(Originally posted on 10/31/12)
Casey and I want to let you know the latest about our little Elliot. We are still processing it all but if you have questions about what we are going through or LCDH please ask us. We are still in the process of learning as much as we can and your questions will help us do so.
Four weeks ago we went to an ultrasound to determine the gender of our baby. During the ultrasound they weren’t able to get all of the pictures and measurements that they wanted because he was measuring two weeks small for his age and was not cooperating (he kept hiding his face and moving all around.) Because of this we scheduled a follow up ultrasound for a week ago Thursday.
Thursday was more of the same. He was moving all over and they couldn’t get all they needed. Because he was still measuring small we were sent to a high-risk pregnancy specialist this Monday.
At the appointment the ultrasound tech explained what she was seeing. It was nice that she was able to do that rather than have us wait in silence. It took 45 minutes during which she informed us that the stomach was too high in the body, although everything else seemed to be on track. She had never seen anything quite like that.
She went out and went over the results with the doctor. Lucky/unlucky for us the doctor had seen this before. Our little Elliot has been diagnosed with a Left Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. We still don’t understand it completely but basically a hole in the diaphragm allowed the stomach to move up into the chest and it is pushing the heart to the right and crowding the lungs. There is a 100 % certainty that Elliot will need to have surgery to place his organs in their correct positions.
Along with CDH their is a heightened chance of a chromosome abnormality such as Down Syndrome.
It should not affect Casey’s health or her ability to carry Elliot full term, in fact the best case scenario is that she does carry him full term, which would allow the organs to develop further. The stronger he is, the quicker and more successful the surgery should be.
As you can imagine there have been many tears shed in our home as well as in our parents homes. We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers at this time and promise to keep you updated as things progress.
Tomorrow we are meeting with our new OBYN (our care has been transferred to the high-risk pregnancy specialists) and with a Genetic Counselor who will go over the risks we are facing with the chromosomal abnormalities. In addition we have a couple more ultrasounds and visits scheduled.
For more information on CDH you can visit. www.chop.edu. The doctor we are now seeing came from Philadelphia and is experienced in CDH.
Once again we love you and are grateful for your thoughts and prayers at this time.
Love,
Jordan, Casey and Elliot