Annoucing Hunter Riley Wiens Born July 31, 2007

I just want to spend a little time catching everybody up on what has been happening the past few days.

On Tuesday at 8:21 in the morning after getting to the hospital at about 7:10, yep that fast, Nicole gave birth to our beautiful little boy. Hunter Riley Wiens, he was already a miracle baby then, because the umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck not once but twice. He was born with out incidents, although Nicole not call it that, She was so fast to deliver that she did not have time to have an epidural. We got to hold him and hug him after he got cleaned up a bit first.
Big sister Abby was so excited to see her baby brother now that he was finally here. She did not want to go back to Grandma & Grandpa’s with out him “ I want to keep him” she said.

About 12 hours later we were told that he had a heart murmur but it was nothing to worry about because it is pretty common for babies to have those when they are first born. The murmurs tend to dissipate on their own. I went home to catch some sleep at around 11 pm on Tuesday night, with Nicole and Hunter safely in their beds sleeping away.

In the morning I received a call from Nicole as I was on my way to the Rocky View Hospital telling me that they had moved Hunter into the special care unit. His murmur was not going away. The doctors had an echocardiogram (ultrasound of his heart). When they had the results the doctors in Calgary came to us and told us that Hunter had an Aortic Stenosis which means the valve in the left ventricle of his heart was not opening and only had a tiny whole for the blood to travel thru to the rest of his body. They were going to send him to the Stollery children’s hospital in Edmonton, because they have a pediactric cardiology department, In the mean time he had to be intibateded and central lines for both the veins and the arteries were put itto Hunters day old umbilical cord. The Doctors in Calgary started a intravenous medication called Prostin. This drug holds open the artery in his heart (ductus arterious) that is normally only open when he was inside Nicole, the ductus by passes the left side of the heart since when Hunter was inside Nicole he did not need to us his lungs. The reason they gave him this medication was to lessen the stress on the heart and keep his blood flowing.
The transport nurses came to pick him up and send Hunter on a plane to Edmonton.

My Mom and Dad drove us up and our truck after a quick stop at home to get some clothes and things we would need, and to give Abby a great big hug and kiss from here baby brother. We were both in no shape to drive and there was no room on the plane for us. Hunter had 3 transport nurses and to EMT’s on the plane with him. he got to Edmonton about 4 or 5 in the afternoon. We were only a couple of hours behind him. When we got to the NICU they told us we could stay in the parents room for the night it is inside the NICU just off to one end. It was small and had a twin bed with a pull out mattress below but that was no consolation for being only 15 feet from him for the night. As we walked in the NICU he was having an echocardiogram done again, this time by the cardiologists. They explained to Nicole and I that they wanted to insert a catheter in his legs and up to his heart, they were going to do valve dilation, Which means they use a balloon to force open the valve and allow more blood to flow through his heart. This procedure decreases the pressure on the ventricle and increase the blood to the rest of the body.

After the surgery the doctor told us that the balloon inflation worked well, the pressure on the left ventricle was now down. Now it is up to Hunters ventricle to relax to reshape it has been working so hard that it’s muscles were enlarged from working under so much pressure for so long.

On the weekend Nicole’s Mom, Dad , Abby and her uncles came for a visit. Hunter loved to hear his big sisters voice; he smiled every time he heard it.

We have had a lot of ups and downs, somedays are good some are not so good. But we appreciate all the well wishes, prayers, and just wanted to let you all know that we have the best friends and family what any one could ask for. Thank you so much.