The new adventure

We want to start out by saying thank you to all of our friends and family who have sent countless texts, emails, prayers and well wishes our way. Thank you to all of you who supported us with food and love during the 5 weeks of bed rest, it really made a difference in his weight and our sanity! We can feel your support and it's nice to break up the day with a text of ecouragement...

On April 19, 2010 at 12:45 PM we welcomed Hunter Todd Riley Harnish to this world. To our surprise and excitement he weighed well over what we thought he would...6 pounds 13 ounces and he was 18 3/4 inches long. He is all Harnish with features resembling Stella and Justin. He was breach so his legs were stuck up but not nearly as pronounced as Stella's were.

The doctors immediately whisked Hunter away into a separate room where they evaluated his weight, oxygen, vitals etc. Doctor King, our cardiac specialist, came in to evaluate him briefly knowing that he would later hook Hunter up to an echo machine to further evaluate him.

The mood was of excitement and relief; his weight was a big issue to us and he was so beautiful! His cry was loud, his junk was intact and his suck reflect was strong...we were very happy to share him with the world and get the pressure off of Megan and him into good hands.

A while later after Megan was over her two hour recovery and the adrenaline had worn off, reality set in. Immediately after birth, Hunter was admitted to the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). It's an amazing place where miracles happen. One of Hunter's neighbors is Jack who was born at 30 weeks and is 3 pounds, he is so cute and doing so well...craziness. So as Hunters body begins life without Megan's internal support the heart defect(s) start to kick in. The Ductus, which we all have, is open so we get our mothers blood flow, once we leave the womb it closes up...this closure creates a big problem for cardiac kids. Hunters was wide open and last night it began to close so he was given an IV through a vein in his head...he has monitors all over his body; 2 on his chest, 2 on each leg to monitor circulation and blood pressure which as that Ductus closes will get worse...he was given a drug early this morning to keep that Ductus open...

Around 6pm last night Dr King and his echo machine came rolling up ready for what we had all been waiting for, the direct connect to Hunter's chest. This took about an hour, I, Justin, watched the whole time as I feel like I know what to look for...needless to say it was all confirmed and then some. Hunter has two "kinks" or narrowing spots in his Aortic Arch, he has two holes (not the one we anticipated) in the Ventricular (VSD), his Mitral Valve is small, his Aortic Valve is small and left side of his heart is slightly smaller than the right...we knew most of this but this was real this time, no chance for error. Dr. King left to discuss with the surgeon strategy...this whole time we anticipated having a two pronged approach; one surgery through the side of his chest at day 3 of life and one open heart at around 3 months...never get your heart set on plans with kids...

It was a long day, Uncle Tucker was the first to meet Hunter when stopped by and Brooke came to visit and gave us a pep talk and meet Hunter...we all went down and said good night to the boy...he is in good hands.