1.) Josiah's heart has a major defect where the left side of the heart did not form correctly.


2.) I will be induced around the last week of May and deliver at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston (about 4 hrs. away)


3.) MUSC is one of the top children's hospitals in the nation and one of the top in the world for cardiothoracic surgery. We are very lucky to have one so close.


4.) MUSC is on of the few hospitals with a pediatric cardiology intensive care unit (PCICU)- which is one of the main reasons for their high success rates. I'm very comforted by the fact that every nurse and doctor that he sees will be specifically trained in pediatric cardiology.


5.)We'll live in Charleston with the girls and my mom and dad for 1-2 months after Josiah is born.


6.) I will be able to deliver naturally (if all goes well).


7.) They will take Josiah immediately after being born to the PCICU- which means most likely I will not have the chance to hold my new baby- so far that's one of the hardest things for me to deal with.


8.) They will give him a drug that will keep the hole in his heart, that naturally closes at birth, open. This will allow blood to still flow freely and keep him stable until surgery.


9.) The first surgery will be sometime in the first 1-2 weeks depending on how well he is doing.


10.) I will hopefully still be able to nurse Josiah. Although that won't actually happen until after he has recovered from his surgery (several weeks). I will pump in the mean time. I'm really praying that works!