Claire Alyse Has Arrived!

Claire Alyse Pohlman arrived March 4th at 3:36 pm, weighing in at 8lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches long. She is gorgeous and a true love--and might I add, looks nothing like me but all Kevin. She shot into the world after only 4 or so pushes. It was a great labor and delivery. Seriously, it was really not bad at all and I feel very fortunate for the entire experience.
We have had a lot going on lately with our new arrival, as most of you know we found out she has a heart defect called, Muscular Ventricular Septum Defect(VSD). This is a fairly common heart defect, however, our Claire has multiple holes in her heart and one rather large hole, about 5 mm's. This will possibly require open heart surgery in the coming months. I can easily say, it was the most shocking, worst day of our lives. We took some time to wrap our minds around this but understand now this is fixable and possibly will heal maybe without the surgery. Right now the goal is weight gain, weight gain, weight gain! She at 3 weeks was back up to her birth weight of 8lbs 4 oz, so we were elated! With this condition comes being very tired and having difficulty eating, takes a while to eat only 2-3 ounces, also labored breathing due to the blood flowing into her lungs from these holes. We are working very hard to make sure she is getting all she can as far as eating and sleeping. She is also on 2 medications to help her breathing and blood pressure. She is getting better each day at this point so we just keep plugging along hoping she will not need the surgery. The cardiologist and pediatrician have been very helpful, we are very blessed to have these 2 men in our lives. If anyone needs a good pediatrician in the Steele Creek area, I would highly recommend Dr. Steven Bernal(new building behind Harris Teeter). He found this defect(not Presby) and sent us strait to Dr. Greene, our cardiologist. These offices are taking great care of us and have all fallen in love with Claire :)
Kevin and I are trying to stay strong and positive for Claire, we are pretty much at a "wait and see" point right now, each day, week counts. We just keep hoping and praying for these holes to close or get smaller and for Claire to keep getting stronger and bigger! We appreciate all the prayers, notes and love we have received, it has been a source of strength and we feel so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives. Also, thank you so much for all the meals, we so appreciate it!!
Please keep in touch with us, we love seeing/hearing from you all!