Update on Nina’s Heart
The following is from Nina’s Care Page at the Children’s Hospital, written by Melissa — it sums up today’s Cardiology appointment very well…
March 24, 2010–Good Cardiology Visit
Nina went back to the cardiologist today and we had a very good appointment. She continues to gain weight at a normal (if not rapid) pace, which is the best indication that her heart is not complicating her development. Nina weighed in at 10 pounds 12 ounces today… up almost a full pound from her weight check 12 days ago! She’s also growing longer/taller… today measuring at 23 inches. Blood pressures were taken on all extremities and were in a good range. The first one taken (right leg) was a little higher than the rest, but she calmed down after that (see nursing story below). The EKG looked good… consistent with how her heart should be, considering all the holes.
Prognosis remains the same. No heart medications are needed at this point and surgery will most likely wait until she is 1 to 1.5 years old (probably occurring some time next spring). Our next follow-up appointment is in two months, at the end of May. Another echocardiogram will be done at that appointment.
A quick nursing story. Nina fell asleep on the way to the appointment and was not happy about being woken up and taken out of the car seat for all the tests. She was crying so much that the nurse suggested we try to calm her down, which for Nina means breastfeeding, as she refuses to take a pacifier and once she gets worked up nothing else seems to help calm her down. So I nursed Nina through all four blood pressure checks and during the EKG. Definitely the easiest time we’ve had so far with getting all these tests done quickly! I’m so glad the nurse was open to this approach, and I’m so thankful to be able to nurse our daughter so easily. I’ve always been a huge breastfeeding supporter, but today just reinforced how wonderful it is to always have food and comfort ready/available. Just another reason for me to marvel at how God created us… allowing women to provide the perfect food for our babies while comforting them at the same time. God is good!
Next Wednesday we head to the eye doctor to check on the potential of Nina having a “lazy” eye. I’ll post again after that visit.
Prayer request:
More sleep for everyone. Nina is still nursing multiple times overnight so we only getting 2-3 hours of sleep at a time, and she often has trouble going back to sleep in the middle of the night. When I put her down in the co-sleeper after nursing, she almost always cries to be picked up again. We have to do this up and down game several times before she’ll actually fall asleep. It’s not too bad at midnight and 2 a.m. (Daran and I are night people after all), but the 4 or 5 a.m. feedings are torture. Please pray that this phase passes quickly and that she starts sleeping for longer stretches overnight.
