I have always loved heart shaped hands on pregnant wombs.?? Because that was not going to be an opportunity for me in my personal collection for obvious reasons :), I had to improvise.?? I am sure someone else (or lots of others) have had this idea to frame baby’s face with hand hearts but I can’t say I have ever seen it done so for now…I will choose to think this was a creative and unique artistic display of my own.?? :)?????? Sweetie was my heart hand model.?? What better loving hands to frame my daughters sweet face than my own mama’s??? That added to the beauty of this collection. I want to get Tori making hand hearts too but that is going to get complicated so we shall see. :)?? If she brings her fisted hands together that back of her fists will form a heart but I am not sure I can get her to hold this position for a picture.?? I got a beautiful card with baby hand hearts from Pat and Dawn but imitating it may be impossible.

I love this outfit she is wearing.?? I need to get a better picture of it.

We couldn’t decide which heart we liked better.?? Inside hand heart or outside??? I had to keep both.

Every time mom and I look at this picture we start laughing all over again.?? It just makes you giggle doesn’t it??? Something about those big eyes peeping out the heart window…like she wonders what in the world we are doing.?? Have I mentioned yet how smart she is??? 🙂

Speaking of hearts…let’s talk about Tori’s.

On Tuesday, March 11th, Tori had her cardiologist appointment to check the murmur.?? I really loved her cardiologist!?? He was just awesome.?? He explained things really well – though explaining them now might be a bit out of my league but I’ll attempt it.

When he looked at the EEG, the rythmn looked fine, heartbeat was pretty fast but he dismissed that because she was angry, and there MAY have been some indication of thickness of the walls which would indicate an enlarged heart.

Her blood pressure was a bit high but again…she was mad.?? No one was concerned considering that.

Before I explain what he is suspecting, I first have to show you his heart picture and explain something about the heart.

There are 4 chambers in the heart.?? If you look in the picture above, the right side of the heart is responsible for pumping blood to the body and the left side responsible for pumping blood to the lungs.?? Before a baby is born, the left side lower valves divert the blood to the right side therefore helping the right side of the heart provide blood to the body.?? When a baby is born and inhales for the first time, those left side lower valves begin to work as the lungs expand and begin funneling the blood that comes from the left hemisphere to the lungs.??

Sometimes, those lower left valves are pretty tiny and so the blood comes into the left chamber??and a “gushing” sound can be heard as it struggles to get out the smaller valves.?? Thus…a heart murmur is detected.?? (By the way, heart murmur can mean more than one thing but in Tori’s case this is the definition of “murmur”).?? This is no big deal and baby will outgrow it as her valves mature and grow.?? This is most likely what is going on with Tori.??

However, it is possible that Tori has a hole in her heart between the left and right hemisphere.?? That would also cause that “gushing” sound.?? If there is a hole, then the right side of the heart is cyphoning too much blood to the left side through that hole which means that too much blood is going to the lungs.?? This is not a short term emergency but it does need to be managed over the long haul.?? By the age of 20, the lungs will be overworked and the lifespan of the individual is shortened due to this stress.?? Therefore, babies with these types of holes are surgically repaired by usually 2 or 3 years of age.?? Open heart surgery is no longer required??because they can do a heart catheritization procedure to close the hole.?? (If anyone has experience with this and thinks I botched this explanation, feel free to comment 🙂 ).

The Dr. was so sweet about it and told me in either case not to worry.?? In the first case there is nothing to worry about.?? In the second place…it’s fixable.?? :)?? I think his gut feeling is that this is only a scenario one situation but we still need to do an ECHO just to make sure.?? The ECHO is an hour long and is scheduled for Tuesday (18th) morning.?? Tori will not appreciate that!

I asked the Dr. if he thought there was a possibility of any other surprises when he did the ECHO and he said “ABSOLUTELY NOT”.?? Wow!?? You hardly ever hear THAT from a Dr.?? I think I will just embrace his confidence and not worry about this one.?? I think he wasn’t as concerned about the possibility of an enlarged heart either after listening to her so that was good.?? I think she will be fine.?? 🙂

Jumping subjects…

I am totally amazed with myself (LOL) for keeping up with pictures and postings in her first month pretty well.?? I think it’s because I have dreamed of pictures for a baby girl for so long and I don’t want to miss my opportunities.?? I remember thinking when pregnant with??Tanner that I needed to savor every moment because I may never be pregnant again.?? I guess I am thinking along the same lines with having a girl.?? I would still love a fourth child in a couple years but??who knows how that will pan out.?? So I am trying to make the most of??these moments with her.?? I bought a St. Patricks dress for her so I intend to post those on St. Patrick’s day – which is??SATURDAY by the way and not Monday!?? :)?? The Roman Catholic church moved the date.?? Did you know they could do that??? Apparently they can if it interfers with Holy Week and this year it??did.??

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