ASD (Always Something Different)

Lexi has always proven that she is different. From the time she was born, she continually has defied the odds in both good and bad ways, beating and bouncing back from things far better than expected in some instances, but also falling in that "less than 1% of kids..." negative health category all too often. Unfortunately, we found ourselves in that highly negative small percentage once again this week.

After having an echo cardiogram performed during her one-year check-up on Tuesday, our pediatrician called yesterday to deliver the bad news that Lexi's ASD has not self-corrected like is the case with most babies. She informed us that Lexi still has moderate ASD (Atrial Septal Defect), or what is commonly referred to as a "hole in the heart". This means that there is a hole in the wall separating her left atrium and right atrium which did not close properly during development. So, this hole allows some oxygen deficient blood to mix with oxygen rich blood across the two upper chambers of her heart that are supposed to be separate. This condition impacts oxygen and blood flow in both the heart and lungs, and it could account for her couple cases of pneumonia this year, despite her being quarantined per doctor's orders.

We know very little about the condition at this point beyond info gathered in a short conversation with our pediatrician and some internet research, and we're sure we'll be meeting with pediatric cardiologists to get the scoop. It's probably premature to speculate on next steps, but it seems like most of the time, doctors simply continue to follow babies with this disorder until 3-5 years of age, giving the hole every chance to close on its own. If surgery is necessary, they try less invasive procedures using catheters before performing open heart surgery as a last resort. It seems there are great odds of the hole still closing on its own and/or avoiding open heart surgery if we need to correct it, but please forgive us if we're not comforted a great deal by this fact, as she inexplicably seems to fall into the "worst case" scenario category every time. We, of course, hope that isn't the case this time and hope the hole will still close on its own, but regardless it doesn't appear any action is necessary for at least a few years yet.

Despite all of her medical issues, Lexi continues to be a very happy baby and is more and more fun to be around every day. Recently, though, she is starting to get into more and more trouble, especially with Wrigley. Her favorite thing to do these days is roll over to the dog's rug and bug Wrigley, looking at me and smiling the whole time, since she knows that is on the no-no list. Regardless of her health issues, we still think she's the brightest and spunkiest ray of sunshine in our lives.

Our All-Star

As Dad celebrates baseball by being at the All-Star game tonight, we both are celebrating our all-star! Today we saw Lexi's pediatrician. She was very pleased with Lexi's progress from a year ago, which has become a consistent comment. We think Lexi is performing beyond where everyone expected her to be. Although she still has a ways to come, she is doing amazing after all that she has endured. She weighed in at 18lbs. 14 oz. and reached 28 inches, so not enough to turn her car seat around yet, but she is staying on track with her 20-25% for height and weight. Since we are down to small bottles in the morning and at night and otherwise just full-fledged food, we were excited to see this normal weight gain. We hope this trend of good doctor appointments continue.

We recently got Lexi's one year pictures taken as well. She wouldn't smile for the photographer much, but we still got a couple of good shots. Enjoy!

All-Star Road Race

Being a true baseball fan, Brian has tried to embrace the All-Star game taking place in St. Louis this year, which included running in the inaugural MLB All-Star 5K race this morning. Lexi and I drove him downtown to drop him off and then hung around to watch him run. What started as a fun, short excursion to start the day turned into a little more. After we dropped Brian off at the starting line, I was trying to figure out a place to park that had an elevator for Lexi, the stroller, and all the toys I had brought to entertain her during the race. I saw a race official in a car and decided that would be a good person to ask. The guy nicely said he was going to park his car, and I could follow him, as he had a good area to park for free. I diligently did, but got increasingly nervous as we headed to the wrong side of Busch Stadium from a safety perspective. After several wrong turns, Lexi and I basically ran to get to the end of the race course before the runners did. We booked it, and we got to the finishing area just as the first runner came by. Lexi started to get a little fussy, so I took out a little food to feed her, and also got out her sippy cup to give her. As is her favorite game these days, she promptly ripped it out of my hand and threw it onto the race course. So, I sprawled myself onto the street to rescue a runner from stepping on it and twisting an ankle. I was successful and even managed not to get stepped on myself.

Luckily, Brian was pretty speedy in the race and soon came down the street. After he passed (and I missed taking his picture as my hands were way too full!), we walked to the end of the finish line to meet Brian, as Lexi and I had both had enough of the morning at that point. Fortunately, Brian was happy with his time, and he coincidentally ran into a guy he played baseball with in college on the race course, and all was well on his end. And, he only gave me a little bit of a hard time for parking down an alley in the ghetto.