Last Thursday, we had an appointment in Charlottesville to examine Tiptoe a little further, and meet all the doctors, and nurses, and surgeons that would be involved in her care when she’s born.  It was a long day– we got there at 9am, and left at 5pm or so.  The news is…tentatively good, compared with what we feared.

Tiptoe has two holes in her heart.  There is one near the valve leading to the vessel that takes blood to the rest of the body that may be indicative of a coarctation in that blood vessel.  The other is in the right ventricle, and is large enough that the doctor didn’t think it would close.  The coarctation is what they’re mostly worried about; if present, it will require surgery shortly after birth.  They will most likely repair the holes at the same time that they repair the coarctation– open heart surgery, in other words.

What we feared was a interrupted aortic arch, which apparently is harder to repair and takes longer to recover from.

Tiptoe is growing very well; she’s about average size right now, which is good for a baby with heart problems.  The bigger she is when she’s born, the faster her recovery time if they have to operate.

Then on Friday, we got the final results from the amniosentisis.  No abnormalities were found.  Friday was a very happy day in our house.