I had my fetal echo on Tuesday and just wanted to let you all know that it went very well. The baby was not in an ideal position but after an hour of looking at and examining the heart we have finally been given the good news that the baby's heart looks great. What a relief! I knew the chances that this baby would also have a heart problem were slim, but after what we went through with Josh, you just never know. I'm so glad that we can finally relax and put this behind us.
The cardiologist told us that very small holes in the heart or minor problems with the valves can be missed on the fetal echo so certainly if any murmurs are detected after birth they'll want to assess the baby at CHEO. However, she doesn't see any structural problems and at this point has no concerns.
In other news, we have moved in to our new place and are somewhat settled. There are still a few boxes to unpack and quite a bit of organizing to do, but everything will get done in good time. Josh had no problem adjusting to the new place - he seemed to settle in right away and has even taken well to being transitioned into a big boy bed. No more crib! My how quickly they grow up.
Anyway, I just wanted to share our good news. Thanks for checking in!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Ultrasound Update
I had my ultrasound yesterday and just wanted to let you know how it went. The good news is that they were able to capture images of blood outflow from the heart which indicated that this baby definitely does not have TGA. Whew! However, they could not see all four chambers so I have to go for a level 2 ultrasound on July 29th.
From what I understand a level 2 ultrasound is similar to the screening ultrasound I had yesterday but it's with a more experienced/skilled technician and they will focus more attention to the heart to make sure they get images of all four chambers as well as check for any septal defects and any other heart anomalies. I guess if they still can't capture good images of the heart during this ultrasound or if they have concerns I would then be booked for a fetal echo.
And so I wait for the 29th. I'll keep you posted.
From what I understand a level 2 ultrasound is similar to the screening ultrasound I had yesterday but it's with a more experienced/skilled technician and they will focus more attention to the heart to make sure they get images of all four chambers as well as check for any septal defects and any other heart anomalies. I guess if they still can't capture good images of the heart during this ultrasound or if they have concerns I would then be booked for a fetal echo.
And so I wait for the 29th. I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Niagara Falls, The Toronto Zoo and Other Summer Fun
We have long since returned from our trip to Niagara Falls and Toronto. Sorry it has taken me so long to post an update but I just haven't had enough time to sit down and write.
The trip went very well. The drive down to Niagara Falls was a long one....about 7 hours I guess, but Josh handled it like a trooper. We only had to stop twice - once in Kingston for lunch and then again around Oshawa to give Josh a chance to get out of his car seat and stretch his legs. He was having a bit of a meltdown in the car and the short break and fresh air seemed to do the trick. Books, toys and my silliness were entertaining enough to get him through the rest of the car trip.
After getting ourselves settled into our hotel room we headed out to a nearby restaurant for supper and then made our way down to the Falls. Josh seemed to enjoy watching the boats pass by but otherwise appeared unimpressed. Robb loves being at the Falls and admits that he could stand there all day.
The next day we went to Marineland - which was in essence the whole reason for the trip to Niagara Falls...Robb wanted to take Josh to Marineland. Marineland was alright. The admission was a bit pricey but Josh sure did enjoy getting close to, and feeding the animals. By about 1pm Josh had reached his tolerance for Marineland and it was clear that it was time to go. He was tired and clearly he had enough fun. We packed ourselves back into the car and made our way to Oshawa where we would spend the rest of our trip. And not a moment too soon...shortly after leaving Marineland it started pouring rain.
My Grandma and my Dad both live in Oshawa and my sister lives in Ajax, which isn't too far away. We spent the rest of the week with family which is always nice. The weather wasn't fantastic but we made the best of it and luckily the day we chose to go to the Toronto Zoo was [I think] the only rain-free day. We went to the zoo on July 1st (Canada Day) so it was pretty busy there. We got there early though - like right when it opened so we managed to miss a lot of the crowds. As we were making our way to the exit later in the day we had noticed that it was considerably more crowded.
Josh really enjoyed the zoo - as we knew he would. He loves animals and every new exhibit we came to he got so excited. Heck he even got excited for the seagulls. But of course around midday he starts to get tired, cranky and whiny. So shortly after lunch we decided to call it a day and made our way out of the park.
Going away on mini-vacations is fun and spending time with family is great, especially when you don't get to see them that often, but it's always nice to be back at home. The travelling and the interruption to your day-to-day routine can be exhausting. Thankfully Robb and I both had another week off work so we got to spend some great family time together - just the three of us.
Again, the weather was very disappointing - lots of rain - but we got out when we could. We took Josh to feed the ducks (and geese) one day and got him out to the park as often as we could. And of course Robb went off fishing a few times through the week. Overall it was a very quiet, relaxing week and there's nothing wrong with that.
The next few weeks will be busy. We still have quite a bit of packing to do and there's a few appointments scattered through the next few weeks. Today I have a ISP (Individualized Service Plan) meeting at OCTC. I haven't been to one of these meetings yet so I'm not sure what to expect but it involves myself and all of Josh's therapists. So PT, OT and his speech therapist will all be there as will Dr. Ponesse which is Josh's child development specialist. I guess we all sit around and talk about Josh...where he's at, where we want to go from here and address any concerns. Should be interesting.
On Wednesday I have my 18 week ultrasound so this is the one where they, among other things, take the first detailed look at the baby's heart. I'm a little anxious but trying not to dwell on it. I know the chances that this baby will have a heart problem are low but I can't help the anxiety. Hopefully all goes well and I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Thanks for checking in!
The trip went very well. The drive down to Niagara Falls was a long one....about 7 hours I guess, but Josh handled it like a trooper. We only had to stop twice - once in Kingston for lunch and then again around Oshawa to give Josh a chance to get out of his car seat and stretch his legs. He was having a bit of a meltdown in the car and the short break and fresh air seemed to do the trick. Books, toys and my silliness were entertaining enough to get him through the rest of the car trip.
After getting ourselves settled into our hotel room we headed out to a nearby restaurant for supper and then made our way down to the Falls. Josh seemed to enjoy watching the boats pass by but otherwise appeared unimpressed. Robb loves being at the Falls and admits that he could stand there all day.
The next day we went to Marineland - which was in essence the whole reason for the trip to Niagara Falls...Robb wanted to take Josh to Marineland. Marineland was alright. The admission was a bit pricey but Josh sure did enjoy getting close to, and feeding the animals. By about 1pm Josh had reached his tolerance for Marineland and it was clear that it was time to go. He was tired and clearly he had enough fun. We packed ourselves back into the car and made our way to Oshawa where we would spend the rest of our trip. And not a moment too soon...shortly after leaving Marineland it started pouring rain.
My Grandma and my Dad both live in Oshawa and my sister lives in Ajax, which isn't too far away. We spent the rest of the week with family which is always nice. The weather wasn't fantastic but we made the best of it and luckily the day we chose to go to the Toronto Zoo was [I think] the only rain-free day. We went to the zoo on July 1st (Canada Day) so it was pretty busy there. We got there early though - like right when it opened so we managed to miss a lot of the crowds. As we were making our way to the exit later in the day we had noticed that it was considerably more crowded.
Josh really enjoyed the zoo - as we knew he would. He loves animals and every new exhibit we came to he got so excited. Heck he even got excited for the seagulls. But of course around midday he starts to get tired, cranky and whiny. So shortly after lunch we decided to call it a day and made our way out of the park.
Going away on mini-vacations is fun and spending time with family is great, especially when you don't get to see them that often, but it's always nice to be back at home. The travelling and the interruption to your day-to-day routine can be exhausting. Thankfully Robb and I both had another week off work so we got to spend some great family time together - just the three of us.
Again, the weather was very disappointing - lots of rain - but we got out when we could. We took Josh to feed the ducks (and geese) one day and got him out to the park as often as we could. And of course Robb went off fishing a few times through the week. Overall it was a very quiet, relaxing week and there's nothing wrong with that.
The next few weeks will be busy. We still have quite a bit of packing to do and there's a few appointments scattered through the next few weeks. Today I have a ISP (Individualized Service Plan) meeting at OCTC. I haven't been to one of these meetings yet so I'm not sure what to expect but it involves myself and all of Josh's therapists. So PT, OT and his speech therapist will all be there as will Dr. Ponesse which is Josh's child development specialist. I guess we all sit around and talk about Josh...where he's at, where we want to go from here and address any concerns. Should be interesting.
On Wednesday I have my 18 week ultrasound so this is the one where they, among other things, take the first detailed look at the baby's heart. I'm a little anxious but trying not to dwell on it. I know the chances that this baby will have a heart problem are low but I can't help the anxiety. Hopefully all goes well and I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Thanks for checking in!
Friday, June 26, 2009
We Survived Another Haircut
I took Josh to get his haircut this afternoon before we leave for our trip on Sunday and it went surprisingly well. He had to sit in my lap and he did make it clear that he wasn't happy but after a few tears he just sat quietly on my lap and allowed his hair to be cut. It was awesome...a truly pleasant hair-cutting experience - the first since his ear was cut in November. Hopefully this is a turning point and his haircuts will just get easier and easier.
Looks like tomorrow is set to be a busy day as we pack and prepare for our trip. Well actually, I'll be busy - Robb is actually up in North Bay right now on a fishing trip with a friend (bass season opens tomorrow) and he won't be home until tomorrow night. Geez, I guess he planned that one out pretty well :)
Thanks for checking in and I'll post another update when we get back from our trip.
Looks like tomorrow is set to be a busy day as we pack and prepare for our trip. Well actually, I'll be busy - Robb is actually up in North Bay right now on a fishing trip with a friend (bass season opens tomorrow) and he won't be home until tomorrow night. Geez, I guess he planned that one out pretty well :)
Thanks for checking in and I'll post another update when we get back from our trip.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
8 Wonderful Years
It's hard to believe, but today is our 8 year wedding anniversary. It seems that the time has just flown by but I have enjoyed every minute. I'd post pictures from our wedding day but I don't have any digital copies and our scanner has been packed away, as have our wedding pictures -- so no luck there.
All is well on our end. It has been and will continue be a busy week what with Father's Day on Sunday, our anniversary today as well as preparing for our summer vacation next week. We don't have any major vacation plans but we will be going to Niagara Falls, ON on Sunday for one day and then to Toronto for the remainder of the week. We're really looking forward to the trip and I think we will all have a lot of fun, although I am interested to see how Josh will handle the 6 hour car ride to Niagara Falls. I am hoping I will be able to keep him entertained.
Since I can't deliver on the wedding pics I will leave with a picture of Josh so that this isn't another boring, picture-less post. This is a picture of Josh with his 2009 CHEO bear. The CHEO telethon was held a few weeks ago and a record-breaking 6.1 million dollars was raised for the hospital. It was certainly a successful telethon and I was quite impressed with the amount of attention CHD's were given. The more awareness that can be raised the better.
All is well on our end. It has been and will continue be a busy week what with Father's Day on Sunday, our anniversary today as well as preparing for our summer vacation next week. We don't have any major vacation plans but we will be going to Niagara Falls, ON on Sunday for one day and then to Toronto for the remainder of the week. We're really looking forward to the trip and I think we will all have a lot of fun, although I am interested to see how Josh will handle the 6 hour car ride to Niagara Falls. I am hoping I will be able to keep him entertained.
Since I can't deliver on the wedding pics I will leave with a picture of Josh so that this isn't another boring, picture-less post. This is a picture of Josh with his 2009 CHEO bear. The CHEO telethon was held a few weeks ago and a record-breaking 6.1 million dollars was raised for the hospital. It was certainly a successful telethon and I was quite impressed with the amount of attention CHD's were given. The more awareness that can be raised the better.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
A Date With Cardiology
Just a quick post to let you all know that Josh is doing well. He's staying healthy and seems to be finally putting on some weight. I haven't had him weighed recently but it seems like he's starting to put some meat on his bones...he doesn't seem quite a skinny as he used to a month or two ago.
I received a phone call from the Cardiology dept. at CHEO on Thursday and Josh's Cardiology follow-up has been booked for July 23. This will include a non-sedated echo, an ECG and then an appointment with Dr. Gow. I was surprised to hear that Dr. Gow had asked for a non-sedated echo. I'm all for not sedating Josh if we don't have to but I'll be very surprised if Josh will willing lay on the bed for the 45min. to 1 hour that's needed to complete the echo, never mind having to let a stranger put goop on his chest and slide a wand all around in the process. Yeah, I don't see that going over too well. But we'll see. Maybe he will surprise me.
I'm looking forward to getting this echo behind us and hopefully having the ability to go another year before his next follow-up. I'll be sure to keep you posted on how it goes.
I received a phone call from the Cardiology dept. at CHEO on Thursday and Josh's Cardiology follow-up has been booked for July 23. This will include a non-sedated echo, an ECG and then an appointment with Dr. Gow. I was surprised to hear that Dr. Gow had asked for a non-sedated echo. I'm all for not sedating Josh if we don't have to but I'll be very surprised if Josh will willing lay on the bed for the 45min. to 1 hour that's needed to complete the echo, never mind having to let a stranger put goop on his chest and slide a wand all around in the process. Yeah, I don't see that going over too well. But we'll see. Maybe he will surprise me.
I'm looking forward to getting this echo behind us and hopefully having the ability to go another year before his next follow-up. I'll be sure to keep you posted on how it goes.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Life's Unexpected Surprises
Wow! Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post. Things have been pretty busy around here and I just haven't found the time to sit down and post.
Josh is doing well these days....keeping healthy and enjoying some play time at the park (at least on the days when the weather cooperates). Our weather the last few weeks hasn't been great - cooler temperatures and quite a bit a rain. The rest of this week is looking better. Still a bit on the cool side but lots of sunshine which is always good.
Josh saw his speech therapist a couple weeks ago and I'm happy to report that Josh is finally making some progress with his consonant sounds. We are starting to hear more and more consonants in his babbling and he's making some pretty serious attempts at repeating words that he hears. I'm very pleased with the progress that he has made as was his therapist. When his speech did not improve between appointments in February and March I think his therapist was a little concerned...perhaps giving serious consideration to the possibility that he had apraxia of speech - meaning he knows what he wants to say but has a motor planning issue where he can't figure out how to control the muscles of his mouth to say the words. She had brought up that possibility before but he is still too young to make that diagnosis. At any rate with the progress that he has made in the last few weeks apraxia isn't looking likely in our case - Yay!
There's not much else to report on Mr. Josh....he has a cardiology appointment coming up soon but nothing has been booked yet. He's due this month for his echo, ECG and general follow up with his cardiologist but I just called this morning and Dr. Gow is running about a month behind - which is exactly what I expected. Sadly pediatric cardiologists are far too busy.
I always get a little anxious when cardiology follow-ups roll around. It's that dreaded fear that a complication has developed. I don't expect that they'll identify any problems outside of some minor leaking at the valve and mildly increased pulmonary pressures (issues identified last June) but I can't help but worry. It's always something in the back of mind as it is for all heart moms I'm sure.
Okay so now on to other family news and an explanation for why we have been so busy lately. We have been busy looking for a new place to live. We have long since outgrown our small space and with some recent developments it has come to the point where it's time to move into something bigger.
Just before Easter a couple of months ago we learned that we are expecting another baby. It wasn't exactly planned and it caught us a little off guard, but we are very happy and very much looking forward to welcoming a new child into our home.
Naturally there's a little extra anxiety with this pregnancy concerning CHD and whether or not this child will be heart healthy. My OB knows Josh's history and will be sure to get a thorough look at this child's heart be it via ultrasounds or a fetal echo.
The pregnancy is progressing well so far. I'm 12 weeks right now and though the nausea and exhaustion are still ever so present they seem to have eased up a bit which is always a good thing. I'm certainly looking forward to the second trimester.
Our search for a new place is now over and we'll be moving in August....which is perfect. It will give Josh lots of time to settle into the new place before the baby arrives in December.
I guess that gets you up to date with all that has been going on here. Thanks for checking in!
Josh is doing well these days....keeping healthy and enjoying some play time at the park (at least on the days when the weather cooperates). Our weather the last few weeks hasn't been great - cooler temperatures and quite a bit a rain. The rest of this week is looking better. Still a bit on the cool side but lots of sunshine which is always good.
Josh saw his speech therapist a couple weeks ago and I'm happy to report that Josh is finally making some progress with his consonant sounds. We are starting to hear more and more consonants in his babbling and he's making some pretty serious attempts at repeating words that he hears. I'm very pleased with the progress that he has made as was his therapist. When his speech did not improve between appointments in February and March I think his therapist was a little concerned...perhaps giving serious consideration to the possibility that he had apraxia of speech - meaning he knows what he wants to say but has a motor planning issue where he can't figure out how to control the muscles of his mouth to say the words. She had brought up that possibility before but he is still too young to make that diagnosis. At any rate with the progress that he has made in the last few weeks apraxia isn't looking likely in our case - Yay!
There's not much else to report on Mr. Josh....he has a cardiology appointment coming up soon but nothing has been booked yet. He's due this month for his echo, ECG and general follow up with his cardiologist but I just called this morning and Dr. Gow is running about a month behind - which is exactly what I expected. Sadly pediatric cardiologists are far too busy.
I always get a little anxious when cardiology follow-ups roll around. It's that dreaded fear that a complication has developed. I don't expect that they'll identify any problems outside of some minor leaking at the valve and mildly increased pulmonary pressures (issues identified last June) but I can't help but worry. It's always something in the back of mind as it is for all heart moms I'm sure.
Okay so now on to other family news and an explanation for why we have been so busy lately. We have been busy looking for a new place to live. We have long since outgrown our small space and with some recent developments it has come to the point where it's time to move into something bigger.
Just before Easter a couple of months ago we learned that we are expecting another baby. It wasn't exactly planned and it caught us a little off guard, but we are very happy and very much looking forward to welcoming a new child into our home.
Naturally there's a little extra anxiety with this pregnancy concerning CHD and whether or not this child will be heart healthy. My OB knows Josh's history and will be sure to get a thorough look at this child's heart be it via ultrasounds or a fetal echo.
The pregnancy is progressing well so far. I'm 12 weeks right now and though the nausea and exhaustion are still ever so present they seem to have eased up a bit which is always a good thing. I'm certainly looking forward to the second trimester.
Our search for a new place is now over and we'll be moving in August....which is perfect. It will give Josh lots of time to settle into the new place before the baby arrives in December.
I guess that gets you up to date with all that has been going on here. Thanks for checking in!
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