We're home!
Things went as well as they could have at the fetal echo. They confirmed the HLHS, which we figured. My greatest fear was that they would find something else - which they did. When the cardiologist told us Sammy also had a large ventrical septal defect (a hole between the left & right ventricle), I started crying. He jumped in to let us know that this was a good thing! Apparently, it allows blood to flow out of the left ventricle and into the right - without it, the left ventricle would be capable of very little to nothing.
(Mind you, I could be messing that up - Jay understands this a tad bit better than I do. :-))
The left ventricle is larger than they normally see in HLHS - it's about 60% the size of the right ventricle. Considering that some babies are born with no left ventricle, we're actually in a good position. He also upped the 5-year, 3-surgery survival rate from the initial of 60-70% to 85%, and said that with what he saw today, we've got one the best scenarios we could have with HLHS.
Whew.
I found out some things about the delivery/after that made me less than happy, but I need to remember that at that point, the best hands for him to be in are not ours, but the doctors. It makes me sad that we'll likely have time to kiss him and hold him once before he's whisked away and hooked up for the prostaglandin, but they did say I should be able to be rolled up to see him 2-3 hours after he's here. Not ideal, but I need to remember that it's for the best in the long run, right?
And through all the chaos and stress of the day, 1) Sammy was ALL over the place in the 3 hours he was being poked and prodded and scanned, but we still managed to snag a 4-D picture of little monkey (I'll scan it in later; we're relaxing at Su's right now), 2) Jay was able to see monkey kick from the outside!, and 3) I got me a prescription for Zoloft to help knock the anxiety down a few notches. Now it's naptime until Su gets home, at which point we get to take her out to dinner to celebrate that she passed the bar and is now officially Susannah Esquire.
Whew. Next appointment in 3 weeks, and that's just an ultrasound and an OB appointment. Next echo at about 32 weeks. Thanks for all the well-wishes and positive energy - I really think it's helping!