Answered Prayers

On Wednesday, following our last ultrasound, Jackie received a voicemail from our doctor. She mentioned a couple of things, but all I got in the subsequent call from Jackie was, "heart," "issue," "more tests," and "don't panic." Naturally, we panicked. Up until now, this whole process had been fairly event free.

A couple of hours later, we had an appointment for the next day with a perionatologist to reveal the true nature of the heart's problems. Suddenly, the happy-go-lucky pregnancy had taken a very serious turn. With the wind out of our sails, we were crushed. We put our faith in God and hoped everything would work out for the best.

On Thursday, we nervously made our way through the maze of hospital corridors to eventually find the right office. Jackie had an ultrasound that lasted the better part of an hour. Ultrasounds up to this point had averaged 5 minutes. The tech examined everything from bones to internal organs. The last 30 minutes or so were spent focusing on the heart. From arteries to ventricles, she took pictures, measurements, and recorded video of everything. Before leaving to talk with the doctor, she offered up a well received slice of hope that she didn't see anything wrong, but would send the doctor in shortly.

Forty minutes later, the doctor showed us exactly how the blood was flowing through the heart. In the previous ultrasound, they noticed that a valve wasn't closing, and half of the blood was flowing back into the wrong place. Thursday's ultrasound showed that all of the blood was flowing properly and the heart was structurally sound. So, with a clean bill of health, we were sent on our way.

We went from thinking Baby Van may need heart surgery to being completely fine in the span of a couple of hours. We were relieved beyond belief that our prayers had been answered. Only then did we realize how much stress this was on us and immediately we were exhausted. After working our way back through the maze of hospital corridors, we found the car and drove back to a normal life.

Thank you all for your continued support, prayers, and reassuring advice. We appreciate it more than you'll ever know. We are truly blessed to have such caring friends and family and thank God for our good fortune.

Below is the best picture I've ever seen. This is our baby's heart working exactly like it should. The highlighted two items are the blood flowing through the ventricles. Just as normal as can be.