It's long overdue... and I'm a little intimidated by the task of remembering all the details, but I know I want to keep the memories as fresh as I can, of Jack's birth story and the start of his amazing little life.
Since I've procrastinated for so long (or, in much better-sounding version, was so busy with life and Jack), this will need to be in parts... So this one is actually a pre-birth portion.
After the initial visit to Le Bonheur, Michelle (a lovely, awesome CVICU nurse) helped us set up an hour with Dr. Knott-Craig (Jack's head surgeon). We went to see him on Wednesday, August 18th.
He was different than I expected. I remembered running into Rosie at day care and her telling me about meeting him earlier. Her company sponsors Le Bonheur and had a field day to meet some of the staff. She said, "He's not the typical kid doctor. Not mushy or sweet - but if I ever needed that kind of help for my child, he would be the only one I'd go to." Dr. K-C is a slender, 50-ish man who reminded me more of a violinist than a surgeon... Higher-pitched, quiet voice with his South African accent. Picture of him and Nelson Mandela on his wall (Mandela called for him when his grandchild needed a heart surgery). After some introductory small talk (I remember Russian musicians being mentioned, and tea being offered), I recapped what we knew. At one point, after a question of his, I confused an ASD and a VSD and told him Jack's ultrasounds showed he didn't have a VSD, which got him concerned, enough to immediately suggest Jack wouldn't have enough time to make it from Methodist to Le Bonheur... I was starting to panic, but luckily had Dr. Joshi's last letter from a month before. Reading it, Dr. K-C chuckled and found my error right away, alleviating our fears. Jack did show a 'patent VSD', an opening that all kids have in their hearts prior to being born, the one that heals up quickly after birth, but in Jack, will be kept open with medication to allow his blood to mix prior to surgery. "Dr. Joshi is a meticulous cardiologist," he said.
When we asked if we needed to run another ultrasound to be absolutely sure of the VSD (more of a rhetoric question to us still), he simply said, "yes". He asked that Dr. Scheider's office do another US and send him the results and images.
We told him induction was scheduled for the evening of the 24th (Dr. B scheduled it earlier that morning - on the 25th, Jack's GA was 39 weeks, and there was consensus he shouldn't be allowed to go past that); that meant Jack was planning to be born on the 25th. 25th being a Wednesday, he said the surgery likely won't take place until the following Monday, since Thursday or Friday would be too early (unless situation required it), and they didn't operate on weekends. ... I still remember all the calendar details, they're fixed in my mind like colorful blocks of time, and check points, and expectations...
Dr. K-C was (and remains to me) a unique, enigmatic individual; very charismatic, in a subtle way, and very sure of his skill and the way things take place in his unit. I needed all of that. At the time when I was not sure what would take place, did not yet know how many complications CHD kids can be exposed to prior to and after surgery, I needed a voice of quiet but almost absolute certainty.
I remember that the last exchange of that meeting was about playing Mozart to babies in CVICU - Dr. K-C was adamant that it had to be Mozart, since his music was shown to help develop babies' brains. He said he plays it to his own baby (recently remarried, I believe he has a daughter under 1). I'm still surprised that Allan didn't rush to a local music store immediately... but there was a side story on this still to come later.
Immediately after leaving his office, I called UT high-risk office and told him Dr. K-C requested another ultrasound. The ladies ran it by the techs, and Michelle told us to come in right away, so we headed back to Baptist (I was there earlier in the morning with Dr. B for the regular prenatal check-up, once a week). Another ultrasound (I should count how many Jack had... at least a dozen), and everything was confirmed and sent over back to Le Bonheur.
Here I stop and recognize the staff at UTMG high-risk pregnancy group. A fairly new office, these guys were awesome to us. Very careful with details. Very friendly and sympathetic to our circumstances and Jack's diagnosis. Very personable... I stay in touch with the ladies in the office still, and though I hope to never again need their professional help, they've been truly lovely to us.
Later that week, I had another visit with Dr. B (Friday) - things have not changed much, I was still pretty closed, with barely any softening. Mom arrived that day in the evening.
Monday (23rd), another Dr. B visit - still no discernible changes. The day after was planned to be the Big Day... we were going in for induction. We were as ready as we were going to be .
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