It's official, I'm an uncle!
My sister and I were the only siblings left after our younger brother Cory died in a motorcycle accident in 2003. Neither of us had kids and my parents were always wondering when they were going to be grandparents.
Their wish came true when my sister gave birth to her son recently.
There was a problem, though.
While the baby was in the womb, the doctors noticed that he had a problem with his heart.
Here is the official description of what was wrong:
He has "
transposition of the great arteries with septal defect. This means that his pulmonary artery and his aorta did not crisscross and are coming out of the wrong ventricles(lower chambers of the heart). The pulmonary artery is coming out of the left ventricle which normally pumps oxygenated blood through the aorta to the rest of the body. Because of this, oxygenated blood is going right back to the lungs instead of going to the body. Which in turn, means the aorta is pumping non-oxygenated blood to the rest of the body instead of hitting up the lungs for oxygen first. The good news is that he does have a septal defect, which is a hole between the two ventricles. This for now, is what is allowing the non-oxygenated and oxygenated blood to mix before being pumped to the body. Without this hole, the chance of survival is slim."
Immediately after he was born, the doctors whisked him away to keep close tabs on him.
He required open heart surgery to fix this problem.
The good news is that out of all the possible congenital heart defects, this one is the most common.
He had his surgery the other day and he pulled through! The doctors operated on his heart, which was the size of a walnut, for almost 8 hours. They closed him up and he seems to be doing well. His eyes are open and he'll grip people's fingers.
I haven't had a chance to see him yet because I've been so busy with classes. That, and the fact that he's down at the University of Iowa hospitals which is about a half hour drive away.
My sister told me to wait because any kind of disturbance near him can send his vitals out of whack. Even my sister and her boyfriend don't go around him too often. Once he's more stabilized, I'll go down and meet him.
They say that he will be on medications for most of his young life, but after that, he should lead a normal life.
Check out these pictures of my nephew...
Check out his hair!
(From left to right) My sister's boyfriend Dustin, my mom, my step-dad, my sister.
Look at all that equipment!
I'll bet you want to know his name...
His name is Cory. (after our brother)