Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
On Monday May 21st 2018 Marcella Alania Aviles was born. She made her grand entrance at 6:01 PM weighing in at 6 lbs. 5.2 oz and measuring 16.75" long. From the beginning we knew that she was going to be loved by many and steal the heart of everyone she met. Soon after her birth, she was diagnosed with Congenital Heart Disease, with multiple heart abnormalities having been discovered in her first few short hours of life.
As parents, there are no words to describe how we felt, and no amount of time to prepare for this news would have been sufficient. However, we were aware from pregnancy that heart issues may arise, reason being - in utero, Marcella had a two vessel umbilical cord. Most babies' umbilical cords have three blood vessels: one vein, which brings nutrients from the placenta to baby, and two arteries that bring waste back to the placenta. But a two-vessel cord has just one vein and one artery, and can be linked to heart and kidney issues. In the womb, Marcella received fetal echo-cardiograms several times to view the anatomy of her heart. From the initial sonogram, it was determined there was a "left/right discrepancy" where the left ventricle was smaller in size than the right ventricle. Each echo was completed to allow the cardiologist, Dr. Holly Nadorlik, to rule out different factors which could have caused this left/right discrepancy. Dr. Nadorlik could not view the aorta to make any determination in utero if there were abnormalities. We were aware that because of this, upon birth an echo would have to be done to see the full development of Marcella's heart. And after Marcella was born, was when her journey (and ours) began, which is what we would like to share. Please continue on to our journal entries and gallery to view updates, pictures and leave support for us in the form of comments. We love you all and appreciate your support and encouragement during our journey.
