A Praise and A Prayer

As most of you know our precious little boy, John Denton "Jack" Warwick, was born Friday, June 27th at 9:00 pm. He weighted 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 21 1/8 inches long. On monday, June 30th, after everyone had showered and we were heading home with our new member of the family...we got some devastating news. The doctors had heard a murmur in Jack, but no one thought anything of it. On monday, a cardiologist decided to take a "quick" look at Jack's heart to make sure everything was ok. When the cardiologist came into our room we excepted for him to say everything was good to go and we could leave...instead he informed Brian and me that Jack had a serious congenital heart defect. Jack has a transposition of the great arteries (TGA) (his aorta is where the pulmonary artery should be and his pulmonary artery is where his aorta should be) and a large ventricular septal defect (VSD). The

murmur was from the VSD, which lead to the detection of the TGA, which is a huge praise. I can't imagine getting home and finding this out later or having him just start turning blue. The VSD is keeping Jack healthy right

now. The hole is so big (doctor said it was over 1/2 of the area) that it is pumping enough blood throughout his little body despite the TGA. The problem is his whole body is getting a mix of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood.

Jack had to go to the ICU for observation of his oxygen levels for 24 hours. His oxygen, right now, stays around 92-93 %. Brian and I felt as though we had been hit with a ton of bricks. I did not even have time to get use to fact that I had a baby, but now my baby has a serious heart defect.

We were sent home on wednesday with no equipment and we were told to treat him like a regular baby. Brian an I looked at each other and wondered how in the

world could we do this. We are to watch for signs of congestive heart failure...basically for him to turn blue. We were/are scared to death. With each passing day, it gets easier and easier. We have this perfect pink little

boy with an imperfect heart.

We are not sure about when we are having surgery or what the surgeons are going to do. Our first cardiologist appointment is July 15th. Based on our research there are 2 surgeries that can be performed. One is to switch the arteries back to the correct location and fix the hole. The other is to fix the hole and make a connection from the 2 arteries and allow the right ventricle to all the

work. We really want to have the arteries switched, but his VSD is really large and we don't know if this is an option. So, the hole that is keeping him alive and free of external oxygen now might cause him to not be able to

have the arteries switched.

Please pray for our little miracle!!! He is so perfect!! I will keep everyone posted on his progress.