Another day, another diagnosis...

We spent the last week and a half researching what our previous dr. thought was wrong with our baby girl. Hypoplastic right heart syndrome, a very rare and commonly fatal heart disease.  The information we found on the internet was not promising and the more and more we read, the more and more depressed we got.

Today was our first appointment with Dr. Levy, our pediatric cardiologist.  As usual we were both a little reluctant to meet a new dr. out of fear of hearing more bad news.  We arrived at UCSD Hillcrest for our echocardiogram.  They got us in quick and got right down to business!  Nicole and I stared at the black and grey screen as Dr. Levy and the ultrasound tech zoomed in and out of what was our babies heart.  They discussed amongst each other, took notes and took pictures as we patiently awaited any new information.
Once the echo was completed, Dr. Levy sat down with us and a piece of paper and drew a picture of a normal heart.  Next he drew our babies heart.  There are 4 chambers in a heart, our babies' bottom 2 chambers are reversed and are angled to the right instead of the left.  Normally this would cause the blood to not mix and flow to the lungs correctly.  In our case though, her blood will mix normally even though the chambers are reversed.  The problem is they think the arteries that pump the blood to the lungs are abnormally small.  In this case she will need heart surgery right after birth and 2 other surgeries within the first few years of being born.  They can't fix her heart completely but they can make it functional so that she can lead a relatively normal life.  She also has a hole in heart but the Dr. says they're not worried about that and its actually a good thing in this case.

The Dr. seemed hopeful and at no time did he mention terminating the pregnancy unlike our previous Dr.'s.  They're still hoping that the arteries to the lungs develop more alleviating the need for surgeries.  Hearing that your child has a very rare and complex heart defect is never good news but we walked out of there feeling hopeful again.  As soon as we got home we started researching the various medical terms they gave us and this condition has a much better prognosis than the one they previously diagnosed her with.
We have an appointment with the new OB/Perinatologist next Tuesday and will schedule our next meeting with the Fetal Cardiologist for another ECHO cardiogram in 4-6 weeks.

Both babies are growing according to schedule!  In fact, baby b who has been behind this whole time is bigger than her sister now!  Nicole finally looks pregnant enough for random strangers to ask how far along she is.  She's incredibly beautiful and has the most perfect pregnant body ever!  She can feel the babies moving around now.  From todays scan they seem pretty active, rolling around and kicking each other!  We finally decided on both names, Aliya Cherene and Shae Azlyn.  I don't foresee us changing them again but you never know!

We scooped a new poodle from the Humane Society this week.  We saw her there.  She is 2-3 years old with sad shelter-puppy eyes.  We took a chance bringing her home not knowing her temperament or background, or even get along with our cats.   It turns out she's a hella good dog.  She doesn't bother the cats at all, totally potty trained, gives high-fives, and is already a part of our family.  We named her Snoop D-O double gizzle.  Fo shizzle.

I had my pre-op appointment today.  My surgery is scheduled for November 10th.  I'm less than excited about letting anyone in the Navy do surgery on me.  They'll take out half or my whole thyroid depending on whether or not its cancer.  I was considering not showing up for it at all but now my mom is threatening to post embarrassing pictures of me on facebook if i don't.  Blackmail at its best!!