Abigail's Heart

Some of you know (and many do not) that Abigail was born with a heart defect. Colin and I chose not to make the news completely public for a couple of reasons:. One, we had a difficult time discussing it without completely breaking down...and two, until we were sure what we were dealing with, we didn't want to take everyone on the roller coaster ride with us.

Just to back up...while I was pregnant, they discovered that Abigail had a hole in her heart during a routine ultrasound. The doctors said that it may or may not close up and to have an echocardiogram when Abigail was born. Fast forward...a few days after she was born, she had the echo done.

To be honest, we were nervous but completely unprepared for what the doctor told us. Abigail has an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and a tear in the Mitral valve, which requires open heart surgery when she is about a year old. The doctor said that she also may have a narrowing of the carotid artery, which would require surgery immediately but that we needed to wait another day to completely know for sure.

We were devastated. How could this happen and why? Often the questions everyone asks themselves when something like this happens. Abigail was 5lbs 3oz when she was born...so tiny. Open heart surgery when she was that little...so scary. After a sleepless night, they did another echo and found out that she only had a small narrowing of the carotid artery and did not need surgery. Thank God!!! We were so relieved! That really put everything into perspective for us...things could be a lot worse.

She does, however, still have the ASD and a tear in the Mitral valve, which does require open heart surgery. I am by no means a doctor and Colin can explain everything much better than I but....basically what all of that means is that Abigail has a hole and a tear in her heart thereby causing blood to leak within the heart where it is not supposed to.

We have seen her cardiologist a couple of times since coming home. Last week, he said that things still look about the same with the ASD and that the hole and tear have not gotten any bigger. She does have an additional small hole in her Ventricular Septum, but the doctor said it can be patched with the same patch for the ASD during the surgery.

 Since Abigail's 1st birthday falls during winter (which is obviously cold and flu season) they do not want to run the risk of her getting sick. So she will either have her surgery Fall of 2013 or Spring of 2014, depending on how things go over the next several months.
 
We love her cardiologist. He is wonderful. We feel very lucky and blessed to have some of the best doctors in the country. Abigail is in good hands. She is one strong girl and loved by so many. We'll continue to keep you all posted on her progress.

Sorry for the downer post. We just wanted to share this with our close family and friends. Don't worry....happy posts from now on. :)

 

Happy 2 Months, Baby Girl!

Today, our sweet little one is 2 months old! Where has the time gone??? Abigail is such a blessing. Colin and I love her so much and just cannot imagine our life without her.

Who me?!?!

Abigail has grown so much in the past two months. Abigail was born weighing 5lbs 3oz and she now weighs just over 9 lbs (still in the less than 5th percentile, but growing very well) and is 21.65 inches long (9th percentile). Abigail LOVES to be held, which sometimes makes getting stuff done a little difficult:) Colin and I may need to bulk up if we want to be able to continue to carry her around all the time! She can be sound asleep in our arms and, as soon as we put her down, she is WIDE awake!

Abigail is sleeping a little bit better than before. She loves to sleep during the day, but night time....not so much. She is much more alert now during the day and, of course, at night:) Abigail has the biggest eyes. As soon as it's time to go to bed, her eyes open so wide and Colin and I know we're in for a long night!

Abigail is very active. We call her squirmy wormy because she squirms so much. Abigail can lift and hold up her head for about 30 seconds and she is able to push herself up with her hands. She is also quite the soccer player. She kicks all the time!

She enjoys bath time much more than when she was first born. Abigail hates to be cold. I wonder who she got that from????......:)

The past two months have been the best. We have loved every second of it! We are just so happy and have loved watching Abigail grow and change every day. We love her SOOOOO much! Happy 2 months, sweet little girl:)

Pictures from Abigail's first 7 weeks

 First bath...She wasn't a fan but now she loves it:)

 Awwww.....so cute!!!

 Uncle Jay came to visit! He loves Abigail so much!

 Family photo:

 Our little cutie:

 Abigail in her adorable Pack n' Play that she loves:

 Santa's little helper:

Abigail is so lucky to have two sets of wonderful grandparents who love her soooo much!!!
Grandma and G-dad:

 Meme and Grandpa

 Taking a nap with her sister, Mia:)

 Uncle Kyle and Aunt Anna came to visit with us. We love them!

 Abigail in her Newborn Rock n' Play Sleeper. This is what she sleeps in next to our bed every night. It's great...I can just rock her if she starts to fuss and sometimes she'll go right back to sleep. Other times....not so much!

 Look at that sweet face!

 I love this picture. She has started smiling now, which is just precious.

Passed out in her Pack 'n Play

 Daddy showing Abigail her room on her first night home. Sorry...so out of order!!!

 Our little one smiling:)

Sorry....some of the pictures are out of order. Still learning how to use this thing! I just learned how to do captions. Apparently they are supposed to go UNDER the pictures. Who knew?!? We hope you enjoy:)

Introduction

We don't know what we are doing, but we are trying to figure it out as we go along. Not just with parenting, but with blogging. We want to share pictures and stories about Abigail and the adventures we have together.  We have been promising a blog to help our family and closest friends follow along.

Abigail is seven weeks old and, as of today, weighs 8 lbs. 10 oz. She is loud (sometimes), incredibly cute (always), and the center of our world (forever).  The following are some of our favorite photos to date.

Less than an hour old:

Family photo:

So tiny, so cute:

She passed the car seat challenge with flying colors:

Arriving home in style:

Meeting her sister:

Seeing her room for the first time: