Shortly after my last post, we found out we were expecting a new little one. The morning sickness = manageable. As the holidays neared, our excitement grew, knowing Ms. Emerson would enjoy opening presents this year and thoughts of Emmy having a new playmate by age 2.
On December 9, 2009, Caleb and I went for our second trimester ultrasound and were excited to find out the gender of our new bundle of joy. I was certain my growing bump was a boy; so was Caleb. That late afternoon, we heard two shocking reports: 1) our "boy" was a little girl and 2) she has a rare and serious heart defect - Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). From that moment forward, our lives changed. We entered a whole new world.
The next several months consisted of fetal cardiology appointments, reading and educating ourselves, flying across the country to interview cardiothoracic surgeons, switching OBs, etc. Needless to say, we've been quite busy. My expected due date is May 12. We are traveling to Philadelphia to obtain the best care possible for our litte girl, Zoe Madison. She is much more active than Emerson was in the womb. She needs to be a fighter, so I let her kick as much as she wants...and complain very little.
By mid-April, the Lihns will be in Philadelphia waiting for Zoe to arrive. Until then, here is a sneak peek:
In the first week of life, Zoe will undergo the first of three open heart surgeries to reconstruct her heart. She has one functioning ventricle, instead of two, so her functioning right ventricle will be "rewired" to do the work for both. As time moves forward, I'll do my best at updating the blog to keep everyone informed, but time is a'tickin and there's much to do before mid-April!
I can't tell just yet if Emmy realizes she'll soon have a sister, or if she thinks my belly button is named "Zoe." Either way, she'll be a great big sis. From all of the stories I hear, having a sibling with HLHS cultivates a warm and compassionate sister/brother. I can't wait until they meet each other! Until then, she'll just chat with and tickle mommy's "Zoe."
Glad you are doing the blog so I can keep track of baby Zoe. Jacob is more active than Aidan was in my tummy too, born fighters. We will survive this. I hope one day we can meet and see our heart babies run and play. Sounds like Emmy is close to Aidan's age, he will be 3 on April 8th.
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