Elisha Enrique Ramirez: Thank You

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Thank You

I wanted to say thank you to EVERYONE. Everyone who has prayed for us, all of our friends, all of our family, everyone who came to the hospital, everyone who sent flowers and gifts, everyone on Whattoexpect.com, everyone on AnencephalyBlessingsfromAbove.com, everyone at church, our photographer, all of our nurses, our doctor, everyone at our jobs and anyone who has taken part in loving us and our son and thank God for never leaving our side. And thank you everyone who has kept up with our blog and commented to us. I cannot tell you what this support has done for us in helping us to get through this most difficult time in our lives. We appreciate it moer than you can imagine. May God bless you all.

1 comment:

AnonymousJanuary 15, 2009 at 8:47 PM
Dear Shelley, first off I'm so sorry for your loss. You have touched me in a way you will never know. You are the most strongest women I know. I know in my heart one day you will have a baby to take home til then you have two beautiful angels. I will pray for you and your family and always keep you in my thoughts. Thank you for sharing your story you are truly amazing. I will release a balloon from my house (I live in Utah). Thank you and may your days be filled with blessings. Love, Lindsey Rowley
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What is Anencephaly?

Anencephaly is a neural tube defect like Spina Bifida, but instead of he neural tube not closing in the spine it fails to close in the cephalic portion or the top of the spinal column. When this happens the brain and the top of the head cannot complete forming. So the top of the head is exposed openly to the brain. With Anencephaly there is typically not much more brain than a brain stem, sometimes more. The skull and skin does not form above the eyes, ears and back of the neck. Anencephaly is one of the most sever nerual tube defects, and there is no cure, and is a disorder that is "incompatible with life". Babies who make it to term will pass away within minutes or hours after birth. Most babies do not cry and are unable to suck or swallow to eat.

Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)

The septum is a wall that separates the heart's left and right sides. Septal defects are sometimes called a "hole" in the heart. A defect between the heart's two lower chambers (the ventricles) is called a ventricular septal defect (VSD).
When there is a large opening between the ventricles, a large amount of oxygen-rich (red) blood from the heart's left side is forced through the defect into the right side. Then it's pumped back to the lungs, even though it's already been refreshed with oxygen. This is inefficient, because already-oxygenated blood displaces blood that needs oxygen. This means the heart, which must pump more blood, may enlarge from the added work. High blood pressure may occur in the lungs' blood vessels because more blood is there. Over time, this increased pulmonary hypertension may permanently damage the blood vessel walls.
If the opening between the ventricles is small, it doesn't strain the heart. In that case, the only abnormal finding is a loud murmur.