful daughter who entered our world earlier than she was supposed to and with a few issues but has been a firecracker ever since.  On Tuesday our last child will be born via C-section (as long as she follows the plan).  Yesterday we found out that she may also have a heart issue that needs to be dealt with immediately.  She possibly has a narrowing of the aortic arch called coarctation.  If it is too narrow they will do surgery sooner rather than later.  However because I am having a C-section I will not be allowed to leave the hospital to go to Children’s Hospital for 3 to 4 days.  Hopefully the hospital I am in will be able to keep her in the NICU put her on prostaglandins and have the specialist check her in the NICU.  Hopefully she will not need surgery and they will be able to take her off the prostaglandins and she will be able to come home when I do.  None of this can be determined until she is born and they can get an accurate sonogram of her heart.  She likes to throw shadows on the sonograms the specialists have done while she is baking.  And believe me there have been a LOT of sonograms.

At this point best case scenario is that she is immediately put on meds and then it is determined she is ok and we will be home in a week all while staying in the NICU at the delivery hospital.  Worst case scenario is that she will have surgery to correct this problem when I am able to get to Children’s Hospital where she will be and I will not be able to see her, hold her, and feed her for 3-4 days.

Of course Lily and Grace know none of this.  Grace is filled with anxiety as it is and has already asked me this week if what happened to Brendan could happen to this baby.  The girls may not get to meet their sister until after surgery, or through a window at the NICU.  Right now there are a lot of ifs…

The baby and Lily will most likely be tested for something called the elastin gene.  The geneticist believes that this might connect the two girls and their possible similar heart defects.  If they are positive; Grace, Tom and I will have heart echocardiograms and cheek swabs to see if we are affected or carriers. 

So I am telling you all of this to ask a favor.  First and foremost pray for us as we face this challenge, that we have the strength to possibly separated at different hospitals at such a critical time and not be overcome with stress and anxiety.  That you pray for our baby’s health so that she can come home soon.  And finally that you not talk to Grace about it.  We have had a very rough year with her emotionally, physically and we do NOT want to add stress and anxiety back into her life now that she seems to be calming down.

Thanks,

Tom and Sarah