Earlier this year, we announced the impending arrival of our third child and first son, due in July 2017. For the first 34 weeks of the pregnancy everything seemed to go as planned. During what was supposed to be Mary's final ultra-sound in Midland, we were surprised to learn that there was an irregularity in the baby's heart. We quickly made arrangements at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, and learned a few weeks ago that our son has a rare congenital heart defect called Ebstein's Anomaly of the Tricuspid Valve (more info can be found here:
http://www.chop.edu/conditions-diseases/ebstein-s-anomaly-tricuspid-valve).
In short, people with Ebstein's can have a broad range of symptoms and treatments, and every child responds differently after birth. Mary and our daughters, Sally (4) and Kate (2), re-located to Houston for the final weeks of the pregnancy so that Mary can continue to be closely monitored by her doctors. We are blessed to have family in Houston and the excellent staff at Texas Children's told us that we will begin to refine a treatment plan in the days immediately following the baby's birth.
Currently, we are scheduled to induce labor on Wednesday, July 12, and we will be updating this site in the days and weeks following the baby's arrival. We are so thankful for all of our family, friends and co-workers who have offered support, assistance and prayers during this time so that Mary and the baby can receive treatment at the best children's cardiatric facility in the world. We pray that God will deliver us a healthy boy and help us find peace as we face the challenges and uncertainty in the period ahead.
Thank you again for your continued love and support.
Travis and Mary
