Medical Terminology

It's Olivia time! I was talking to Bone the other day and he was asking about Olivia's medical problems. So, for all your curious/medical people out there...here is the birth defects going on in Olivia's little body:

1. Aortic Coarctation-Coarctation of the aorta is when the aorta has a very narrow area or segment like in an hourglass. Blood pressure increases above the narrow spot and the left ventricle has to pump harder because the pressure is high. The heart may enlarge from this extra work.
They did a small surgery using a catheter to open up the aorta a little bit more. She will need full open heart surgery when she is 6 months old.

2. Tracheoesophageal fistula-A tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) is an abnormal connection between the esophagus and the trachea.
She had surgery to correct this and now has a feeding tube through her nose.

3. Esophageal Atresia-The esophageas ends in a blind pouch instead of connecting to the stomach.
She had surgery to correct this as well.

So, now an update:

Olivia has been off the vent for awhile now but yesterday she stopped breathing for a short period of time. Thankfully she began breathing again on her own. However, if this continues to happen and she has to go back on the vent, they will do the open heart surgery ASAP. They've been waiting for her to get older and stronger before attempting open heart surgery. In the one month she's been alive she's already had 2 surgeries and multiple minor procedures done on her so they are hoping that she does not need open heart surgery for another 5 months.

Olivia's Story

This is what we all knew before Olivia was born:

Heart:
Had a hole in her heart, and had 2 arteries coming from the same chamber of her heart. This means that the one going to her lungs is too small and not enough blood will travel to her lungs to be reoxygenated.

Digestion:
Her stomach did not connect to the esophagus.

Brain:
Had too much fluid on her brain throughout the pregnancy.

Outcome:
The doctors gave 2 very different outcomes. The first was that Olivia would die shortly after birth. The second was that she would pull through. Nobody was 100% sure because the ultrasounds didn't give them the details they needed to put together a plan.

This is what has happened since Olivia was born full term on Feb. 11th weighing 6 lbs. 4 oz.:

Heart:
She's on a vent because she cannot reoxygenate the blood correctly. They're saying she shouldn't need open heart surgery until she's 6 months old. Minor surgery is a definate to correct some of the problem but they're not sure when it's going to happen.

Digestive:
Her esophogus and wind pipe fused together and the one tube went to her lungs. Her stomach did not connect to the esophogus. They did surgery 2 days after she was born to correct the fused windpipe and esophogus as well as connect the stomach to the esophogus.

Other:
The doctors are saying that she can probably be released in 1 month.

She's down to only 4 IV's now, a stomach tube, vent, and EKG tags.

On February 17th she opened her eyes for the first time!

Please continue to pray for Baby Olivia. She and her family need all the prayers and comfort they can get right now. Her mom and dad are both 21 and she's the first baby for both of them. It's hard being 1st time parents anyways, but to have all of this on top of it is making this a very trying time for them.