It's a...complicated....

GIRL!!! We're very excited to have found out a few days ago that we're having another baby girl. I think we had all convinced ourselves it would a boy! So what a fun surprise. Luke and Emily have always wanted another sister with each pregnancy and then Josiah said we needed another girl, because there were too many boys!
However, while I was at my routine ultrasound the babies heart had an arrhythmia, so they referred me to a pediatric cardiologist for a more detailed heart ultrasound. They actually had an opening right away and so we were able to go right from the ultrasound appointment to see the pediatric cardiologist. There were two ladies that were doing the ultrasound of the babies heart and while they were doing that they were mumbling to each other the whole time. A lot of what they said was trying to figure out the right of the heart from the left of the heart and then switching it around for some reason and trying to decide which arteries came from which side, etc. They also mentioned the words "Conference Room" (which in my opinion sounds scary) and he's going to want to scan it himself (referring to the doctor). By this point I had about decided it was bad and everything was mixed up. So then the doctor came in went over a little history, etc, mostly normal stuff and then he started looking at the ultrasound pictures on the machine. It took him about 30 minutes with one of the ladies that did the scan showing him different things and how they came their conclusions. So they stood there and mumbled to each other-THAT was a very long 30 minutes. Of course every possible scenario of anything that could possibly be wrong goes through your head while you sit there and try to listen and make heads or tails out of what they're saying. Then he had her scan some more while he watched and they took some more pictures.
Then he gave us our baby's diagnoses. I'll try to be brief. The first thing he told us is that she has Dextrocardia, which basically is instead of her heart being pointed toward the left of the chest (which would be normal) it points to the right and is a mirror image of what it should be. After looking it up online it looks like there could be a lot of other things that go along with that, but he did not mention any of that, so I think as far as that diagnosis is concerned it's very basic and nonproblematic.
The next diagnosis he gave her is Congenitally Corrected Translocation of the Great Arteries (CCTGA). I'm not going to use right or left in regard to ventricles because her heart is backwards and it gets very confusing even though they're referred to backwards (We're already confused, see?) So in a normal heart the larger ventricle is connected to the aorta and pumps blood the the entire body, the smaller ventricle is connected to the pulmonary artery and pumps blood to the lungs; In our baby girls heart, the arteries are switched, the larger ventricle pumps to the lungs and the smaller ventricle pumps to the body. There can be complications with this in regards to too much pressure to the lungs and in the arteries there, the smaller ventricle having to work too hard and not adapting well, as well as some other things. They don't usually do surgery for this type of defect, it could come to that as well as heart failure and needing a heart transplant, but for the most part a lot of it can be helped with different medications and such.
Her other diagnosis because of the CCTGA is a problem with the electrical pathways not triggering properly which causes arrhythmias and can potentially cause heart block in which case a pacemaker would be necessary.

My understanding of what the doctor told us. There is a very good prognosis. Some people don't even know that they have this and have lived long normal lives. There would be monitoring and watching over the years. As long as her body and heart are able to adapt to the different pressures and function well, she should be able to do whatever she wants to. He talked like it would be over time (several years) before we would have to treat anything, of course that would depend on how she did right after birth and such I would think. If she adjusted well and seemed to do okay we would just monitor and it would either stay the same or be a gradual decline. He said if her heart starts to have problems it would be a gradual thing, not sudden.  At this point I think that is all that's wrong with her. He did not mention any other heart abnormalities or anything that could go along with this. We are going back in two weeks for another ultrasound, so hopefully everything will be clear and there will be a definite there's nothing else wrong.

It's been a lot to process and figure out, but I think we're doing ok. God is good all the time. It's not just a saying it's truth. He has a plan and a purpose in it all and we firmly believe that. I hope and pray that it's not His plan to take our baby girl to Heaven soon, but if it is I know He'll give us the grace and strength to deal with that as well. I puzzle over trying to find the balance between being hopeful and having faith that she will be well and healthy, yet being realistic, yet not worrying.

Here are some links I found helpful that explain it fairly well:
http://www.chop.edu/service/cardiac-center/heart-conditions/congenitally-corrected-transposition-of-the-great-arteries.html

http://www.achaheart.org/resources/for-patients/health-information/cctga.aspx