TBT- 'chop update, december 20, 2011'

This is the second 'throw back thursday' entry for the blog from December, 2011. The photo above is from one of the hundreds of hearts we received while waiting for Hayden's arrival. It said exactly what I had prayed for every night while we waited for Hayden's birth. 

Today we had our second appointment at CHOP. We started with our echocardiogram and then met with a team of doctors, coordinators and social workers. The end result from their findings today was that Hayden’s prognosis is the same- his heart did grow, but in proportion to what it has been growing, so it remains Hypoplastic. There is still a 50/50 chance that Hayden will need the 3-stage reconstructive surgery and there is a chance we may not know that until he is born. The uncertainty and unknown is a scary place to be, but we prefer the chance for hope over anything else. Hayden’s aortic arch is still severely narrow so he will still undergo open heart surgery within a few days of life. Because of that certainty, Jackson and I will definitely be relocating to the Philadelphia area sometime in the middle/end of February. We have been blessed to have a friend reach out and offer us to stay with her and her family for the weeks leading up to Hayden’s birth and are so incredibly grateful for this offer! Hayden will be born at CHOP and because of this, we were given a tour today of the SDU (Special Delivery Unit) as well as the CICU (Cardiac Intensive Care Unit). Both are incredible and we stand firm in knowing that no matter what happens in the months to come, Hayden is in the best hands possible! For today, we will take our ‘no news’ as good news….we are thankful his heart has not gotten smaller and that it still may have a chance to grow…Hayden is so incredibly special to us…he is our warrior and hero already!

We have another appointment on January 17th to do another echocardiogram as well as meet with our chosen surgeon to discuss our concerns and questions with him.

Thank you for your support, thoughts, prayers, calls, emails, hearts etc….people continuously tell me how strong I am- but only because of all of the support I receive from all of you….