Birth control

Ok, so no one has asked me on my blog or facebook page outright. Though one young lady asked me honestly. Do my husband and I use birth control? Through the years of our marriage, the answer to this question has been different, today the answer is no. Yes, before my surgery was scheduled we were taking steps to prevent pregnancy. No, those steps were not perfect, and yes I ended up pregnant. We have long believed that it was God alone who opens and closes a womb.

I spent a short time after the birth of my second child on chemical birth control. I really did not know much about it. I did not realize how it worked and that while the first job was to keep from ovulation  When ovulation did occur the second job was to keep the newly fertilized egg from implanting. Now I know that "science" says that this new egg is not a baby. My faith says it is. Therefore this newly fertilized egg which has everything it needs to grow into a new baby is aborted. That was enough for me.

Now I have more objections to the pill and other chemical birth controls than just the abortion issue. There are side effects that come with these types of birth control. I had horrible headaches, that compounded headaches that I was already getting.

These types of birth control have been linked to breast cancer and other types of cancer. There are higher risks to having blood clots, strokes, heart attacks. (These are all mentioned in the commercials). Don't take my word for it, here is the side effect risks from the NuvaRing website. NuvaRing

Tetralogy of Fallot and Pregnancy

There seems to be some debate and concern about me getting pregnant again. Much of the debate is simply over not having facts and only knowing that "Kayte has a heart problem."

Now I can understand many concerns. I have not always followed doctors advice and I have not been followed by a cardiologist in several pregnancies. So I do understand the concerns and am learning from my past.

I do want people to know that this pregnancy I will be followed closely by my cardiologist, I emailed him the night I found out I was pregnant to make sure he knew that I was pregnant. He called me about 10 am the next day to talk over my first how I felt about being pregnant and to go over my past pregnancies. He is very much aware that I have had home births and that I was not followed for some time by a cardiologist. I have not hidden any information from him. When I first met him a year ago, we went over all my past pregnancies. He told me at that time, and in not the exact words this time that my heart condition tolerates pregnancy well. That is not to say that there are not things that he is concerned about.

There are 2 main areas in which he said he is most concerned and will be watching. The first is the delivery of the baby. The main concern there is that I don't push too long. He also said that he did not feel that this was going to be a big concern. This is an area I have gotten rather good at LOL. The last 3 or so babies have come out in less then 5 minutes of pushing, and my last guy was out in 3 pushes, it won't be too bad.

The second was the first few weeks after birth. He asked me how my energy was after the babies were born and I had to admit it was worse then when I was at the end of the pregnancy. He said that he hears that a lot from women like me. He also explained that the placenta absorbs much of the extra fluid in my body for the baby and makes it easier on my heart to pump that extra fluid. It is once the baby and more so the placenta is delivered that it can be harder on my heart and there I will have less energy.

I was so thankful to hear that news. I had been struggling for years to understand why so many of the women I knew while they were tired didn't seem nearly as wiped out 10 days after birth as I was.

The current plan for me is to see him at the end of October and see the high risk doctors at the same hospital. I will have 3 echos, one each trimester. He sees no reason right now that I can not have a natural childbirth.

It is also important to know that over the past year I have undergone a lot of testing on my heart, so they have a pretty good idea of where I am at.

If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will be more then happy to answer any questions.

Also this blog is not intended for medical advice, this is simply my experince and I want to share it so that others can be encouraged.

God's curve balls

As some of you may have seen I have a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. After going through extensive testing November 2011 and a cardiac catheterization in March of 2012 it was determined I would need open heart surgery followed by another catheterization to fix an area going into my right lung to open it up and allow more blood flow into the lung.

The surgery was planned, the date was set. I got things taken care to make sure my children were taken care of. All we had to do was wait for the date to arrive. Sounds simple right....

Well God has decided to throw me a curve ball. Instead of having another surgery, I am having another baby. Yup baby number 9 is currently being formed. I have to admit I have freaked out a lot. I have freaked out at my older 2 kids (glad that understand and love me anyway. ) I have freaked out at God.

I have to be honest and say, at this point I am not sure how I feel about the idea. My emotions go back and forth.

What does my cardiologist think? He supports me and while he wants to watch me, he is not overly concerned. He feels that my heart can handle the pregnancy just fine.

My lif:e with TOF: Tetralogy of Fallot (A heart condtion) part 1

I was born with a heart condition called Tetralogy of Fallot. I am not going to take the time at this moment to fully explain what that is. It is a condition that is encompasses 4 different problems. You can read about it at the mayo clinic siteTOF.

I was 3# 13oz at birth. I spent the first month of my life in the hospital in an incubator.I was not given much chance at life, less than a 30% chance to live 48 hours.

When I was born things were much different then it is now. Surgeries these days now take place when babies are just months old. When I was a child I did have a surgery at 3 months old, but it was not what they call a repair. (Again to save time I will not try to explain what that means here. TOF repair  ) My repair surgery was done when I was 5 years old and 2 years later I had a valve replaced. 

Most of my life was pretty quiet. I went to the dr once a year. I remember having a lot of x-rays, ecgs and echos (ultrasounds of the heart).

I have been told that because of this prolonged time in the incubator that it affected my learning abilities.I did struggle through school. Although now as an adult I am in college and doing much better. In high school i was a C student I am now a B student. I still struggle with my reading as I read very slow, but I am finding that I can do my work better. When I work at it, which is something I am avoiding right now.