I want to thank all of you who have been praying for Asher.  We wanted to share with you all exactly what is going on with him.  After seeing two different pediatrician cardiologist’s we are confident he is in no immediete danger.  We just have to keep a close eye on his heart as he grows to make sure that the problem doesn’t get more severe.

Asher was born with an aortic valve that has only two flaps (leaflets) — not three.   The aortic Valve should look like a peace sign, Asher’s looks more like a fishes mouth.   Having a bicuspid aortic valve requires regular evaluation by a physician to watch for signs of valve malfunction.  Just around 1% of people are born with this.  In Asher’s case it is a bit more problematic because he has  aortic stenosis (thickening of the Aortic valve leaflets.)  The stenosis simply means that the two leaflets aren’t opening and closing as well as our awesome cardiologist would like.

So what exactly does all of this mean?  You know I am not a doctor, and I am not too bright, but I have really tried to learn from our amazing cardiologist.   Here is my best explanation:

The Aortic Valve is one of the valves in the heart.   Asher’s isn’t formed correctly and it doesn’t open and close exactly the way it should.  This sounds crazy scary, but  there is some good news.  Right now all this is causing is for the pressure in one chamber of his heart to increase because the blood can’t pump out the aortic valve as fast as the heart wants it to.    The blood is still flowing, it is just causing the pressure in that one area to increase.  Right now, even though the blood pressure in that one is higher than the rest of his body, it is still with-in the safe parameters/limits of his heart.  Which means, he is fine.

So where do we go from here?  Well, right now we will visit the cardiologist monthly to make sure as Asher grows and his heart grows, the problem doesn’t increase in severity.  There are several treatment options if the problem does get worse.

There were a few hours where we really weren’t sure what was wrong, we just knew something was wrong.  As you can imagine we were scared to death.   We believe that the prayers that were prayed and are being prayed made a huge impact on Asher’s health and the anxiety levels of his mom and me.  We simply praise God for Asher and helping us through this journey that started on Monday.  Next week I hope to post everyday on different things God showed us/me through this week.

Special thanks goes to our cardiologists, and our pediatrician in Mt. Vernon (Dr. Callie Shaffer) who is on Maternity leave herself.  She learned of our situation and called us and answered so many questions that our Doctor in Campbellsville did not.    Dr. Shaffer was and is an answer to prayer.

Thanks again for all of the concerns and prayers. Your prayers mattered in this situation. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.