So Thursday was my appointment for my fetal ECG. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was quite certain I was going to be sick prior to the appointment, but I managed to hold it together. Linda took me for the appointment because Mike has proven that he can't be trusted. My appointment was set for 1:30 PM and the good news was I didn't have to drink vast amounts of water before I arrived, thank goodness. We actually arrived a few minutes late because while the instructions I had were correct the "you are here" map at the hospital was a little confusing and we ended up on the wrong floor. So we arrive and I'm taken in right away. The technician asks me a bunch of questions regarding my health, Abby's health and so on and then I get to lie down. Nothing to look at on the ceiling here either, but at least since I'm having this test done in Pediatric Cardiology there's lots of funs things on the walls to look at. There's also a TV/VCR off the the side, but I wasn't much interested in watching Barney.
The actual examination begins at 1:45 and the technician warns me that while she will be doing the fetal ECG the Pediatric Cardiologist that I will see when she finishes her exam will also do her own fetal ECG because she likes to take her own pictures. Ummmm so why doesn't the Pediatric Cardiologist just do the test herself? Seems like a waste of man power to me, but what do I know. So the exam starts and am I in for a treat....... warm ultrasound jelly. You know the stuff I'm talking about, they usually just squirt a huge freezing cold glob of it on your belly. Warm is definitley the way to go. So there I lie in a darkened room with warm jelly on my stomach and the various machines playing their soothing white noise and I drifted off to sleep. I'd wake up in a minute or two and before long drift off again. Whether the technician noticed or not I don't kow, she never said anything to me about it if she did. She was concentrating to the job at hand pretty hard, so there's a good chance she hadn't noticed. During the times I was awake I can easily tell by the almost non-stop movement of the ultrasound wand and the baby's hearty kicks that she's not having an easy time getting the pictures she needs to get. So after what seems like an eternity the technician steps outside to let me "rest" (maybe she did notice) and to confer with the Doctor.
After about 10ish minutes the technician returns with the Doctor and she proceeds with her own exam. Now the baby was restless before and now it's just plain irritated. The Doctor's finds the whole thing pretty amusing and laughs everytime she gets a picture lined up only to have Baby shift it's position. The Doctor, unlike the technician, chattered away to me while she was doing the exam, so no napping this time around. The first thing she said to me was, "Oh she's very active." SHE??? The Docotor refers to the baby as a girl a few more times in the next couple of minutes and then she asks me, "oh do you know whatyou're having?" I'm thinking to myself, no did you just tell me?
Doctor: Well I'm only looking at the baby's heart and girls and boys hearts look the same, so I don't know what you're having. I don't want you leaving here saying oh the Doctor said I was having a girl.
From then on she tried to be more careful about saying he or she. So the appointment progressed... forever and was finally over at 3:15 PM. It took an hour and a half to get pictures of heart. That's one camera shy kid I have in there. Linda was having a panic attack in the waiting room I was gone so long. When you're sitting there waiting not knowing what's going on you just assume it has to be bad news. Especially when you wait as long as Linda did. Good news, you would think, would be quicker.
Now how did the test turn out? The short answer is fine. Long answer is there is nothing major wrong with the baby. Currently there are two openings in the heart that at this time are supposed to be there. They should close by birth, if by some *slight* chance they do not, it would only require minor surgery to repair. The test is not sensitive enough to see any tiny holes, only large ones. There are no large holes, which is what Abby had, a rather large hole that miraculously closed itself. There is a *slight* chance of there being a tiny hole(s), but in all likelihood they would just leave those alone. In fact after Abby's large hole had closed the Docotor's discovered that she had two tiny pinprick holes in her heart as well. With the transfer of fluid between the chambers at the time of her first ECG's the two tiny holes weren't noticeable. Once the fluid transfer had been stopped these tiny holes were found, but there are so tiny they are hardly visible on an ECG. They will cause her no distress or discomfort so they will stay as they are. So while everything looks good right now, they will check the baby's heart again when he/she is born and proceed from there.
We're very lucky that, if something happens to be wrong, we live so close to great children's hospitals. Our local hospital, where I'll have the baby is fantastic. The care we received when Abby was born and afterwards was just terrific. They kept us informed, calm and reassured through a very scary period. If Abby had required surgery she would have had it at Sick Kids in Toronto which is ranked 4th in the world for Children's hospitals. We had to take Abby there for her pre-surgery ECG. That was where we found out that her hole was closing on it's own and surgery wouldn't be required. It goes without saying that wonderful places like this need our support. So make your charitable donations to Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation or the SickKids Foundation.
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