During my pregnancy I was working as a nanny for a family that I had been with for years. It just so happens that the mother of the children I watch, Thu, is a radiologist. One day we were having a conversation about how I couldn't wait to find out if we were having a little boy or girl. She offered to do a quick ultrasound to see if we could tell. I of course took her up on her offer!
We set up a time on Thursday February 17th to go and get the ultrasound done. The 17th would be the first day of my 16th week of being pregnant and we all knew that she may or may not be able to tell because it may be too early. The plan was to have Aaron come and meet me at work around 8 AM. We would then go with the kids and their father, Ruy to the hospital to get my ultrasound. I remember that day VERY well! It was the first day I had ever been late to work because I was stuck in traffic. There was a horrible car accident on my way to work and I had been stopped about 5 cars behind the wreck itself. While I waited I said a little prayer for the injured and their families. That's when a medivac helicopter came and landed on the highway, loaded up the injured person, and flew off. I had never seen anything like it, but still nothing could keep me from thinking about our baby and the excitement that in about an hour we would know if we were having a boy or girl!
Finally we were in the ultrasound room. Aaron and I watched as the tech scrolled the ultrasound transducer across my abdomen. As she went she pointed out the baby's arms, legs, head and so forth. After a moment of looking she told us she would be right back. She wanted the other tech to "confirm what gender the baby was" before they told us. Aaron and I thought nothing of that and waited just a second for another tech to come in and take a quick look. She then told us that our baby was a little girl! Unfortunately she continued looking as if to determine something else. Then both techs said they would be right back. The next person to enter the room was Thu. We could tell that something was wrong at that moment. Her face said it all. She took the transducer and started scanning across my abdomen definitely looking for something specific. She then looked to Aaron and me and said that there was something wrong with the baby's heart. Usually there would be four chambers and they could only detect three in our baby. Of course the first thing in my mind was IT'S EARLY!!!! I asked her if there was any way that their findings were just because we decided to do the ultrasound so early? Could the fourth chamber develop if we gave the baby more time?!?!?! The answer was no.
After that we started our whirl wind of seeing doctors, each one confirming what Thu had seen. We ended up at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). We decided to see them because they were rated #2 in the country for dealing with Congenital Heart Diseases. After our first echo they determined that Scarlett had Double Inlet Left Ventricle. This meant that her right ventricle was very under developed, almost nonexistent and upon delivery she would not be able to pump blood to her lungs to get oxygen. The doctors then discussed with us the treatment plan for Scarlett. This included three surgeries by the time she is three years old. One right after birth, one around four months old, and the last would take place some time between two and three years. The waiting game began...
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