Friday, December 14, 2007

Graysen at 32 Weeks

This is a picture from Graysen's ultrasound yesterday. He is four pounds and is growing well. We did not learning anything new yesterday. The doctor cannot confirm which artery is small (aorta or pulmonary) and cannot confirm if it is connected to the heart or not. In either event, Graysen will require an artificial artery. If it is a small pulmonary artery, they will do the Rastelli procedure with a homograph. If it is a small aorta, they will do a modified version of the Norwood procedure. Due to the fact that both procedure require an artificial artery to be inserted, Graysen will require at least three surgeries. One will occur at birth, one at approximately one year old, and one around 5-8 years. There may be a fourth depending on if they can put in an adult sized artery at the third surgery. The number of surgeries arises from the fact that the artificial artery will not grow as Graysen grows. We are hoping that the small artery is the pulmonary artery because it is easier to fix and has better survival rates than a small aorta. This was our last cardiologist visit until Graysen is born. There is nothing more that they can do until he is born. Now the focus is shifting to predicting labor and delivery to ensure that we arrive in Charleston on time. The induction is scheduled for January 28th, but both of my ob's in Spartanburg (routine care and high risk) are skeptical. They are not sure that I will make it to week 39 because I only made it to week 37.5 with Caleb. For Graysen's sake, we are hoping that he delivers on the 28th. He needs to be as fat as possible since he will not be able to eat until after the surgery. So, I am taking it easy to help keep blood pressure down and help prevent contractions.

2 comments:

Charles Meyer said...

Gosh, I am having a little trouble making out this picture of Graysen. It's my guess you may be showing a picture of his heart, but I'm not sure of that either. I was glad to read he is up to four pounds now. Keep resting and taking good care of him. Caleb looks ADORABLE on his new bike. I hope he's enjoying it. That's all for now......Love, Mom

Michelle said...

Hi Lee and Laura,
Received your sweet thank you note about Graysen, sorry he is to have heart surgery, not a good way to start out in life especially so little. Mom and I and our church will be praying that all will go well with both of you. We are thinking about coming to Charleston during the time of his arrival and surgery so that you will have some support there for you. It is not that far from us and I think we can probably make it there okay.
Thank youfor your blog site, the pictures of caleb are sooo cute. Dad would have just loved to see him I know. Your site is really nice and informative. Great work!!
Keep in touch with us when you can, my e-mail address is:seaeagle@sccoast.net.
Take care,we love you.
Jan & Michelle r. Taylor
P.S. Glad to hear that caleb loved his dog stuffed animal.