And the good new is…

Hey guys, I know I don’t normally post on Saturdays but since I skipped Thursday I figured I would fill you in on why.  As some of you may know from previous posts or just because you know me I was born with a heart condition called cardiomyopathy.  We later found out it was genetic and was passed down from my grandmother, to my dad, to me…and my sister has it as well as cousins, aunts, uncles.  My dad is one of 13 so there was a ton of chances for this gene to pass on.  For lack of boring you all to death I will try and make the science of it all short and sweet.  Basically, Harvard did a study on my family and were able to pinpoint the exact gene that caused this disease which is amazing because then they can tell future family members if they have it or not. 

When I got pregnant I knew there was always a 50% chance that little girl could have the gene.  We always knew that when she was born we would have her blood drawn to find out.  You see, even if she had the gene it doesn’t mean she will ever even get the disease it just means she could and she would also have the chance of passing it on to her children.  Without finding out, we would always wonder if she was getting sick or if other simple symptoms could mean her heart was failing….

So we had her tested at around 2 months old and despite our worries she did amazing at the blood draw…like didn’t even cry!!!

And the good news is…

we found out several months ago that she does NOT have the gene!!!! We are obviously thrilled.  We prepared ourselves for if she would have it, knowing that we could handle that and would just live our lives normally and get check ups for her and not let that change anything…but she does not have the gene and we are so thankful!!!!!

Now on to Thursday…again, as you know my heart has been a source of concern from the start of pregnancy.  As the months went on my heart function continued to decrease and never went back up after giving birth.  My doctors were very concerned and started me back on a medicine I could not take while pregnant or breastfeeding (cutting short breastfeeding, but we got a good month in at least!) At first my heart function still did not go back up to where they wanted it…and I was pretty tired and worried (and my stupid thyroid was all kinds of off, another story for another day). Pretty scary stuff! Thursday we went to see my doctor and I had an MRI of my heart to see if anything had gotten better. 

And the good news is…

my heart function has finally increased to almost were it was before I got pregnant!  We are again so thankful and happy at this news.  It still does not mean we are going to pursue more children…the risk is still just too high for my health, but we are both so happy I am back to being healthy again!!!

So that is our good news from the last several months. We hope you have a great weekend, and that good news finds you as well!