Normal and Classic....

those are my two most favorite words for right now. One of my biggest fears was that we were going to come on this trip and Dr. G (the surgeon) was going to tell us, "I'm sorry, your case of HPLH is rare and I just can not do it without the use of blood." Yet, instead, thankfully again, we have a very classic case of HPLH. :) Than later while seeing my new OB I was told I was going to have a normal delivery and that they see this all the time. So Yesterday overall was a good day.

We meet with 3 different doctors, all of who are AMAZING. It just makes us want to move over here because they went above and beyond.

First we meet with Dr. Galantowicz and he want over the hybrid procedure and how he does things differently from others to avoid the use of blood. He believes bloodless is best for everyone.... The hybrid is less intrusive than the traditional Norwood- it is not considered an open heart surgery. There will be an incision down his chest, and they will be placing bands around his left and right pulmonary arteries to balance the circulation of blood to the lungs and body. There will also be a stent put in to keep the PDA open and a catheter put in through a balloon artial septostomy to balance the blood flow through the lungs and the body. Alex says he will post diagrams of these things I am trying to explain, but who knows when that will happen. This surgery has a 99% success rate. :)

The baby will most likely have problems learning to eat. The average stay after surgery is 2 weeks and he will be sent home on some medication. He will need to be closely monitored until his next surgery at about 6 months. About every 2 weeks at the cardio doc because 30% of babies have complications between the first 2 surgeries and may need to come back for addition operations.

Now at the OB I learned of the dangers of doing a vaginal delivery after c-section and also the risks of repeat c-section. Both sounded a little scary, but they have to tell you worst case stuff so you can make an educated decision. We feel we are going to try to go vaginally, yet be CLOSELY monitored and if we need to be induced we will go c-section because the risks go up greatly at that point for complications.

We had another ultrasound of Baby and he is OH so cute. :) He was kicking the whole time so we could see his feet going. He was also grabbing his feet with his hands. It was so precious. And when the lady was trying to take pictures of his face, he took both arms and feet and was trying to cover his face up. :)
Again, I have a chunky boy inside me. He is already 3lbs 4oz which makes him over 2 weeks earlier than his estimated due date. But the bigger they are for surgery, the better. So for once me having big babies is for a good cause!!!

Than the last doc we saw is going to be taking care of the baby immediately after birth and he was our favorite of the day. He moved me, Alex and my mom into tears! He also studied Pediatrics, so he was talking a lot about Isaac and Nico and how to handle things with them during all this craziness. So for me, that was exactly what I was worried about. He touched my heart with his love and compassion for not only this baby Jacob, but for me and my other boys. I loved him!

So that is where we are at. We didn't come up with exact days for me to come, but since I was already 2 cmm dilated with Nico at 36 weeks, I am thinking that 4 weeks before my due date is going to be the time for me to be here. But we will see how things go.

Now on to our trip back home.......