Why We're in Edmonton

I was thinking about it the other night, and I realized that some of you may not know why we're in Edmonton waiting for our baby to arrive. So I guess I should take a few minutes to explain why we're in Edmonton.

Lee and I found out at our first ultrasound appointment that the baby (a little boy we currently call Junior) has a problem with his heart. The doctors told us that he has Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. Basically what that means is that his left ventricle has not developed and it can't effectively pump blood to the body, so the right side of the heart must pump blood both to the lungs and to the rest of the body. He will have to undergo a series of three surgeries to create normal blood flow in and out of his heart.

The doctors have been keeping a close eye on Junior as he develops, and they have decided that it would be best that I deliver the baby in Edmonton, since this is where the open heart surgery will be performed. He will have his first surgery sometime during the first week of his life. The second surgery will be performed when he is about 5 or 6 months old. The third, and final surgery, will be performed when he is 3 years old. The survival rate is over 90% for all three surgeries, so Lee and I are very confident that Junior will make a full recovery.

After the surgery is performed, Junior will need about 6-8 weeks to recover from his first operation. We've been told that if he is doing well and is stable that we will be able to transfer him to the Children's Hospital in Winnipeg, hopefully after about three weeks.

I have included a couple of links in the top left had corner of my blog about Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) if you would like to learn more about Junior's condition. The Mayo Clinic link is fairly straight forward. The Variety Children's Heart Centre link is very good (it has pictures of HLHS), but it is a little more difficult to navigate. If you choose the Variety Heart Centre link, then you must also choose the "Education" option on the left hand side of their webpage, then choose "Congenital Heart Disease" in the middle of the page, then choose "Hpyoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS)" under the Cyanotic Heart Defects column. It is a little more work to find this information, but I really do like it better.

I hope this helps to clear things up for anyone who may have been confused as to why we're here in Edmonton. Keep your comments coming, and thanks so much for caring enough to keep checking in on us in Edmonton!