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I have been thinking about sharing our current pregnancy for awhile.
Kel, the boys, and I found out this summer over cooking some sausage🤢🤢 that we were having a new baby. We are so excited and continue to be so excited. We had been wanting one more and had done a lot of questioning through our doctors over the past 4 years and felt that I could carry pretty much full term with a little help from them. So, we were ready for this! Around 12 weeks I had a procedure that would hopefully ensure and gives us some peace of mind through my pregnancy. That all went great and is continuing to do its job. 🤗🙏🏻 Throughout all this we had been enjoying privately sharing with friends and family as we talked to them or saw them....well in all honesty the boys were screaming it every chance they could get, like to pontoons of friends pulling up at the beach in front of the cabin...😂😂😂
At our 20 week ultrasound, they had some trouble getting good pictures of some of baby’s organs, so a week later I had another ultrasound performed. During this ultrasound, I thought to be routine, they detected what they thought was a congenital heart defect. So, we began the journey we are currently on. The following week, I saw a fetal medicine specialist who confirmed the diagnosis of Tricuspid Atresia. The following day, we were able to see the pediatric cardiologist, who squeezed us in on his trip to Bismarck. We were so thankful to be able see him and hopefully gain more understanding of what we were dealing with. We also found out that this happens relatively sporadically and there isn’t something you did or didn’t do, because of course I was asking these things.
We knew, basically right away, after the initial ultrasound detected a CHD that we would not be delivering here in North Dakota if this condition was confirmed. After seeing the fetal med specialist and the pediatric cardiologist we began to see our plan for our baby form. We also knew it was most likely going to have lots of moving parts and be messy. That being said, Kel and I are both task oriented and were feeling much better(more prepared) with a plan coming together.
Well, this really brings me to where we are right now. Next week, we will go down to the University of Minnesota to meet the team of doctors, nurses, and surgeons that will be handling our sweet baby.
We recently found out by accident due to all of our testing and ultrasounds that our sweet baby is a girl. The boys and I are very excited. Both boys were more than happy to be getting a sister and Kel gets his little girl to spoil(😂), as if our boys aren’t ha!
What we know right now is that I will be relocating to the cities sometime between January and February as we wait for my delivery. After delivery, she will undergo her first of what sounds like a series of three surgeries.
This basically describes our baby’s condition and the procedures she will have.
https://kidshealth.org/en/Parents/tricuspid-atresia.html We are so thankful for the friends and family that we have behind us. Kel’s parents are able to and willing.....🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻to move here while I am away to try to keep some stability and normalcy for our boys. Kel is going to fly back and forth to maximize his time between home, baby and me, and continuing to work as much as possible. My parents and family are going to step in however they can to help out Bob and Joyce. We have Kels brother and SIL Doug and Ingrid and my aunt/uncle Julie and Jeff in and around the cities, along with other friends.
So, we are just asking for lots of extra prayers for our sweet baby, us, and of course our boys as we navigate this next journey(kel lovingly calls it our new kelly and Tristen adventure-making reference to the fact that we seem to take the more complicated, long way around).
🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄🙏🏻🎄
Sending Love and Blessings this Christmas Season!
Tristen
