Update after Appointments in Atlanta

We had a long day yesterday in Atlanta and made it home about 10 last night. We're both feeling a little drained today, but I wanted to give you a little update.
I guess we didn't learn a whole lot that we weren't already aware of- the Pediatric Cardiologist repeated the fetal echo and confirmed the defect as well as detected a couple of other specifics not identified before. I won't give you all of the technical diagnoses, but it could potentially make things more critical and the surgery more urgent. It is possible that the pulmonary vein is small (based upon resistance heard by doppler)- this makes it urgent that the surgery is done right after birth. Due to his position and size, they could not get a good view of another portion of the heart that needs to be open to allow blood flow after birth. If this is not adequately patent, they will take him for a heart catheterization immediately after birth to balloon the opening and better prepare him for the surgery. With a typical Hypoplastic Left Heart, once they are on the necessary medications they can usually wait a few days to do the surgery.
All of the doctors were very nice, and we were impressed with the facilities. Our surgical consult was with the head of the Cardio-thoracic department, and he is assigned to us; unless something changes, he will be doing the surgery. This was encouraging as he has alot of experience in this area.
The plan is for us to go back to Atlanta in 6 weeks for f/u appointments and then at 38 weeks- around May 12th to deliver close to 39 weeks.
We were reminded that we have to take 1 day at a time; The whole picture can be a little overwhelming. We can't think about the potential complications and health risks in the future. While we were at the Children's Hospital, we received a tour of the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. There were many babies post-op some type of heart surgery. It's a little difficult to see them with all of the necessary support, but they wanted us to know what to expect.
We appreciate the continued prayers for Mitchell. We are praying that he will be prepared to handle this surgery, and the physicians will be able to complete an optimal repair.