Sonographer Conference

    I was asked at our last PCMC Cardiologist appointment if we would want to participate in a Sonographer Conference up in Park City in October.  They had several other moms with normal babies, and they wanted one with a defect so that the Sonographers could scan for themselves and be able to recognize it, and be able to catch it early.  Our cardiologist, Dr Pinto, told us that about 50% of all heart defects are not discovered until after birth.  So this conference was to help get the right education out there to these sonographers that scan people every day.  I was so lucky to have an amazing Perinatologist and sonographer that was able to catch it at 16 weeks.  So it is possible to detect early, but most do not know what to look for.  
    I told them that I would love to participate in this.  Plus I got to see my baby boy for a solid 2 hours, and it gives me an excuse to go to the outlet mall after.  So the day came and we (Drew, Stella and I) loaded up and drove the long way, through Weber canyon, so we could see the beautiful fall colors, dusted with fresh new snow.  It was at the very nice Silver Lake Lodge in Deer Valley.  Everything was quiet and peaceful since it is not ski season yet.  There was a light dusting of snow on the ski slopes, but the colors of the leaves were more vibrant against the white snow. It was so beautiful!

    We were able to enjoy a delicious soup and salad lunch before the scanning began.  Stella and Drew sat on the nice comfy leather couches by the fire ( it was only 50 degrees up there) while I was in the other room being scanned.  Sonographers came in groups of 2-5 and were all given the opportunity to scan my belly to see the heart defect.  For the majority of the time all of the images were all of his heart.  They were all talking in acronyms that I partially understood.  Most of it was a foreign language, but I finally have a good understanding of what is going on.  For some reason I thought that the hole in his heart was in the lower ventricles, but it is actually in the primum septum. 
    Now these machines that they had at the conference were top of the line brand new GE's that were so advanced, most sonographers had no idea how to use it.  The GE representative that was there scanned me at the end so we could get a profile shot.  He finally cooperated in the end and we were able to get some awesome pictures.  This machine has the ability to do a typical 3D pictures, as well as what is called Real HD.  It was almost scary at how realistic the images were.  It was like I was looking at an actual picture of his face.  It is unbelievable how far technology has come.  Here are some of the amazing pictures of our beautiful baby boy!

 Scary how realistic it looks, isn't it?

 Its crazy how chunky those cheeks are for only being 33 weeks.  We still have over a month left for him to chunk up, even more!

This was the beginning, he had his feet and hands in front of his face.  Little shy bug

Thumbs Up!

We are so excited to meet this little chunk.  He is already loved and well taken care of.  Thank heavens for all of the amazing nurses, sonographers, and Dr's that have helped us get this far.  They all truly are a blessing in our lives!  I cannot wait to hold you baby Jefferson!