OK, I know it! I am not near as to the point as Brad. So, as with most stories I have one story, full of embellishment,while brad just straight forward and to the point. So here are the 2 stories.
Brad's version:
Routine Dr's appointment- murmur
Cardiologist in Stockton- ultra sound, heart defect diagnosis
Drive to Stanford
Medication, Baby stopped breathing, valve procedure, stable.
My version:
Thursday, August 21st started out as any other day. Ash came over for the Kindergarten carpool. We packed up the team of children and headed out for the day. 1st was the school drop off, followed by weekly story time at the library. Next we were off to the Dr's office. Jakers was one day shy of his 3 week birthday and was scheduled for a routine well baby check. We got there early and were able to meet Baby-E his to be best friend (Just born last week, 11 days Late!). What a highlight to the morning! Then it was in to the Drs.
I love my pediatrician! All three of the girls have had him. He is always so gentle with the littles and fum with the rambunctious older siblings. As he checked Jake's regular stats he joked with Rue and Hallie about the presence of this new little man in our house of estrogen. So, I knew something was wrong when his playful banter ceased and was relaxed by silence. .... Minutes waiting and watching as he listened to the heart and breath of my new addition.
Then the question no parent wants to hear, "Did Jake ever show signs of a murmur at previous appointments?" WHAT! A MURMUR!? I didn't even really know what that meant. Excusing himself from the room my phone flew out of my pocket and "newborn Heart murmur" was in the Google queue. The door opened again. Then another listen. And the same question repeated. "Was Jake born with a heart murmur?" I was told that we needed to go see the cardiologist as soon as possible.' "Leave your phone on and stay in town." I tried to gather as much information as possible before leaving his office, but to be honest his voice strongly mimicked Charley Brown, "Wah wah wah..." The next step was a call to Brad and a ride home from school for Caymen.
Brad met me at the cardiologist and I hood rats took care of Caymen, but we still had Hallie and Ruby with us. We knew that only bad news could come so before going in brad gave Jake a blessing in the car.
A healthy person has a typical oxygen level of 95-100% blood saturation. When the nurse measured Jake the best reading we could get was 77%. Then they did an ultrasound of his heart and found the problem. He was diagnosed with Complex Transposition of the Great Arteries (a congenital heart defect). This is when the 2 main arteries leaving the heart attach in the wrong place. This keeps the oxygen rich blood from getting to his body and the the oxygen deficient blood from betting to his lungs. He also had an arterial and ventricular septal defects (holes connecting the right and left sides of the heart normal in newborns, but typically close in the 1st week of life). The holes are what saved his life. They allowed the two side to share blood putting some o2 in his body and getting some blood into his lungs.
Given this diagnosis we knew his life was in limbo until we could get him to a pediatric cardio surgeon. We were told to come out to Standford to meet Dr. Mohan Reddy (the best in the world at this particular surgery). Brad drove home with Rue and Hallie, picked up Caymen and packed us an overnight bag. I tookn Brad's car and drove straight to Stanford Medical Center where we were immediately admitted through the ER. Once in the ER his blood saturation dropped to the 60's and by the time we transported into NNICU his numbers were around 50%. In order to increase oxygen they decided to give him a medication to open an already closing valve. Unfortunately, the third valve they wanted to open had already sealed. Instead of the medication working he stopped breathing and need to be resuscitate. Once they got him breathing again with a breathing tube and ventilator they decided it was best to do a procedure where they manually open the 2 existing valves further in order to encourage the blood on either circuit to mix causing all the blood rich enough to be have a high enough saturation to support his tissues.
By midnight he was stable. We were able to go home to my mom's house and get a little rest.
I cringe to think of all the what-if's. One piece of the puzzle could have been the difference between a stable baby and the unmentionable. How lucky we were! The timeline is nothing short of amazing. The location is ideal. My mom's help is irreplaceable. The hospital, staff, and scheduled surgeon are the best in the country for this specific procedure. In our pre-op consult we were told there was a 97-98% success rate.
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