Ultrasound Update, Week 30

The short story is: Not much change. Eli is still growing, right on target. The best news is that the left ventricle is still growing, as well. Often, in a case like this, the right ventricle continues to grow and the left begins to fade away. Eli's heart is still growing at the same ratio. That is: the left ventricle is still only half the size it should be. But it's not going backwards.

We're learning more heart anatomy with every visit. We already knew the mitral valve was too small, which is the cause of the underdeveloped left ventricle. We've also learned the other opening that's too small is the patent foramen ovale. This is the opening in the heart that, while the baby is in the womb, allows blood to bypass the lungs, since they aren't in use yet. Once the baby is born, increased blood pressure and the use of the lungs naturally closes this opening permanently. Right now, and immediately following birth, Eli needs that opening to stay open. Because of this, it is expected that he will be transported to CHCC and into surgery immediately following birth, so they can use a balloon catheter to open that channel up. This channel's status will remain our primary concern until they can open it up.

At this point, we're still expecting to need the entire 3-stage Fontan procedure. While the left ventricle is still developing, it still appears it will never be large enough. Because of this, Eli's condition will be treated as if the left ventricle simply wasn't there at all, just like full fledged HLHS.

What to pray for:

1. Continued development of the mitral valve and left ventricle
2. Increased growth in the patent foramen ovale (PFO)
3. That we can be bold with our faith to everyone in this process

Our next ultrasound is January 8, 2009.