Last Saturday was Caleb's birthday. We were supposed to have a party last Saturday, but Caleb decided that puking was more fun than a party so we rescheduled for tomorrow afternoon. He's been counting down the days until his party because he knows that a Nintendo DS is headed his way courtesy of Grandma Stacey, Pop Pop, and Uncle Grant (Shane's side of the family).
Earlier last week, I posed a question on FB about getting older siblings of a CHD child checked out with an Echo and EKG. Most everyone that responded said that they had the older siblings checked out. (I was slightly relieved because I felt somewhat like a fool asking for Caleb and Hannah to be checked out)
If/when we ever have another child, that baby will be checked out head to toe without our prompting. They will most likely have an echo on the baby at the 18 week scan just to make sure there are no issues with the heart. Therefore I had talked to our pediatrician about getting Caleb and Hannah checked out too. At first the nurse looked at me like I was crazy, but then after talking about it, she agreed to talk to the doctor about it. There are some CHD's that don't show up until 3, 4, and 5 years old- sometimes not even until adulthood. There are too many stories of high school athletes that fall over dead on the field because they had an undetected CHD. So, we are going to have Caleb and Hannah looked at.
We will be headed up to Fort Wayne next week for Echo's and EKG's on both the kids on Tuesday, Feb. 15 (We have a follow up appointment on Feb. 22 with the pediatric cardiologist to review the results). While I am not anticipating anything to be wrong with either of their hearts, it is still nerve racking to be back in a hospital setting with the same equipment that I saw daily when Joshua was alive. Thankfully, Shane will be taking the day off to go with us to make things a little bit easier.
Finally, because I have done NOTHING for CHD awareness week this week, I want to share a few things with you. First of all, if you are pregnant or know someone who is- ask them to have their newborn screened- a simple, inexpensive and non-invasive pulse ox placed on the baby's hand or foot can help detect CHD's in newborns- it's so easy and can help save children's lives!
 |
| That red glowing light on Joshua's foot is the Pulse Ox. It measures the amount of oxygen throughout the body. This simple and painless test done on a newborn can help detect undiagnosed heart defects and save lives |
Also, if you would like to know some simple facts about CHD or Joshua's specific heart defect, please look at the top of my blog page. Please check out the pages titled "Joshua's Broken Heart" and "Congenital Heart Defects." They will give you some very easy to read and informative information about CHD.
Have a great weekend everyone!
8 comments:
Until your blog I had never heard of CHD. I'm grateful to be a little more aware and knowledgeable.
It would make me feel better to have Kailey checked out as well... I would also like to know if she has a chromosome 15 duplication like me. We don't have a certain pedi. for her, we just go on base. Thinking about finding a different place to go.
I think it is important to have your older children checked. My daughter was born with a CHD called Wolfe Parkinson White Syndrome. Basically, she had an extra wire in her heart that caused superventricular tachicardia. She had episodes where her heart beat well past 300 beats per minute. We were lucky in that we found it when she was three weeks old. That alone is a long story, but you are right to always advocate for your kids. We had all of ours tested, the older ones, and every child born since has had an EKG (and some an Echo, too) at birth. Wouldn't even consider doing otherwise!
Jill, THANK YOU for posting this. Seriously, THANK YOU. You have no idea how simple it can be. My husband is a sports medicine physician and was at a H.S. football game where a player from the other team DROPPED DEAD due to this. He had a murmur that was noted but signed off on because his parents and coaches saw promise. So SAD and Ben(although he had nothing to do with this kid's decision to play) is still haunted. God is using you as an instrument of great things in this world.
I think it's good that you're getting Hannah and Caleb checked out. Especially after Joshua and his little heart. (Still one of *the* cutest babies I've ever seen!)
If Evan had something amiss, you can bet that I'd sure as hell get my next kiddos checked out! Why leave it to chance when you can catch something early on and take preventative measures?
I'm glad to see you back online! I've missed you.
BTW, both Evan and I had those redlight thingies on us after he was born. His lived on his hand or his big toes.
I felt u huge wave of needing to pray for you this morning. Just peace and where your family is supposed to go next. Think about you so often. Glad you decided to blog again, but I would support you if you decided not to too. We should skype one of these days! I would love to see Caleb and Hannah too! I love the picture changes on the sidebar too! Love you Lady. Sorry if I have been VERY absent. I knew these first couple months of the year were going to be difficult for us, I just didn't think my time would be SO consumed by it all.
I'm glad you are getting them checked out, if for nothing else than your peace of mind! I would want that done, too! Good luck!
Post a Comment