I love me some good news.

I realize I have been non-existent from this blog, not really intentional, just very busy raising three boys!

Speaking of my boys, Hector had a lovely check up with his cardiac team and has eight months before he has to return. Next time he sees them he will be over a year old!! Makes me so very happy to know he is doing so well. :D

Has it really been 3 months?

As I look at this happy, sweet little boy, I can and can't believe it has been three months. It really feels like his surgery was forever ago and like he has always been here. (I found that with the other boys too, that I had known them all my life) This all being said, it feel like yesterday that I stood, frustrated beyond belief, in the shower as my contractions slipped away as if they hadn't been happening at all. Only to wake up the next morning to full blown labour and a few hours until I got to see my sweet boy's face for a few seconds before they ran him off to the ICU.
It is amazing the growth and emotional journey that we have gone through as a family since Hector was born. I am so grateful that the hardest parts (fingers crossed) are behind us, and we are on to living as a family of five with our boys.
Happy three months Hector, Thank you for being such a wonderful part of our family already. Your sweet demeanour and loving, wise smiles will never go unnoticed :) We love you.

happy heart.

A small update on Hector and his heart.
He had his first follow-up appointment after being discharged from the hospital. His echo and ekg both went very well, and the team is very happy with his weight gain and how he is looking! His incision site is pretty much healed with some stitches that have surfaced. They should eventually fall off, they are the dissolving ones but need to be in skin to dissolve. So we shall see how long they take to go away! All in all he is doing really great. Had/ has his first cold! Which I am going to assume it is impossible to keep away colds with his older brother in preschool.
His chest bones should basically be healed now. Tomorrow is 6 weeks after surgery! It is going to be more of a challenge for us to slowly get used to picking him up like a normal baby, after training ourselves not to.
The greatest thing from just yesterday is this, him sleeping with his arms above his shoulders. It is so nice to know that he is comfortable again.

Thank you everyone for reading and sending us your well wishes, they mean a lot!

cuteness.

This was the cuteness that visited the day after Hector was born. Candy sponsored by Nanny haha

Hector's recovery.

After surgery, they tell you that once he starts coming off of things, they start coming off really fast. This was no lie! He was intubated and had many lines and tubes the day after surgery.

Two days after surgery he was extubated, chest tube out, as well as off a lot of his meds.

By the afternoon he was allowed to breastfeed again! I was so happy and shocked that I could have cried.

He fed so well over the next 12 hours that the next morning we were sent to the Med Surg floor. They told me that besides breathing issues, feeding issues are the main reason that babies stay in ICU and hospital for a while. 

Hector was feeding like a champ. He took a little while (understandably) to sleep well again, as he was uncomfortable, but he did so well.

5 days post op we were sent home on no more than a diuretic and Tylenol. We didn't tell many people we were home until later in the week. Trying to get used to being a family of five with a newborn who needs special care is tough, but we are learning everyday. We have been home for almost two weeks now and have found a little bit of a groove. 

It's still worrisome sometimes because Hector is very susceptible to infections and can not be around anyone who is sick or has been around sick people. They sent us home with a list of recommendations, one being staying out of public places for 4-6 weeks. So the whole process has been a little isolating, but I am counting down the days until little Hector is considered fully healed (which happens to coincide nicely with his 2 month vaccinations) and we can go do things with his brothers, and he can meet the people who were rooting for him.

The outpouring of love and support for this little man and our family has been incredible. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts.

Surgery day.

This was one of the hardest days I have had in my life so far. Not to sound over dramatic, but it was brutal.

My heart raced, I was nauseated, my mind was going a mile a minute. For the whole 8 hours.

The worst part was that we had a misunderstanding on the time and were expecting him out of the OR hours before  he came out. This, of course, caused needless tears and more stress and anxiety until we found out it would be hours more. Then we were able to settle into more waiting.

Our day, although stressful, was a positive one. We knew he was in great hands, we knew the surgery was a must, we knew that he had gone into this a very healthy baby boy. He had amazing chances, and all odds seemed in his favour. The surgeon came out to talk to us, he told us the surgery was very successful and they expected a full recovery. Hector did wonderfully. 

After the hours and hours of waiting we were allowed to go see him, It was supper time. We had passed him to the OR nurse at 8 in the morning. He was hooked up to more wires, lines, and tubes, then space on his little body. Having worked in the hospital setting for years, this didn't scare me as much as I thought. Although, it being my own child allowed the silent tears to make their way down my cheeks.

He had a bunch of episodes of SVT throughout the evening, the Dr's told us that it wasn't surprising. His little heart was very irritated from surgery, but we should expect that he would be fine from there on out. They try non-medical intervention to bring the heart rate down first, holding a bag of ice on my baby's face was the last thing I was wanting to see, but amazingly it worked.

It was the longest day I have experienced, I am so very grateful that we are past it.

Welcoming Hector.

We welcomed our little heart warrior, Hector Ulysses, on Oct 16. 

It was an amazing labour and delivery. I know I've said it before, but I really can't say enough for midwives. It made what could have been a very stressful situation, very smooth and natural. 

He was born at 12:37 pm, after about 3 hours of active labour, and a night of early labour that stopped just enough for us to get four hours of sleep! Something I had never experienced before, but everyone told me afterwards that third babies are little tricksters :)

He had his atrial balloon septostomy about two hours after birth, it was pretty incredible. They did it right in the PICU and Dave and I were able to sit and watch the proceedure. We also found out that Hector does have a small VSD (ventricle septum defect) that will be closed during his surgery. Something they couldn't see in utero.

He has been a champion nurser, everyone is very happy with that. It gives him a major advantage going into surgery, and I am so pleased. It was something I was worried about, as I have found breastfeeding to be such a wonderful experience in the past with my two older boys. I was also worried because a lot of cardiac babies don't do well with breastfeeding, as they tire easily.

It was, and is, something that is very important to me. So without that stress, this process has been going as smooth as it really can. 

With surgery coming up in a couple days I do find myself a tiny bit more on edge, but I know we are in spectacular care. The team of nurses, doctors, and specialists are just amazing. They have really made this easier, even the smallest of things have made really hard days seem less large. 

More then anything, our family and friends have made this transition into Hector's life as normal as it can be. We love you more then words can express, thank you for everything you are doing. We really couldn't do this without you. 

I will keep updating as things progress. I apologize for the lack of grammatically correct sentences, as I am updating from my phone. Isn't technology wonderful!

full term!?

This past week I reached 37 weeks in my pregnancy.
I can not believe how fast this has gone. I can't help but think that it surely has been even faster then my second pregnancy.  I know the multiple appointments that seem never ending and working for as long as I can has made it fast, but I am willing to bet that running after two boys everyday is what did it.

Better get some nice belly shots and family shots in before I run out of time! (and energy)
Here's an iphone progression of me looking super impressed every time.

heart.

   As I near the end of my pregnancy with our third amazing little boy, I have found myself struggling on whether or not I should write this post. I've thought that a lot of people in our lives will want to know, want to help, and even possibly be hurt by not knowing. I have also had the other end of the spectrum with, not wanting to share, not wanting to bother people, not wanting to deal with the sympathies and questions.
I came to realise that by not sharing, it was possible that I was not dealing with it fully. Even having been in a near constant state of hopefulness and optimism (regardless of the tears), it doesn't have to be quite as 'real' if most people don't know.
I also didn't want anything negative to define our littlest boy, but I realise that sharing what we have/are/and will being going through will not only show how much of a fighter he is, but it could possibly help others in the same situations. To hear a personal story is something I have found priceless in preparing for my little boy and the road we will endure in the next few months.

Our little heart warrior.

This all started when we sat, making jokes, killing time, awaiting the ultrasound technician to let us know all was good and we could go home. We were at my 20 week anatomy ultrasound, and with my previous experiences they were a pretty quick thing. After waiting for what seemed like hours I started to feel a little uneasy. When the Doctor came in with the tech, I knew there was something up.
The doctor was spouting off big words and might as well have been the teacher from Charlie Brown. All I heard was 'Variation in major vessels of the heart', 'will need to see you right away for fetal echo'. I know I had the deer in the headlights look as I opened my eyes as big as they could go in order to not cry. I felt so silly having been so preoccupied with looking for the baby's gender when being faced with something so serious.
Of course 'see you right away' was a week away. It was a really long week of unknowns, I felt sick to my stomach all the time, and I found myself staring into nothing a lot, just waiting for the next ultrasound.
The next week, during the fetal echo (which is a focused ultrasound with fancier cameras) Dave and I held hands, staring at the screen, watching our little baby's heart beating well. It had four chambers, no holes, and the blood was mixing as it should. The doctor came with the technologist again, and sat us down to explain what they had found, and the basic anatomy of it. Then they sent us off for lunch to return to fetal assessment for a follow up ultrasound to confirm what they had found.
The high risk Obstetrician explained to us, while confirming through the scan, that our little baby had a congenital heart defect. Transposition of the Great Vessels, also known as Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGV or TGA). It is literally what it sounds like, the position of the great arteries (Pulmonary and Aortic) are switched where they enter the heart. This makes the blood circulate through the lungs, come back to the heart, and then re-circulate through the lungs. Leaving the body with blood that has no oxygen. While in utero, the baby has a valve that remains open and mixes the blood well regardless of the heart defect. Once born this valve closes, and the defect is fatal unless treated fairly quickly.
The OB was very understanding, very good at explaining, and very good at answering all of our questions and fears.
We found out then that this meant our baby would need a echo cardiogram, a cardiac catheter procedure and medication right after birth, followed by open heart surgery to fix the defect, within the first week of life.  While taking in all this information, when the OB asked if we wanted to know what we were having, we both knew that having a little something to take our minds off the news we had just received was a good idea. We were having another boy.

At first, after learning all of this, everything seemed surreal. I floated around in a fog, trying to wrap my head around what all of this meant. After many more ultrasounds, cardiologist appointments, neonatologist appointments, as well as my regular appointments with my midwives, we found there is a very straightforward plan. We are in wonderful hands and I couldn't be more thankful for everyone who has been a place of constant support through this endeavor. I was also extremely happy to learn that because our little boy is fine while incubating, I have been able to keep with my midwives and not been shuffled off to a high risk obstetrician. This has been a great source of strength for me, as they are very much on the same page as I am. They are my advocates when I can not be, and have been able to share very positive experiences with me about similar cases.
We have also been very fortunate to have a huge, amazing support system. Without all the people that have been our rock, I am not sure what we would do.You all know who you are, we love you and want to extend an impossible thank you. To infinity.

I am hoping that with this post we can keep family and friends updated, I do plan on updating as things happen. I am not sure how often this will be, but it is with my best intentions.
We also hope not to offend anyone, but we would really appreciate our continued privacy during this time. Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and thank you everyone for your continued support, it really does make a difference no matter the extent. Thank you.