Baby Girl Burel and Mom both had echocardiograms today. It was a very long day for all of us up at OHSU with a lovely break in the middle for some lunch with good friends from Texas. Bill and I were prepared for a very long day and OHSU did not disappoint. Baby Girl's echo was the last thing at 3:30pm and the grueling day was so worth it when the doctor finally came in at 5pm and spent the next half hour saying, "Looks nice." "Looks good." "Looks perfect." My three new favorite phrases!
I've had 27 thousand echos and I really have no idea what I'm looking at most of the time. I think I could pick out the aortic root and valve since that has been the main focus of everyone's attention each time. During Baby Girl's echo, the doctor pointed out the aortic valve, the mitral valve, the tricuspid valve and the pulmonary valve. Like most of what they show us, Bill and I just take their word for it! But I could make out her entire aortic because it looks exactly like a candy cane. Towards the end of the echo the doctor listened to the heartbeat while watching the blood flow through each individual valve. I found myself closing my eyes just listening to her heartbeat and started getting emotional with something other than fear for the first time. When Baby Girl sleeps right now, she can hear the sound of my heartbeat, and I wonder if she knows just how much we love her? I know that while listening to her heart's steady rhythm, I was overcome with love and could imagine nothing more wonderful than falling asleep to that sound.
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