Straight to the Hospital...

So when we got to the hospital they were ready for us and one of the nurses in the ‘High Risk Perinatal Ward’ greeted us with “Lets Rock and Roll!” as she got us shuffled into our room. The first thing Amanda noticed on her whiteboard was the list of activities to remind patients of things they can do to pass the long periods of time here. These were activities such as Happy Tails Dog visits on Fridays, Movies, Computer usage, Moms 2 Mom, etc. Amanda’s first response was “uh oh, this is a long term room” fearing that this could be a longer visit than a day or two.

They started treating us with beta blockers to try and reduce the baby’s heart rate as well as a two part steroid shot used to strengthen the baby’s lungs in case we were to have to deliver the baby sometime early. They have been giving the beta blockers in a smaller dosage more often in order to monitor the effects on Amanda’s heart as well and provide the ability to back off it if there are any negative effects on her heart rate. She has been given these beta blockers every four hours since then. They have also been giving her intravenous and oral dosages of magnesium to raise her levels.

While here we have been very with the daily ultrasounds and meetings with the perinatologists, pediatric cardiologists, ob-gyns, and pediatric cardiologists. It is a very strange feeling when each doctor that we speak with tells us that they are very familiar with our case and that there has been quite a few big conversations discussing it among the groups.

We will have been here a full week tomorrow. The positive news is that we have not seen the baby’s heart rate in that sustained tachycardia rate since last Tuesday. The heart rate is beating primarily in that 2:1 mode once again but does still continue to jump up into the 200+ range for a few beats every so often and then returns back down.

For the time being they want Amanda to stay here in the hospital to closely monitor the status. We will continue the path of trying to keep the baby’s heart rate as stable as possible in order to make certain it stays in Amanda as long as possible.