My Daughter

Our third pregnancy was with our daughter, Micah. By the time Mel was pregnant, we were both ready to have another baby. The pregnancy was pretty normal. The most notable exception was at our ultrasound. The ultrasound technician had a very hard time getting a good picture of Micah's heart. The tech said it was just how the baby was lying that made it difficult to get a good picture. We thought nothing of it after that. After Micah was born, we took her home and arranged for the public heath nurse to come do a follow up at our house. During that appointment, the nurse said we should take Micah into the hospital right away. She had noticed a few things that did not seem right to her. We left the house immediately. By the time we got to the hospital (1 hr drive), Micah was in obvious distress. Long story short, there is a valve in her heart that had not closed properly; on top of that, Micah had a hole in her heart. If the valve were to close as it should have, the side of her heart with a hole may not be able to handle that much pressure, and could burst. We spent a long time in the hospital. Micah was admitted to the NICU. If we had gotten to the hospital a few hours later, things could have been much worse.

It was a lot of praying going on in the Schellenberg home during that time. Shortly after Micah turned two, her pediatric heart specialist gave us the o.k. to allow her to live a normal, active life. No surgery was required; the hole in her heart is closing on its own, and the valve doesn't appear to be an issue. I can't say for sure if it is closed now, or what. I just care that she is o.k. She still gets tired sometimes when she is playing hard. When this happens, she just sits down for a while and allows her heart to rest. Her heart doesn't appear to give her any pain.