Dear Henry, the perfect Heart

It was time for your heart scan.... why does every test feel so scary?

The heart doctor rolls in with his ultrasound machine, up to tiny Henry and plugs it in to "warm up". They are looking for the most common preemie problem A Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) which is a valve issue, where they aren't developed enough for the arteries to understand whats going on and extra blood can get pumped into the lungs. There are different levels of severity, and with his age it was almost guaranteed that he would have some degree of this. This PDA causes a murmur, which no one had heard yet in Henry. 

Most of the time the PDA closes it self over time... really it all sounded like "blah blah hole in the heart", which I know isn't accurate.

Let the scan begin... his heart was beating loud and proud through the monitor and the picture of his hear was clear! He had everything he was supposed to have and his heart was beautiful.... he did have a very small PDA, so small that we aren't concerned and they won't even scan again unless he is having issues down the line, he also has a slight murmur. It could have been a lot worse and we are happy that the issues he does have are common and are self cured, NO HEART DISEASE! NO HOLES! The doctor said his heart was the perfect size, and that there is no cause for concern.  

We spent the whole day with Henry and we just stared at him (some of us stared closer then others, see picture), we are in constant awe of this small child. He gives me hope everyday, I wake up excited to hear about what mountain he climbed over night, he is showing everyone that size doesn't matter, he is killing this preemie thing 1 test at a time!

-Nikki