Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome

Throughout these blogs you will see me refer to Scarlets congenital heart defect as HLHS. This stands for Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a child with this defect only has the right side of their heart. When Scarlet was born we were under the impression shed go through the standard three surgeries...At just 3 days old she underwent a procedure that showed her coronary arteries were not what they should be and IF the surgeries were successful she could have a heart attack at any point in time... which left us with Heart Transplant. At a week old she had a pulmonary Artery Banding to help preserve her life during the wait.. She also had a balloon septostomy at 2 1/2 months to help.. we almost lost her 4 times, and after waiting 3 1/2 months she got her second chance at life. September 26,2011 an angel entered our daughter and saved her life. Our daughters life will be treasured no matter the length of time she may grant us, though we hope for a entire lifetime. "Enjoy life today, yesterday is gone, and tomorrow may never come." If you'd like to know more about Scarlets condition please feel free to read more of the upcoming blogs.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Power of Prayer & Positivity

Twenty eight weeks, four days, and baby scarlet is still kicking. Just had another growth ultrasound, she's weighing in at about 2.4 lbs and her stomach is about 2 weeks too small for where we are. Although this is not what we were wanting to hear we are trying to stay positive in thought. Aside from the stomach being small everything looks good, heart is pumping good, fluid level surrounding the heart hasn't changed much. When asking the Dr. what I could do to help her stomach grow (wanting to hear, "just eat more"so I would have an excuse) I heard, "Resting"... Bed rest?! Me... NO! Luckily it is not complete bed rest, just trying to take it easy. If i'm not at work, it's in bed laying on my side, letting blood flow to her heart and body will help her grow.We have to go back weekly to be on a heart and contraction monitor to make sure all is good.  Fingers crossed and hope alive we will continue to use the power of prayer & positivity to help our little monkey grow.

As more time goes by we find ourselves getting more anxious to meet her, to see her, what will she look like, how will she do... So many questions, wonders, and worries. We have 11 weeks left and the bigger my belly gets the happier I find myself. Scarlet always makes her presence known by kicking, tumbling, tugging on my belly button (my favorite), movement is a great sign for our little one and I enjoy every second of it. Today at the ultrasound we got to see our babygirl up close and personal. Literally. She turned and looked straight at us twice. We got about 7 pictures, and one was of her chubby little cheek and eye. The further along we get well contemplate 4d so we can see her a little more detailed. This is a pretty short blog this time around, not really sure what to say except, my faith in power of prayer and positivity is growing ever so rapidly. Save Scarlet efforts are still going strong, and medicaid went through!!! We got reimbursed for our already paid ultrasound appointments. The Lord is definitely blessing us with work, and much much more dealing with Scarlet. Here are some ultrasound pictures and we will be back in two weeks with another update from the Pediatric Cardiologist and ultrasound dr. Until then everyone, thank you for continued prayers and followers. <3
The Sock Monkey Family.
Vince, Alexis, and Scarlet Griffith

Ps. The top ultrasound picture is us looking at her lips and up her nose :Dnce, Alexis, and Scarlet Griffith
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