So...we are not in Whoville, and my sweet Trent is no Grinch, but for some reason this quote is the first thing that came to mind on Monday. Plus..we always used to say his first sonogram profile picture looked JUST like a Who. See?
I know, I know...I STILL haven't posted Trent's birth story, but I promise I will! Just a snippet...several hours after Trent was born, they noticed something was a bit off and took him to the NICU. After a lot of monitoring and testing, it was discovered that he had a super low red blood cell count. He had to have two blood transfusions in the first 24 hours of his life..which was absolutely heartbreaking! More details on his hospital stay later, but long story short...we thought we were in the clear until we were told that he had a heart murmur and needed to go to the cardiologist at one week old.
We took him to the pediatric cardiologist recommended by the hospital, and it was one of the hardest appointments of my life! They did an EKG and cardiac ultrasound on my sweet, tiny newborn, and seeing him hooked up to dozens of wires and clips for the EKG was probably more difficult even than seeing him in the NICU. I almost wish I had taken a picture just to remember it, but I could barely stomach even just looking at it..much less capturing the moment on camera.
Trent had been acting fine, and we thought everything would come back totally normal. The doctor came in, though, and told us that the ultrasound showed two small "holes in his heart." We just about fell on the floor. After ALL we had been through with the IVF and early complications in the pregnancy, complications during the labor/birth, the blood transfusions, the NICU, etc...there was MORE? Dr. Verma (the absolute sweetest and most wonderful doctor there is) went on to explain that they were tiny VSDs and were actually more common than you would think, and he also told us that there was a big chance they would just close up on their own....but that it usually took a few years, during which he would have to have these same kind of appointments every several months. Ugh. I did NOT want to go through that again! We left feeling slightly confused and scared but still hopeful. Dr. Verma told us to come back in about six months to see if there was any progress.
Which brings us to Monday. This past Monday was finally Trent's follow up, and we were so anxious to see if the VSDs had closed at all and whether the murmur had faded any. We didn't expect much, especially since the doctor told us it typically took a year or two to see any improvement, but we were just excited to finally have made it to the follow up. Of course I was dreading the EKG, but the wires actually didn't look NEAR as bad on Trent this time now that he has grown so much! He wasn't super happy about them, but he did alright. I held him for the ultrasound, and he breezed through that..with the help of his shoe.
We waited for Dr. Verma to come in and talk to us, and Trent was happier than ever!
We were expecting no change but hoping the VSDs might have decreased in size at least a bit, and when Dr. Verma came in and told us they had completely closed up, we were blown away! We really couldn't believe it had happened that quickly, and the doc said he was surprised as well. What great news!! Then Dr. Verma listened to Trent's heart, and would you believe it? The murmur was completely gone!
Mondays are never my favorite, but this one was certainly an exception. What a great way to start the week! I always knew Trent had a good heart, but now he has a perfect heart! :) Feeling very blessed and very thankful.
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