Dr Appointment in Little Rock

On Friday we drove back down to Little Rock for a follow up appointment with Holden's Cardiologist.  The trip itself was exhausting and I dread doing it again.  We got up at 7 and left the house by 9.  Getting ready to lave has a whole new meaning for me.  I have to caculate into it: time to feed him, burp him (which sometimes takes longer), dressing him, and soothing him.  We made it to Little Rock and Children's Hospital around 1215 and ate lunch in the wonderful cafeteria.  I used my Moby wrap that Charla is letting me borrow to wrap him to me. He slept through lunch.  We then began the process of the checkup... vitals, EKG, Xray, Echo, and visit with the doctor.  So of course Holden was very upset.  I don't blame him, his sleeping and eating schedule was completely off.  He never got to do either for more than 10 minutes before the next task had to begin.  Holden was a grumpy baby!
Going to Little Rock, I was excited. I felt very confident that he was doing excellent and thriving.  I felt we had a normal little baby on our hands.  I was very disappointed to find out that his pumonary arteries are in fact still restricted too much.  We left Children's the first time knowing this, but praying that his body would cause them to grow and accomidate for their new position.  The doctor said "they haven't gotten any worse."  Which also means, they haven't gotten any better.  If I'm being optimistic- that means they must have grown some- since he's grown to 9 lbs 4 oz.  Overall, their amout of stenosis is at the same level as it was at discharge.  And this greatly worries the cardiologists.  I asked several questions to make sure I understood why we needed to be concerned with this stenosis.  Here's my summary:  Holden's pulmonary artery was designed small secondary to the fact that it was connected to the wrong part of the heart.  So it didn't need to be that big beacause it didn't travel very far.  When they corrected the artery placement the surgeon had to stretch the artery to get it to the correct part.  When they stretched the artery is made it more narrow.  Anyways- when an artery is small, the blood that flows through it has more resistance.  This resistance makes the right side of the heart have to work harder.  The doctors can see this in the Echo that Holden has done at each visit.  So far- Holden's right side of the heart is doing well and keeping up with the extra load.  But the doctor said that at some point this work will become too much and his body will struggle as a result.  We will be able to see physically if he is struggling by his ability to eat and gain weight.
Originally, the doctors had hoped that a simple heart cath would take care of the problem (inserting a balloon and inflating it to stretch open the artery).  The doctor said that his restriction is too significant for this and he's worried about opening up Holden's sutures that were placed to hold the vessels in their new place.  Our other option, and most likely choice, is another open chest surgery.  They will place a slit along the arteries and then patch them with another material, in turn, making them larger.
Our biggest prayer request is currently that Holden's arteries will expand and grow to allow the right side of his heart to work easier.  We will be returning every month to Little Rock to check on this artery.  We can not determine a date for this potential second surgery.  The doctors will have to watch and wait to see if the heart starts to struggle, that's when they will have to intervene.
Please pray for our precious boy- it breaks my heart to think of them having to open his chest again.