ScribeFire Test

Testing my new Firefox 3.0 upload ScribeFire. Uplaod photos from my computer, add a link, upload from Flickr, see if text ends up where I want it.

Baby Henry learned how to escape from his Bumbo. He likes to play with his toys in the Bumbo for a while, but he got bored while I was making a food diary for him. Luckily the escape was in slow motion, so I had a chance to snap some photos and capture him once he was free.









I dressed him in this Kick Ass tourist outfit the other day. The pants are from Jack Sprat at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5288243.
When I put on the Gap shirt with the pants and the hat I just had to run upstairs for some black socks to complete the outfit. So hilarious.





The Golden Pig at 6 months pretends he is a crocodile.

Tetralogy of Fallot Surgery

Pre-op
I made his special Valentine's Day Open Heart Surgery quilt. I made a felt appliqué of the baby heart character from his pre-op book.
Post-op
Pain
Sweetness

Baby Henry the Fifth was born with a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. The defect was found on his second day of life when Dr. Robertson heard a murmur. When we left the hospital after he was born we went directly to the pediatric cardiology specialist 2 hours away near Tacoma for a test. Dr. Puntel, at Madegan Army hospital, told us the news. Baby Henry would need open heart surgery to repair the defect. The Tetralogy includes a Ventrical Septal Defect, a shifted aorta, pulmonary valve stenosis, and hypertrophy of the right ventricle. Babies with Tetralogy of Fallot generally turn blue when upset or sick. Fortunately Henry was what they called a Pink Tet.

In December after Henry was born, the Navy moved us to Norfolk VA. The surgery was scheduled at the civilian hospital Children's Hospital of the Kings Daughters. Our surgeon was Dr. Gilbert and Brandie was our specialist nurse. He had surgery on Valentine's Day 2008 - a perfect day to repair a broken heart.

After surgery, Henry developed an arrhythmia called Heart Block. This extended our stay for 10 days while they waited for the heart block to resolve. It didn't. So, on February 26, baby Henry had a pacemaker placed. It is just below his sternum since he is too small to have it in his chest. The pacemaker does just that- it paces the heart. It is not a defibrillator. That means that the pacemaker detects Henry's own heart beat. If the heart skips a beat or doesn't beat in time, the pacemaker fires and causes a single beat. Henry's heart is not any any more risk of stopping than a normal heart. (A defibrillator is for folks whose hearts might stop and need a kick start.)

Grandpa
Grandma
MommyHenry 4 and Henry 5.

The good news, is that on our recent check up they discovered that the heart block has started to resolve, meaning that his heart is beating normally some of the time and the pacer doesn't need to fire. This is an unusual development and leaves us very hopeful. He may continue to get better and not need the pacemaker or things may stay the same. We are happy either way.

This whole process has been amazing. We are so grateful to have had an incredible surgeon and amazing staff at the hospital. I am blown away at what was able to be be done to make my baby healthy and happy.

Catching Up

So, it is time to catch up on the blog. Seeing as how I've had a baby and all. 8 months ago. My
plan is to back log the past 8 months. Here is the overview:

My water broke while I was in the shower getting ready for bed. Stupid me, thought I was incontinent. I figured I would mention the incontinence to the doc at my appointment the next day.

At my appointment I told Dr. Robertson that I was having some incontinence. He said, "Oh Shit." And proceeded to check to see if my water broke. Sure enough, it did and I was directly admitted.

47 hours after my water broke, no pain meds, pitocin that didn't do the trick, and finally a C-section, little Henry arrived into the world at almost midnight on September 29, 2007. A week early.

On Henry the Fifth's second day of life, Dr. Robertson listened to his heart and heard a murmur. He called a specialist at Madegan Army Hospital and got us an appointment. The next day we were discharged from Bremerton directly to our appointment 2 hours away. We had to drive our teeny little boy to the specialist. Waiting for the doc was my first breast feed in public experience. Dr. Patel was awesome. He did an echocardiogram and found that our precious baby Henry had a heart defect called Tetralogy of Fallot. He would need open heart surgery.
Fortunately, Henry had what they call Pink Tet. He did not turn blue when upset, so his surgery could wait until he was bigger.






Here is Henry the Fifth at 6 weeks old doing his pirate face. AAARRRRGH! I'm a Pirate!




















Halloween. Can you find the baby?




On a ferry to Seattle with Daddy.



















Despite the baby's diagnosis, the Navy's plan to move us didn't change. Baby Henry was allowed to fly without any worry of medical problems, but I was still really worried. Luckily, my mom decided to fly out to Seattle and fly back with the baby and I. Having a helping hand with all our stuff was terrific.

















Once in the Norfolk area, we met our new cardiologists Dr. Carr and Dr. Fleenor and were set up with our civilian surgeon, Dr. Gilbert at CHKD.

Surgery would be in February.

So we had our first Christmas and New Years before surgery.

Henry is our little angel. I will post about the surgery later and catch the blog up to now.