First, second and third echo

   We saw the pediactric cardiologist the following day for our first echo.  I was thinking a short appointment as they were only looking at the heart.  Again, wrong!  During the echo, video is taken of each chamber of the heart and measured to look at size, then they go back and look at blood flow through each chamber.  Sounds relatively easy....as long as the baby stays still and is in a good position.  It took the ultrasound tech about an hour to get all the pictures, then the cardiologist comes to review and possibly take a couple more.
Afterward we sat down with the cariologist and he explained the diagnosis and talked about the procedures that would need to happen for the baby to survive.  It is three staged surgery called the Fontane Sequence. We'll get back to that later....

  I think I was a little in shock after sitting down with the doctor.  We didn't have many questions at the time, but we had a follow-up echo at Loyola in a month.  The echo looked the same and when we sat down with the doctor he told us he was referring us to Advocate Christ Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn.  They had the best children's cardiac surgery ward in the area.  So our next step was to set up an appoinment with the pediactric cardiologist there.

  As we started talking to people about the diagnosis we found out that a couple at our church had been through this process and one of our parent's friends knows the surgeon.  What a small world!  We were able to sit down with the couple from church and just talk through some questions.  With all the uncertainty, I think our mind was eased seeing their boy running around with tons of energy.

  The third echo was done at Advocate Christ hospital.  There were more videos of the heart and blood flow.  After, we talked a little bit about our options, the first surgery and transferring all care to the Advocate.
We found out that the doctors prefer natural birth to limit complications, the first surgery will take place between day 2 and day 5 and we'd be transferring full care around 36 weeks.  After our next appointment we'll be taking a tour of the facility and meeting the surgeon.  Stayed tuned!