Porter's First Week

We watched the clock last night and celebrated with our new little family as the clock turned 8:08pm and Porter became officially one week old. For the past couple weeks leading up to Porter's arrival, Eric and I have been talking about what to expect when the baby came- poopy diapers, sleep-less nights, around the clock feedings, and more love than we could imagine. We have experienced all of those things this past week (with an abundance of poopy diapers) plus the worry that comes with being new parents.

My mom has thankfully been keeping close family and friends updated on the events of this week, but some may have not received those emails. At birth, Porter was diagnosed with a heart murmur. He was given an echocardiogram on Friday morning and was then diagnosed with a heart condition called pulmonary stenosis. There was a repeat echo done on Sunday followed by a conference call from the pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Newberger out of Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. We were given a run down of what pulmonary stenosis is, and set up appointments for Porter to see both his pediatrician, Dr. Dantzer and Dr. Newberger. We are blessed to have such great doctors working with us, and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that Dantzer and Newberger have worked together for the last 10 years.

So what now? There are still a lot of "ifs". We will be seeing the pediatrician each week for weigh-ins to assure that he is gaining and growing as he should be. Every 2 weeks we will be traveling to Park Ridge (a 2 hour commute in good traffic) to see Dr. Newberger for repeat echocardiograms and monitoring. As for right now, we are aware that Porter will need to have a "balloon" procedure within the next year- but most likely within the next couple of months. This procedure is similar to an angioplasty where they will insert a catheter with a balloon on the end into the valve to clear out the stickiness. This may fix the problem, or make the valve leak, which would eventually lead to a valve replacement. As for right now, we are waiting and watching to see what Porter's little heart will do.

He is doing great otherwise. He is a very mellow baby and likes to snuggle and "talk" to Daddy. We are loving each and every sigh, coo, squeak, and even the poopy diapers. We will continue to keep you updated as we know more. Keep checking back and we will keep posting pictures often.

Love,
Stephanie, Eric, and Porter