Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Then came her due date...

..and then went her due date.

A week later we wentback to the doctor to check in. They did an ultrasound (again) and estimated her at 9 lbs 6 0z. and since Cristy's amniotic fluid was low, they decided it was time for us to go to the hospital.

Medications, more medications, lets wait an hour, oh, that looks good, lets wait another 2 hours, hey not bad, lets push for a couple of hours...long story short, 32 hours later they decided on a c-section. (many hours after Cristy thought it was time, it should be said).

Then, in very short order, we had our beautiful baby, Mirabel Alice. Not quite 9 lbs but 8 lbs 11 oz. and 21 inches long. Crying and pink.
They checked her out, wrapped her up, put her chubby little cheeks next to Cristy so she could get a kiss and they whisked her away to the NICU.
They had to sedate her for her first cardiac echo because she kicked the tech.
After that she was deemed healthy enough to stay at the hospital until Mommy got to leave so Mommy and Daddy got lots of baby time and lots of pictures and talked about who she looks like...Mommy says I look like Liev Schreiber in this one...
Daddy thinks Mommy has some explaining to do...just kidding.

More Ultrasounds





Sunday, November 23, 2008


20 weeks





Much clearer, but not un-alien like.

This is when we first found out about her heart condition.  We've gone through a few different diagnoses but here is what she has...

Hypoplastic Left Ventricle - Her left ventricle is very small

Ventricular Inversion - The bottom chambers of her heart are swapped.  Left of the right and right on the left.  This is why her original diagnoses was Hypoplastic Right Heart.

Double Outlet Right Ventricular - Both her arteries come off of the same ventricule

Ventricular Septal Defect - A hole connecting the bottom chambers of her heart.  

Her first surgery will be about a week after she's born and is called the Norwood Procedure.
Ultimately leading to her third surgery when she's 2-4 years old called the Fontan.

I know this is all a bit overwhelming, but best to get it out of the way so I can start posting all the adorable pictures we have only begun to take.

First sight

This is Mirabel as we first saw her.  Just 10 weeks old.  It's kind of like that photo of Bigfoot.  Fuzzy, black-and-white, but it's all we had.

We are going to use this page to keep everyone updated on her progress, but bare with us, we are kind of stressed, I mean she's only 4 days old and this is all new to us.