The Start...

We wanted to start a blog just to keep everybody updated on Amelia and her upcoming surgery.... I'm hoping that in the next few weeks/months we can just update everybody on the fun stuff :)

Here is the story thus far....

Last week I took Amelia in for her checkup and Dr. Newland found what she thought was a heart murmur so she referred us to a pediatric cardiologist. We had the apt. on Monday and met Dr. Mooerdian. After xrays, exams, and echo grams it has been determined that she doesn't have a heart murmur but does have some heart issues that need to be addressed. The most serious one is going to require that she has surgery next week. It is called Coarctation of the Aorta. This is an article I found that kind of describes some of the basics about what it is. (http://www.childrenshospital.org/az/Site520/mainpageS520P0.html)

They also found that she has two other issues with her heart but they are pretty positive that those will be things that need to be monitored but will probably grow with her over time. Our main focus at this point is her upcoming surgery and hospital stay.

We have a pre-surgery consult on Thursday where we will meet the surgeon and find out more details about what to expect. We know that surgery will be next Thursday Nov. 12 at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. They are telling us that her hospital stay will probably be somewhere between 7-10 days and that will mostly be in the NICU.

We want to thank everybody for all the thoughts and prayers sent our way already. We know we are truly blessed in so many ways and are looking forward to getting our baby healthy and on the road to recovery. I will update when we know more information.