Flara has been having a few problems lately... for the past couple of weeks, really. We had noticed that she had begun to breathe faster at spells, whether she was resting or playing. I kept a watchful eye on it, then began to notice that she was also using some extra muscles above her sternum and clavicles to breathe. To add to that, her hands and feet starting turning very blue and would go ice-cold. I asked the nurse practitioner about it the Wednesday we were in the office to have Noël checked out for a urinary tract infection, and she said we should call the cardiologist.
The very next day, Mike's Grandpa Veitz died, so we loaded into our truck and began the 26-hour long trek to North Dakota. During the week in Bismarck, we noticed she was having more blue spells, so we told ourselves that we would call as soon as we returned to Tennessee. We drove straight through on our return trip, so we basically slept the whole next day and forgot to call. We remembered the following day, so I called the cardiologist and told them what she was doing. Very concerned, I was told to come in for the very first visit of the day. Also, I was very seriously warned that if Flara did anything different or 'funny,' we were to go straight to the ER... no hesitating. A bit concerned, we tried to not get worked up until we saw the doctor, but we were mentally preparing for the possibility of heading to Nashville for Vanderbilt Hospital on a dime's notice.
Flara and I arrived at the cardiologist's at 0745, and were quickly taken back to her first test. She had a post-ductal blood pressure taken (left foot, after the blood has passed through the heart and lungs), and it was normal. Her EKG gave no indication of any additional stress on her heart, and her oxygen saturation was between 92 and 100. Next, we went in for her echo. The doctor immediately noticed that her ventricles were of normal size. Next, he looked at her pulmonary artery, and it was back to normal size from previously being enlarged. The extra fluid in her lungs was looking better, so he declared that her pulmonary hypertension was resolved. He looked at her PDA (that extra little blood vessel that helps the blood bypass the lungs in-utero that is still open in Flara), and it, too, was a teensy bit smaller. Last, he noted that although the hole between her atria was still of the same size, some fibrous bands were criss-crossing over the hole indicating that Flara's heart is attempting to repair itself!!!! He was really pleased with the results, and said that based on his findings and the overall appearance of her heart and lungs, he could officially say that she is no longer in heart failure! We are so, so, soooo thankful for that, and ultimately give all the thanks to God!
As far as the breathing issues and hands and feet, he said that it's not being caused by her heart. He said that she has sluggish circulation, and that's simply a problem of prematurity that will have to be outgrown... like all of those other difficulties. He said that her little lungs are still recovering from missing out on the entire third trimester to grow.
Next on our day was an already-scheduled follow-up appointment with Flara's brain and developmental specialist. I was a bit in odds about this as she is sometimes a bit scolding on needing to work harder. We went into this meeting with the whole crew, and the doc walked in looking very tired. She said she'd had a day of total screamers, and her nerves were certainly worn out. Yikes! But, she assessed Flara and was SUPER pleased with the progress our girl has made, so my new homework assignment turned out to be small. She showed us how to help Flara learn to sit up and how to really get up on her hands and knees for crawling, and then one last exercise to help her learn to move her legs forward to walk assisted. By pressing the one little sitting 'button' as she calls them, Flara sat for a whole 5 minutes! That was amazing! Then, as she showed me the crawling position, I realized that my homework from the last visit was being utilized with Flara just in a different position... simply building off the past. By the time we finished, the doctor was really praising both the girls for being "so lovely" and kept telling Mike and me how much she appreciated how the girls acted. =) Yippee! Both girls have been so tired from the North Dakota trip, I wasn't sure how the office visit would go.
In the end, Mike and I were super pleased with our day. What we were expecting to be a day of turmoil turned out to be a day of pleasantries and our thanking our wonderful Savior for all of the good news!
We are also thankful for everyone who called, texted, or Facebooked us, and the many prayers!
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