Eli's Story...

If you've noticed it has been awhile since I've last posted. And by now many of you know why. And for those who don't... here's Eli's story.

Wednesday, April 14th I kissed my kids goodbye as I ran out of the house at 4:30 in the afternoon for a routine OB exam. At the exam the midwife became very concerned about the speed of Eli's heart rate. She walked me over to Labor and Delivery where I was placed on monitors for a little while to hear his heart beating. A heart rate in the range of 230- 240 bpm sounds a lot like a horse running down a cobblestone road. It also will get very serious looks from every nurse and doctor that walks into the room.... serious and scared looks.

Shortly after 6 pm they had contacted the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland and were preparing me for transport via ambulance. At this point all I could think about was what to do with my kids so that Bryant could join me at the hospital in Maryland. Thankfully, after one phone call to a good friend, arrangements were made and the kids were taken care of.

Thankfully by the time of transport, the traffic was moving well around DC and we got there safely and in reasonable timing. The staff at NNMC Bethesda were wonderful. All night I was highly monitored with ultrasounds at various hours and constant monitoring of Eli's heart rate. Everything appeared to be perfectly healthy with Eli with the exception of an extremely fast heart rate. The next morning we met with a Pediatric Cardiologist who looked at Eli's heart with fine details and diagnosed him with having an Atrial Flutter. This could be brought back to normal by treating me with heart medication, therefor passing it to the baby and bringing his heart back to a sinus rhythm. Just in case his heart went into failure however, I was given steroids to quickly develop his lungs in case of an emergency delivery. Thursday evening I began Sotalol, heart medication and by Friday night they upped the dosage. On Saturday, the medication began to show signs of improvement for Eli. While I was extremely nervous about taking heart medication myself, when my heart was perfectly healthy, I showed no signs of an unhealthy reaction to the medication. And by Monday there was talk of me going home on Tuesday (today).

While all of this was occurring at the hospital, my mother, Bryant's mother and his sister had drove down to Virginia from New York on Thursday and were caring for the children. Bryant had already notified work and will be returning next week. We had no idea what the outcome would be upon arrival to the hospital on Wednesday night and until yesterday afternoon, the statement from the doctors wasn't "when" I'ld be going home, but "if" I would be going home. If there were any signs of heart failure for Eli at any point then the only option would have been delivery. Knowing this, plans were also in process for our children to return to NY with their grandma's if improvements weren't showing by Monday. Thankfully, God provided and our goal now is for Eli to stay in utero for as long as possible.

So, that is Eli's story. It is not over though.... please pray as we have 8 more weeks until I reach full term pregnancy. Until then, we will be making trips twice weekly for monitoring in Bethesda. There will be lots of driving and schedule rearranging but, we are so thankful for this facility and the wonderful doctors there. And so thankful that I am able to be home with my family. The kids were so excited today when I came home, but very sad to see their grandma's go back home. It truly was wonderful that they were able to make it down with last minute plans. Please pray for Eli's heart (and my own) during these next several weeks, that God will keep him safe and healthy. I will be on the heart medication until Eli is born and Eli's treatment after birth will be determined at that time by the Pediatric Cardiologist. I am happy to say that when the monitors and EKG's where unattached today and I was able to get out of bed and walk around the hospital room, that Eli's heart rate was in the 120's bpm. That sure sounds much nicer than the 240's.