On April 16, 2009 I delivered a 8 lb 16 oz 21 inches baby boy, Jordan Francis via c-section. My OB found meconium during the c-section, but luckily Jordan's APGAR was good. The night after his birth the nurses noticed that he was breathing rapidly and the doctor decided to place him in the NICU for observation. After a couple hours of being in the NICU the doctor decided to keep him there for further monitoring and tests. The did labs and a chest xray and it turned out that he might have had meconium aspiration pneumonia. While he was in the NICU, they heard he had a heart murmur, an echocardiogram was done and they saw a moderate sized VSD. The doctor said that he just needed a cardiologist follow up after he goes home from the NICU...little did we know that his VSD will affect us more than they initially thought. He stayed in the NICU for 3 1/2 weeks...battling the meconium aspiration pneumonia and at 2 weeks old his calcium dropped. It was actually the day before he was scheduled for discharge. Luckily, the great nurses at Kaiser Permanente Baldwin Park, CA NICU knew something wasn't right with Jordan and asked the doctor to do some labs. It turned out his calcium dropped to a really low level. At this point, the doctors felt there was something more going on than just his pneumonia and did a genetic test for DiGeorge Syndrome because of his CHD and he also had some renal issues (hydronephrosis with urine reflux) plus the hypocalcemia. We also had some feeding issues because Jordan wouldn't eat well. The nurses and I noticed that he fed very different. It was like he was gasping and gulping his milk and now I understand that it's all due to his CHD. Once they stabilized his calcium levels, we were discharged with several follow-ups. We got the results of the genetic testing about a week after he was discharged and it showed up with a deletion of the chromosome 22, which is indicative of DiGeorge Syndrome. I prepared myself for the news and took it full stride hoping that Jordan would only have the mild form of it. On November 24, 2009 after several echocardiograms and consults with our cardiologist, Dr. Brian Fagan, he decided that Jordan was not growing and he was falling below the growth curve. Dr. Fagan then decided it was best that we consult with the cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Cynthia Herrington at Children's Hospital Los Angeles for a VSD repair. We met with Dr. Herrington and she discussed the procedure and what to expect. The OHS was scheduled for January 6, 2010. I dreaded the new year because I knew it would mean that Jordan's OHS was just around the corner. I feared the worst. With many prayers, Jordan recovered very rapidly from his OHS with no complications. According to Dr. Herrington, the surgery went "beautifully." I was so glad. We just met with Dr. Fagan and we are gradually taking him off his Lasix and stopping the Enalapril. Jordan's CHD was corrected and he's doing well. He does have some catching up to do so far as his growth, but that will be done in no time. He eats much better and is so much alert. He has so much more energy compared to before. I do notice some developmental delay e.g. he doesn't sit up or hold his head yet , but I know he will reach those milestones a little later due to his DiGeorge Syndrome. Jordan is the angel in my life and I am so blessed to have him.
Thanks, Sonna, for emailing me this well written story and thanks for sharing with us!!
I feel blessed that other people that I have only "met" online are so willing to share with us, through my blog. God does wonderful things, doesn't he?
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