It's fitting, I think, that we begin this new blog with a post about a new life. Our family welcomed Ella Cate Dees into the world on Thursday, May 1, 2008. Ella Cate was born a few weeks early, but all seemed to be fine upon her arrival. Immediately after her delivery, we realized that we had just witnessed a MIRACLE! The doctor informed us that Laura had developed an issue in her womb, that if we had not delivered when we did, We could have had a disasterous situation on our hands. It's entirely possible that if our doctor would not have decided to take Ella Cate when he did, we could have had a still birth. We fully believe that God impressed upon our doctor's heart the need to deliver her on this day. Thank you Lord for that!
On friday, May 2, 2008, while doing her routine checks on Ella Cate, the neonatologist informed us that she heard a substantial murmer while listening to Ella Cate's heartbeat. She came to us and told us that they were going to run an Echocardiogram to see exactly what was causing the murmer. Upon getting the results of the first Echo, we found out that Ella Cate had a mild coarctation of the aorta as well as aortic stenosis. The coarctation means that one of the main veins coming from her heart, sending blood to all parts of her body, has a narrowing in one spot obstructing smooth bloodflow. Aortic stenosis involves a valve that is thicker than it should be, resulting in a smaller than normal amount of bloodflow. We were also told that there was another blood vessel or vein called a ductus, that was supposed to close within three days of birth, hadn't closed yet. The ductus closing is a process that is normal in all newborns. They were concerned though that when Ella Cate's ductus closed, that she might have symptoms that she wasn't getting enough bloodflow or perhaps she could even go into cardiac arrest. The next 24-72 hours were going to be critical. Because of this, they decided to move Ella Cate from the well-baby nursery to NICU so that they could closely monitor her.
On friday, May 2, 2008, while doing her routine checks on Ella Cate, the neonatologist informed us that she heard a substantial murmer while listening to Ella Cate's heartbeat. She came to us and told us that they were going to run an Echocardiogram to see exactly what was causing the murmer. Upon getting the results of the first Echo, we found out that Ella Cate had a mild coarctation of the aorta as well as aortic stenosis. The coarctation means that one of the main veins coming from her heart, sending blood to all parts of her body, has a narrowing in one spot obstructing smooth bloodflow. Aortic stenosis involves a valve that is thicker than it should be, resulting in a smaller than normal amount of bloodflow. We were also told that there was another blood vessel or vein called a ductus, that was supposed to close within three days of birth, hadn't closed yet. The ductus closing is a process that is normal in all newborns. They were concerned though that when Ella Cate's ductus closed, that she might have symptoms that she wasn't getting enough bloodflow or perhaps she could even go into cardiac arrest. The next 24-72 hours were going to be critical. Because of this, they decided to move Ella Cate from the well-baby nursery to NICU so that they could closely monitor her.
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