Meg and I have been so lucky that Teddy’s health has not taken center stage over the last few days. He has been given medication to keep his patent ductus arteriosis (PDA) — the blood vessel all babies have that typically closes in the first few days of life but that Teddy needs to remain open to deliver blood to his lungs — from closing and is doing absolutely amazing. Over the last few days, he very well may have been the healthiest of our new family of three. He has adjusted well and given his family who have been able to travel for the occasion the opportunity to hold and spend valuable quality time with him.

Unfortunately, Meg has been the focus of our attention since Teddy was born. The nurses at Brigham and Women’s Hospital never communicated a significant long-term concern, but Meg developed preeclampsia toward the end of labor which progressed into HELLP Syndrome — a rare condition characterized by elevated liver enzymes and a loss of red blood cells and platelets — shortly after delivery.

Meg’s care at Brigham and Women’s has been outstanding and we are so thankful for the doctors and nurses who have helped her get back on her feet. Although it took a couple of days, Meg was able to reunite and bond with Teddy on Tuesday night. We expect that she’ll be fully discharged later this morning.

With Meg’s full recovery just around the corner, our focus will return to the little guy. His doctors have been busy preparing for a longer-term fix to keep his PDA open; they have been taking CT scans and echocardiograms of his heart and surrounding vasculature to determine whether he could receive the less-invasive PDA stent instead of the surgical B-T shunt.

His good health and the structure of his PDA and surrounding blood vessels have fortunately made him eligible to receive the non-surgical stent, and doctors plan to place the stent later this morning. Although there are risks from this procedure, if all goes well it should be far less stressful for Teddy and his recovery should be around 10-14 days as opposed to 4-6 weeks. Recovery time can, however, vary widely, so we’re cautiously optimistic that the procedure will go well and Teddy will be in the arms of family and friends again very soon.  He stayed healthy and helped his mom through her recovery, and now she looks forward to carrying him through his.  We’ll provide another update after Teddy’s procedure to let you know how he’s doing.

Another big thank you for all of your support and kind words over the last few days, and a particular shout-out to our nurses at Brigham and Women’s and Boston Children’s, who have been taking amazing care of Meg and Teddy. We are so incredibly happy to welcome Teddy into the world and are feeling truly blessed. Thoughts and prayers for Teddy’s continued good health are much appreciated, as always.