It's been awhile..

So it's been a whirlwind of a two months (+ some) since Alexandra's surgery. We were pleased to be able to take her home so early, even if we did have to rush order everything because we didn't know she would come home so quickly. But we were (and are) happy to be able to finally have her come home with us. Since then, it's been a dizzying array of appointments, medications, fortified formula recipes, pulse oximetry measurements, and it's pretty much all we can do to keep our heads on straight. But we're getting used to it, as is she (she still hates the taste of her Zantac something fierce) and the routine has become part of our life. We now know what to watch for, which helped us to realize that there was a little something off with her when her oxygen saturations, still above the danger zone, were low for what we knew of her. Which brings me to my next point: The cardiologist confirmed what we had suspected about Alexandra's sats being too low for comfort which he said was a result of the shunt in her heart shrinking. Because of this, she will be in

Boston on Tuesday where she will be catheterized and they will use a balloon to expand the shunt and buy her some more time till her surgery to grow and get strong. We are confident that she will be fine and are grateful for the support you all have given us thus far. Thanks!

Surgery..

Alexandra's surgery will be Tuesday around 3 o'clock. We've been and continue to be very optimistic but as anyone can guess it doesn't quash the nervousness that we feel going into this. We appreciate all your prayers and support through this difficult time and are eager to take our little girl home healthy and strong like we know she will be. Thanks again!

She's here and oh so healthy!

Alexandra Monroe Holt was born on January 4th at 9:56 pm. She weighed 7 pounds, 6 ounces and has a cry so loud you'd never be able to call her fragile :) She is doing so well right now that they have tentatively scheduled her surgery for Monday or Tuesday as opposed to some babies who must get the surgery within the first 2 days of life. We feel really blessed right now that she is so strong and in such capable hands. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers and happy new year!

Danielle

She'll be here by the 5th!!

So we've been to a few doctor's appointments since the last one I wrote about and not much has changed except Alex's weight which has soared from the 5's to almost 7 lbs in only a few weeks bringing her from the 23rd percentile to the 49th!!! Also, my doctor has arranged for me to be induced at 6am on Tuesday morning (the 4th) so there's a good chance that the 4th will be her birthday (sorry Sloan lol). We are staying with Jason's grandmother right now in Holbrook so as to be closer to the hospital but we are planning a quick day trip home today so we can visit with Aidan and get some other things in order before we come back so hopefully Alex will keep to her new due date *fingers crossed* :) Thanks again for your interest and well wishes and Happy New Year!!

Upcoming doctor appointment

December 15th will be our second set of appointments at Boston Children's and Brigham and Women's Hospital. It's only a checkup, they won't really know anything more about Alex's diagnosis till she is born and they can look at her heart without having me in the way. My new obstetrician has told me that he will most likely induce me between my 38th and 39th week (my 38th week begins December 28th) because even though he wants Alex to be able to grow as much as possible, he also knows that there is a chance that she will come out earlier than Aidan did (9 days) and he wants to be able to have a better idea of when the surgery will happen. Like I said there won't be any real news on Alex until she is born but on the 15th we will find out whether we have to move out to Boston right away or if we can wait until the day after Christmas so that we can spend it with Aidan, who doesn't understand that he's even got a little sister, never mind that she has a heart problem. I found out at my last appointment I'm actually a low risk pregnancy so I'm hoping that means we will be able to stay with him for as long as possible. Thanks for checking up on Alex and Happy Thanksgiving!