Baby Kayden's Heart Condition
Hello Family and Friends, I am starting this blog post so that I can keep everyone informed on how baby Kayden is doing. On June 5th 2017 Jake and I were so excited to find out the sex of our baby so we could announce to everyone what we would be having at our gender reveal party. A BOY! Who we will be naming Kayden Keith Rudy.
Unfortunately at our ultrasound that checked all the organs to make sure they were functioning correctly and were the right size the Technician came across some areas of concern.
His first concern was that he could only find 3 chambers in Kayden's Heart and second that he could only see a Right Kidney. With the excitement of finding out later that night at our Gender party what we would be having Concern, fear, and a mountain of Emotions was also hovering over us. We were being directed to see a specialist at the IMC Murray Hospital to find out more about what was going on with Kayden's heart and Kidneys. Unfortunately everything in healthcare seems to take time and the soonest we could get in was 2 weeks later.
Finally after 2 weeks we went to our appointment at Maternal Fetal medicine in IMC on June 19th ready to find out exactly what was going on. our appointment lasted 2 hours and they did a complete ultrasound of Kayden and all his organs once again to rule out any other possible syndromes he might have. Everything looked great except for there was no left Kidney. It looked to the doctor that Kayden's Right kidney was formed correctly and was functioning well, but that the left was attached to the right and had not fully developed. The doctor had no concern for there only being one kidney and informed us that many babies are born with only one kidney and you only need one to live.
The Doctor looked at the heart last and again confirmed that Kayden only had 3 chambers in his heart. The Left side of his heart had not developed properly. We were then refereed to see a cardiologist at the University of Utah to look more closely at Kayden's heart to confirm diagnosis of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) which at this point the doctor was certain this was what was wrong with Kayden's heart but a specialist could give more in depth knowledge of his situation and also allow for help to know what steps needed to be taken at birth.
We are waiting for a call from the Cardiologist at the university of Utah to make an appointment and hope the call and appointment are sooner then later. I am transferring all prenatal care to IMC until I deliver. Once I go into labor I will go to the University of Utah to give birth and Kayden will be taken directly to Primary Children's NICU ( which is right next door to the U) Where he will stay until he has his first surgery. The information we get from the cardiologist will determine how soon the surgery will take place after birth, but we are expecting within the first week of Kayden's life if not within the first few days depending on how stable he is. Without this surgery Kayden would have no chance at surviving due to the part of his heart that Is responsible for getting oxygen from the lungs and taking it to the heart not being developed correctly. While he is in the womb this is no problem due to the fact that he receives oxygen from me via the umbilical cord. There is a part in the heart that does not close in babies until after they are born which closes within the first two days of life. Kayden will have to be on a medication to keep that spot in his heart open until he has the surgery because once that spot closes he will not be able to get the oxygen he needs to his body that is why surgery shortly after birth is so critical.
This is a lot to digest I know, but Jake and I know that God has a plan for everything and we have faith that everything will happen the way God intends it to. We sometimes have trials in this life that we are unsure if we can endure them, but I know that as we endure them and have faith those trials can strengthen us. We just have to allow them to. We believe that Kayden is strong and although his first weeks/months on this earth may be difficult we belief he is strong enough to endure all obstacles faced before him. He is very loved and we know he is going to be one special boy that we cannot wait to meet! We thank everyone for the prayers that have been said in Kayden's and our behalf and want everyone to know how appreciative we are to have such support and love. We will continue to update everyone through this Blog as we receive information concerning Kayden.
On A more happy and positive note :) Kayden weighs 1 pound and I am 23 weeks along with him. He kicks me all the time! Especially when I'm trying to go to sleep. I always want to eat Ice cream no matter what kind (which I never really liked any ice cream except vanilla before I was pregnant) and I cannot get enough Orange Juice. My belly continues to surprise me with how much it can grow but I love knowing that Kayden is growing! Below is a picture of Kayden today. I'm pretty sure he is going to have Jakes nose :)
