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Dear friends and family,
As many of you know we had a 35 week follow up appointment with the baby's cardiologist yesterday. 8 weeks ago he was pretty confident that her heart was growing well and compensating for the previous lack of growth and he assured us that she may even grow out of the previous concern of a lesser functioning aortic valve. He planned to see us yesterday to confirm that her heart was on the mend and make a decision on where to deliver.

This was not the news that was given to us yesterday. Instead he explained that her valve had stopped growing and in turn limited blood flow to left ventricle had cause significant restriction of its growth. This defect is call Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. It is a broad diagnosis that came come with many different complications but it is what she is considered as having. Here is a link to a website we have found that gives a pretty good overview of the situation: »www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hypopla···rome.htm

The website describes three courses of action that parents can take with a child with HPLHS. At this time our family is pursing the Fontan/Norwoods surgeries. The three open heart surgeries that will change the way her heart works. In the next week we are being sent to a specialist at UCDavis for her to confirm the diagnosis and from there we will be deciding on where I will deliver and who will perform the surgery.

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On Tuesday, June 03, 2008, at 10:35am, our daughter Hannah Michele (her dad's mom's name) was successfully delivered via C-Section. It was a very smooth event and it was glorious to finally see her. She was whisked off to the NICU after a brief introduction between daughter and parents. Everyone was amazed at how healthy she looked. She weighed in at 6 lbs 1 oz, measured 19 ¼ inches in length, and is empirically quite beautiful, if we do say so ourselves. After cleaning her up and hooking her up to the monitors she was given her echocardiogram. And the news that followed was for what we had dared to pray.

She looked healthy because she actually was healthy. A cardiologist came in to break the good news that Hannah does not actually have Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. While the left side of her heart, and accompanying parts, are “smallish” they are functioning quite well and providing our daughter with adequate levels of oxygenated blood throughout her body. There is however, a probable coarctation of the aortic arch (a narrowing of the aorta as it leaves the heart to deliver blood to the rest of the body.) They will most likely be able to tell the severity of the narrowing within a few days. At which time it will be decided if she should have a corrective surgery sooner or later. Either way, it will NOT be the Norwood procedure. Nor will she likely have to go through the other two open heart surgeries!

We are not entirely out of the woods, but this miraculous answer to our prayers overwhelms us. We have been told about so many individuals and churches that are praying for us that it is clear to see God’s hand in this matter. We believe that God chose to heal our daughter’s heart, and it is by His grace that our lives have taken a completely different turn than expected.

We can’t thank you all enough for supporting us with your thoughts and prayers. We are still in shock, but will of course keep you informed as events unfold.

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