The Specialist

I just wanted to let you know how my visit went today with my specialist, Dr. Kathy Porter. She said that the heart echo that was done a week and a half ago did confirm what she thought she saw. She said that they are looking at two things: AVSD (Atrioventricular Septal Defect) and VSD (Ventricular Septal Defect). One of these she said is very common with babies who have Downs Syndrome. Basically, this is also called a "hole in the heart." When a defect or "hole" is present between the ventricles (or lower chambers of the heart), blood from the left side of the heart is forced through the defect to the right side every time the heart beats. So, blood that is already rich in oxygen keeps pumping into the lungs while blood that is not yet oxygen rich can't get to the lungs. You can look up more on all this stuff on www.pediheart.org.

We are supposed to meet with the pediatric cardiologist on December 18th and he will explain more about all of this to us. He'll also talk about what his take is on it and what might could be done to correct this. I'm sure he will address how severe or not that this case might be, too.

Needless to say, it was another emotional visit. Just continue to pray with us for healing for little Victoria. Not only pray for her heart, but also pray about Downs or any other genetic problem. They are still not ruling out those things. Actually, today, the doctor said there were a few things that pointed towards Downs. So, we are just walking in a strange place right now, knowing that this is way bigger than us and totally trusting the hand of God. We know that He is in control and very capable of doing a miracle here if He so chooses. Boy, do we pray He does choose to do something miraculous!!! But, if He decides to take us down another road, then pray that He gives us plenty of grace to do whatever we might need to do and be the best parents for this baby that we can be.