Our Sweet Emmett

Ok so I have a feeling this might get kind of long, so if you want to skip to the pictures, feel free.

I took Emmett in for his 1 week appointment and the Dr. heard a heart murmur. She said it very likely could be nothing, but that she is anal about this stuff and wanted Emmett to have an echocardiogram to get things checked out just to be safe.

2 days later I found myself in the Heart wing of the hospital sitting next to Emmett as he was getting his echo for about an hour. The poor tiny littl guy with all those sticky things hooked up to him. That was on a Wed. We heard back on Friday that Emmett indeed had a few things going on with his heart.

I guess there are several "holes" in babies hearts when they are in the womb that allow the blood to flow easier. These holes close up right around the time the baby is born. Well, Emmett had 2 of these holes that hadn't closed up yet. They said these are nothing to worry about, it is very common and most likely they would close up on their own eventually.

The third thing they found was what they call Pulmonary Stenosis. (If you want to know more you can google the condition.) The Pediatrician wanted us to meet with a Pediatric Cardiologist so that he could do some more tests and better explain what is going on with our little Emmett's heart.

One week later (today), I again found myself (this time with Nate in case the diagnosis was more than I could handle on my own) in the heart wing of the hospital watching Emmett receive his second echo. The doctor said that one of the "holes" has already closed up. He said the other one was still there but that is could take up to 2 years to close up.

He then confirmed that Emmett does have Pulmonary Stenosis. We got the best news we could with this diagnosis - that Emmett has a mild case of this condition. With a moderate or severe case, the child would most likely need surgery to correct the valve - but with a mild case, surgery is usually not needed. The pediatric Cardiologist wants to watch him closely over his first year - since babies change so much during that time he wants to make sure the stenosis doesn't worsen as Emmett grows.

We get to go back in for another echo in 2 weeks and then many more times during Emmett's first year of life and most likely every year or two for the rest of his life (to make sure there isn't too much stress on the right ventricle causing it to enlarge.)

All we can do now is hope and pray that his condition doesn't get worse, that it stays a mild case. I have to admit I feel VERY blessed that his condition isn't worse. There seem to be a million things that can go wrong with our beautiful little babies - all sorts of weird and awful things. I am truly grateful that Emmett's condition is what it is and isn't worse.

We have been blessed with great health with all of our children (and Nate and I included) that I can't complain too much about the little bump in the road of Emmett's health. I am forever amazed at and grateful for my FOUR beautiful and HEALTHY children. I am grateful for the joy they bring into our lives each and every day and I am so humbled to be their mother - these amazing little spirits that I can learn so much from.

We sure love our Emmett and we are excited to share him with each of you as soon as we get the chance to. He has blessed our lives immensly and we look forward to creating many wonderful memories with him in our lives.

Here is our PRECIOUS little NEWBORN....

I just love these mad pictures, they are just so cute when they are mad

I might be slightly biased, but isn't he just ADORABLE!!!! Amazing and so perfect (except the tiny imperfection in his heart)