The praying begins...

Baby Annie went in for a routine weight check on Monday, October 25th.  While the doctor was giving a listen to her precious little heart, he noticed that she had a heart murmur.  Heart murmurs in babies are common and usually resolve themselves quickly... this is what they call an "innocent" heart murmur.  In order to rule out that it is not something more serious, the doctor wanted them to follow up at A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital with an ecocardiogram.  This is an ultrasound of the heart that would better be able to determine what it is that is going on. 

As any concerned parent would, they wanted to have this done as soon as they possibly could.  Needless to say, they took her in today... one day after finding out this troubling news. 

Unfortunately it turned out to be not such an "innocent" murmur after all.  Now, I am no doctor so please bear with me when I try to explain their findings...  Becca said that Annie has a narrowing in her aortic valve AND there is another part of the heart that has three strands and two of Annie's are fused together.  There is only one solution to this problem... surgery. 

Surgery, on their almost 3-week-old baby. 

I asked her if this was "common" in babies -- and she said that although open-heart surgery on a newborn is not common, they have seen babies for it and newborns usually do well with it.  Most cases the babies go on to live restriction-free lives, although she will forever have a cardiologist that will make sure things stay perfect.  The surgeon that they want to do the surgery happens to be in Japan right now, so the earliest they could have the surgery would be Friday.  They are thinking that it will be sometime early next week.

After an extremely emotional day and a half, Becca said she has managed to find some peace with the situation.  They are all situated in their room at the hospital where they will hopefully stay until after the surgery.  Becca said there was a chance that they might send her home in a few days and then she would return for the surgery, but her and Joe are really hoping to just stay and not have to go home.  I can only imagine there is much comfort in knowing that they are there with medical professionals.

So what can we do?  I asked Becca after a few concerned phone calls and messages and her response was this...

PRAY.  Please pray for Annie.

She did not give me a list of what to specifically pray for so I've compiled one myself... 

• uneventful few days until the actual surgery -- no additional problems
• wisdom for all the doctors and nurses that will be performing the surgery
• peace for Becca and Joe during this whole time
• that their faith in God would remain strong and they would not doubt
• a successful surgery
• quick recovery and complete restoration for their precious baby girl

I know her and Joe appreciate every prayer and thought as they go through this most difficult time.  I will give updates each time I hear from her on how Baby Annie is doing.  God bless.