Delivery Postponed

We are going to deliver in one week (Monday, March 5th) unless I go into labor earlier (pray for contractions!!). Right now, Luke is happy, healthy & growing and my body is not ready. So, in hopes of a shorter induction and the biggest kid in the NICU, we are aiming for the full 40 weeks. We will probably head to Nashville at the end of the week just in case!

Luke is Still Growing!

Yesterday, Luke was 6#8oz on ultrasound-far exceeding what we thought he would end up! In fact, he is growing so well we may NOT deliver on the 26th. If I'm not otherwise close to being in labor, we will try to prolong things a few more days (but not beyond March 5th, my original due date). We'll see how the next week goes and keep everyone updated!

Some Recent Photos (Christmas 2006!)

I love my new big boy bed (the top bunk is on now, too, but mom & dad keep the ladder hidden).


Making Christmas cookies with some friends: L to R, Zach, tammy, Landon, Ethan & Logan Hooper.


Our family on Christmas Day.

Justin's New Job & Our Plan for Delivery

Tomorrow, I will be 36 weeks which means we have 3 weeks to go! Justin's new job, as of tomorrow, is that of full-time dad. Though his job over the past few months was VERY flexible (we have had LOTS of doctor visits) we decided that having one of us at home was the best thing for our boys. Zachary is now a very busy 2 1/2 year-old and Luke is going to need a lot of care. Unless I go into labor, we will be induced at Vanderbilt on Monday, February 26. Immediately after delivery, Luke will be whisked away to the NICU where they will start IVs, do a physical exam and do a complete ECHO (ultrasound of the heart). We have been going every 4 weeks for fetal ECHO's but the one they do after delivery will really tell us how his heart is doing and if we can proceed with surgery. As long as everything is stable, his first surgery (The Norwood Procedure) will be 1-2 days after delivery. He will spend about a month in the hospital after surgery while they regulate his medication, ensure that his heart is functioning as well as it can, and get him eating & growing. We will stay at The Ronald McDonald House that is a block away from the hospital. A church in Nashville has also given our family a home to use for the month. Holly's mom is planning to come for the duration to help take care of Zach & us so she will stay there and, if you want to visit us, there may be an extra room. Our suitcases are somewhat packed, we have lots of options if we need to make a quick departure to Nashville, and our home is ready for returning with a newborn so now we are just waiting, and praying.

Prayer Requests
1. That we make it to 39 weeks (the bigger Luke is, the better. He was 4#14oz as of 34 weeks).
2. That the induction is short (pray for contractions to start on Sunday night, Feb 25th, so that I'm in active labor on the morning of the 26th).
3. That the regurgitation (leaking of the heart valve) that they saw on the last 2 ECHO's would be gone so that Luke is unquestionably a surgical candidate.
4. For Zachary to continue to "go with the flow" through all of this.

A Prayer for the Ephesians (& for us all today)
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:14-21

His Name is Luke

Luke Allyn Miller

Luke – “ the bringer of light”
Allyn – “noble, precious, handsome” (Justin's middle name, his dad & grandfather's first name)

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
MATTHEW 5:14-16

What is HLHS?

In simple terms, Luke is missing one of the two pumps that make a heart work (his Left Ventricle). While he is inside Holly, his blood is flowing easily between the two waiting chambers (the right & left atria) through a big hole (Atrial Septal Defect or ASD). It enters the Right pumping chamber (ventricle) and out to the lungs (just a little bit) and the body. It gets to the body through an extra vessel called the Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) because his lungs don’t need a lot of blood. He will be on medication just after birth to keep these two holes open and the goal of the first surgery (The Norwood Procedure) is to make these holes permanent. If these holes close, there will be no connection leaving his heart to the rest of the body. If you want pictures check out: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=1353#
http://www.childrenheartinstitute.org/educate/defects/hypo1.htm
There is no way to re-create the pump that he is missing so, over the course of the first 3 years of his life and with a total of 3 surgeries his blood flow will be re-routed so that it goes directly from his body to his lungs, from the lungs back to the heart and then it will get pumped from the heart to the body.

We Chose Vanderbilt

Since we had the HLHS diagnosis early, we had LOTS of time to sort through the possibilities for treatment. We thank each one of you that has helped us through this! We are so grateful to have friends in the medical field and family that has walked the road of a Congenital Heart Defect before (our nephew was born with Tetrology of Fallot 2 years ago). We looked at lots of hospitals around the country and ended up choosing one close to home (remember, at the time of diagnosis we had only lived in TN for 6 weeks!)--Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville (www.vanderbiltchildrens.com). Dr. Ann Kavanaugh-McHugh is the pediatric cardiologist that has been taking care of Luke (and will continue to do so until he is 18!) and Dr. David Bichell is the pediatric cardiac surgeon that will operate on him. We weren't sure what to expect on that first visit but came away feeling very at peace about them taking care of our son. Dr. Kavanaugh is a very gifted physician--she explains everything so that we can understand what is going on (I might be a physician but I am NOT a cardiologist!...I knew the heart was supposed to have 4 chambers but that was about it) and makes us feel like we are her only patient each time we see her. Dr. Bichell joined the Vanderbilt team in August and we are glad he did. We met him on our first visit to Nashville (it was a consultation but from our perspective, an interview) and he said all of the things we wanted to hear. We have the drive down to just under 2 hours and we are learning where all the good restaurants are around the hospital. We'll have many more trips to find all of them!

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome--the diagnosis

Just before lunch on September 15, 2006, Justin met me at the office and my ultrasonographer took a quick peek and told us "It's a boy!". For one reason or another, I told Vickie to look only for gender and not to look at the rest of the anatomy--not that I expected there to be anything wrong but if there was I didn't want to know at that moment. We then went out for lunch over-joyed that another son was to be in our family. When I returned from lunch, my Nurse Practitioner, Donna, was waiting to show me the results of my Quad Screen test. The Quad is a blood test that we can do to screen for a variety of abnormalities and mine was abnormal--very abnormal. By God's perfect timing, Vickie's 1:00 ultrasound had cancelled so I sat down for a real scan to make sure my due date was correct(it was) but she and I could both tell something was very wrong with his heart. Donna called over to our MFM's (Maternal-Fetal Medicine) office to see if he could see me and, by God's perfect timing, his 2:00 had cancelled. One of my partner's called Justin (I was sobbing by then) and told him to come get me. As we left the office we prayed that God's will would be done. Dr. Wagner gave us the initial diagnosis that afternoon of Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). We didn't really know what it meant, but we knew it was not something we had expected. He also did an amniocentesis because the blood test had suggested a possibly fatal genetic abnormality. I was supposed to take call the next day but my partners covered for me and Justin, Zach and I drove to my parents cabin in NC for a weekend away. The shock slowly faded and by Sunday morning we were able to claim that "all the days ordained for [our little guy]were written in Your book before one of them came to be" Psalm 139:15-17. Monday morning we learned that the amnio was normal and so, at 16 weeks into this pregnancy, we had to start learning what HLHS was and what it meant for our future.

The Miller's in 2006--A Quick Review

2006 started in Chicago, took us half-way around the world and ended in Jackson, TN, our new home (thus our blog address tnmillerfamily.blogspot.com). We finished remodeling our house in the spring and sold it so some new friends that God definitely placed them in our lives! 8 days after I had writted in my prayer journal "sell the house without a realtor" they were literally walking by. Justin asked, "are you looking for a house, we will be on the market in a month" and the rest was history. In June, I completed my Ob/Gyn residency--what a time to celebrate and what a relief! Three days after graduation Justin left town with Zachary and the movers (along with my mom & grandfather) and headed to Jackson. I stayed in Chi-town to study for and take my written Ob/Gyn board exam (so glad to have that behind us). On July 1st, we all left from Nashville for a month long adventure in the middle east! We visited some friends that live & work there and learned so much about a very different culture. It was a wonderful experience with lots of new foods included. I had found out I was pregnant the day before we left so I enjoyed the new smells the most. We arrived home the end of July and I started working (finally, a real job!) at The Jackson Clinic (www.jacksonclinic.com) on August 7th. It is a great place to be practicing medicine. We quickly felt at home here in Jackson--southern people are as friendly as you think they are. We joined a church (www.fellowshipjackson.com) that has become like family. Unlike our old church, we now live just a few minutes away. We love going to church with people that live nearby! Our nanny, Jennifer, started working for us when I started working. Justin enjoyed a few months of retirement and was offered a job (which he later took) on Friday, September 15th. That was the same day we found out that this wasn't going to be a normal pregnancy.

Some Photos from our Trip in July

The photos show us with our friends, Holly with her translator (she worked a few days at a medical clinic), some of the people that we met, hiking in a mountain village, eating a traditional meal and our kids enjoying traditional dancing.

Our Chicago Home

If you didn't see the before you can't understand how much of an Extreme Makeover that this is! Everything you see is new or has been refinshed (like the beautiful hardwood floor, original to this 1918 home, and the front door that was under 13+ layers of paint). The garage and deck are brand new, as was the entire finished basement including study and full bath. If you are one of the MANY that helped us do this, thank you. Justin gets to take most of the credit--it was his vision and determination that made it happen. It was hard to leave but we handed it over to a couple that loves it as much as we did!