Hannah's Heart

The last couple of weeks have been a complete roller coaster ride. As a precaution, Tate's cardiologist recommends having an fetal echo done on my babies, Seth had one and Hannah has had one. Well much to my surprise they found something wrong with Hannah's heart. And with sadness I tell you that my precious little Hannah has a heart defect similar to her brothers'.

Hannah has been diagnosed with Truncus Arteriosus. "This defect describes the incomplete development of the aorta and the pulmonary artery. During the formation of the heart and its vessels in utero, the pulmonary artery and aorta begin as one large 'trunk' of an artery. Eventually, as the heart twists and out-patches, the aorta and the pulmonary artery separate to form two distinctly separate vessels. In Truncus Arteriosus, the complete separation of these two vessels fails to occur. The arterial trunk usually ends up being positioned over a large hole in the wall between the right and left ventricle."

So basically what this means for us and our family, Hannah will be delivered at UAMS and transported to Children's (much like Tate) and will have open heart surgery, probably within the first to second week of her life, to repair the hole and to separate the aorta and the pulmonary artery, they will put in a pulmonary valve (just like Tate). Hopefully within two to four weeks she will be able to come home.

I know I probably sound very matter of fact but this news has been extremely hard on me. Even though I have been through this before it doesn't make it any easier. It has been hard for me to comprehend that this is happening again to a completely different child. That Tate and Hannah have very similar defects and will spend their life going into the hospital replacing worn out pulmonary valves. Even writing that I can't wrap my mind around it.

I have been pretty detailed with what we are expecting but I know that anything could change at anytime. That basically we won't know exactly how she is doing until she gets here or if by chance she has something else wrong that has triggered this defect. Her cardiologist (who is also Tate's) has told me that their type of defect is most common in siblings and that she could very well be just as normal, healthy and happy as her brother with nothing else wrong. But like I said we won't know anything for sure until we get to see her pretty little self.

Please pray for me and JP and our families as we prepare for our precious Hannah. I can't even fathom what is going to happen when she gets here but I do want to keep things as normal as I can for Tate and Seth. We will have lots of help to make that possible I'm sure. Pray also for me, I can honestly say this news has broken me once again. As God and I work through this He reminds me of His love and that "His ways are not my ways". We have wonderful family, friends and church home that I'm sure we will lean on when the time comes.

Pray also for baby Hannah, this is her heart and life I am writing about. I'm so incredibly sad for her but I know God is in control and loves her as well.

And thanks to all who are close to me that have to put up with me during this time, ha ha. The Lord knows I'm difficult on normal days so I can imagine what I am like when I'm out of whack. I'm am blessed with good friends!!!!

Think and pray for us often,
Ashley