Not Broken Hearted

Today was a very long day of doctor's appointments and tests. Two weeks ago at Katelyn's two month checkup, the pediatrician noticed a very faint heart murmer. When he was checking her out, I noticed he kept listening to different parts of the left side of her chest...he listened, then moved and listened again, and then he closed his eyes to listen! I knew something was up when he did that! He figured it was nothing but stated that whenever they hear even a faint murmur, they do follow-up tests....better to be safe than sorry they say. She had her chest x-ray that same day and for anyone who has had a child have one of those or seen them done, they are heart wrenching! I do them frequently at work but I must admit it is harder to see and do it to your own child. Not that I don't have sympathy for the kids at work, but a mother's heart breaks when her child is screaming because they have her strapped into this tiny and most uncomfortable contraption!

Anyways, we went through a series of ECG's and echocardiograms (ultrasound of the heart) and the doctor gave her a clean bill of health! Praise God! I was pretty sure that she was okay before all the tests today because she has been gaining weight really well, I never noticed any weird colorations of skin, etc, or any increased or laboured breathing which are all some symptoms of heart problems...those are my nursing assessment skills coming in handy! I decided to take the attitude that I wouldn't worry about anything until I knew that there was something to worry about because then I would just be wasting time! But yet at the same time, I am learning that being a mother means that the action of "to worry" takes on a whole new meaning!

Working in pediatric cardiology, I see so many neat and cutting edge types of treatments and surgeries and even having had the opportunity to see a heart transplant...I am amazed at what docotrs and medical teams can do these days. But I'm even more amazed at our Creator who designed all of this in the first place!! The way our heart can keep beating over a hundred and fifty times each minute (as an infant that is), every hour, every day for our entire lives and how that life saving blood keeps everything else alive in the human body is incredible. The creativity and ingenuity of God is beyond anything that medicine or anything else could do! What an amazing God!

So, as you can see from her pic above, Katelyn is healthy and well....and maybe I'm a little biased, but totally cute also!