Storm Hits

Sunday I told the story of Jesus calming the storm, little knowing that in just a couple of days I would be in the midst of my own storm...

Today has been one of those days that you never want to go through again. I woke with a headache, & it was a slightly earlier & more rushed morning so that we could get to the hospital for my appointment at 8am to have my 20wk scan. An hour & a half later we left having been told that there was a problem with the heart, & an appointment to have further scans with a cardiologist in Århus (2hr drive away) that afternoon.

The wind was starting to pick up & the waves began to swell.

By the time we left to drive to Århus my headache was reaching migraine status. It was a quiet drive there with both of a lost in our own thoughts. Then 2km from where we thought we had to go & 20min til our appointment, our car decided it didn't want to go any further & stopped right in the middle of the road. After pushing it to the side & consulting the GPS we decided to walk the rest of the way, which happened to be all up hill. Puffing & panting we arrived at the building we thought we needed to go to with 1min to spare, only to be told we were at the wrong hospital & that where we needed to go was another 4km up the road. Fortunately we were able to catch a bus there, but not knowing exactly where we had to go, we ended up hopping off approx. 1km from where we should have. Nevertheless we made it there ½hr late, red-faced & puffing.

After having the further scans, we were ushered into another room where we sat down with the head cardiologist, the head gynocologist & the head pediatric doctor & were informed that our baby had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, a very serious & rare heart condition. Basically the left side of the heart had not developed & therefore couldn't function. This is the side that pumps oxygenated blood around the body. While in the womb, all is ok & there is no problem, development will continue as normal. However once born, without intervention, he/she will only survive a very short time (hours - days).

This means once born our little baby will require immediate medical attention & then have to undergo 3 operations. The first of these is the most major & will occur at approx. 4 days old, with a 50% survival rate. The second will be performed at around 3mths & the last at around 4 years of age. These surgeries are a life-prolonging intervention, not a cure, & there is a big possibility of problems further down the track & eventually perhap the need for a transplant.

The storm had reached hurricane proportions.

Devastated & in shock, we left the hospital & headed back to where we had left the car to work out how we were going to get home again.  Surprisingly when we got to the car & turned the key it roared to life & we were able to drive home. The drive home was full of tears & talking, praying, silent thinking & more tears. Exhausted we fell into bed, but there was little sleep to be had as the storm still raged.