Hi to you our Caring bridge family.. We have another little one due the very end of Aug! And we are excited! This one kinda surprised us.. ;) For those of you who don't know us.. We are Philip and Lana Ensz from Pecos, Tx. We have 3 boys. Micah Todd is 6 and in 1st grade, Shane Alan was born in Dec. of '11 and was 8 months old when he left us to go be with Jesus, and Kaden Adil is 21 months.
We have had quite a 'life' lately.. Can't remember much before Thurs. the 14th of April.. But I want to tell you how i'd been feeling about life before then.. On the way to San Antonio I'd told Phil, 'Life is so full/good. I love the life we're living.. I'm living.. So happy with my husband, my boys, we're so excited about this baby, life is just good!' We had taken a load of hay close to SA, then spent the night. In the morn we went to 'our' hospital to see all our old friends. We walked down to the river for lunch then went to University Hospital where the heart team moved after we left. We wanted Dr. Maldonado, cardiologist, to take a peek at this baby n tell us all was well- just like it was with Kaden! I don't know that we had any qualms besides the normal, 'I'll be glad when this is over feeling'.. Well she sat down after commenting on the very good pictures she got and said, 'Guys, I'm worried'. Then she went on to tell us that this baby has something called AV Canal or AVSD. If you look it up it is complete, not partial. The way I understand it, is that most of the heart is normal but the walls/valves in the middle of the heart that make up the four chambers are missing.. If all is well otherwise, the baby should be fine till 6 months old and then will need open heart surgery to patch up the missing places. That should be the only surgery the baby will need.. Around 50% of Downs Syndrom babies have this heart defect so there is a question if maybe this baby has Downs.. Other then the defect, we have no reason to wonder or think the baby has it.. We're thinking about having the Downs test done.. They would like me to deliver in SA since Pecos is a small town hospital and offers no Nicu or Cardiac services really.. We completely understand and maybe even agree? with them.. But I want to deliver here with all our friends and have it be at least one normal part of this all! A Downs baby instantly makes your pregnancy high risk, the way i understand it and also puts you at risk for preterm labor. So if this baby does not have Downs then maybe they'll let me deliver here..?? One big/good reason to find out. Some of the nurses also went to University when the hospital changed hands and the heart team moved. The ones that were working and the ones of the team that were there that day, rallied around us.. Wonderful people.. Dr Husain actually had been gone overnight to the Valley (Laredo area) checking on moms and babies down there but he flew back in just after we got the news. Maldonado text'd him the news and he made it to the hospital before we left. It is a blessing to already know these people who will walk the road with us, you all included..
Shanes site- caringbridge.org/visit/shaneensz (
http://caringbridge.org/visit/shaneensz)
