Less than 2 years after my first child was born, I was pregnant with my second child. So I started preparing myself and my life for this new addition. However, my child was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. With Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, as the baby develops during pregnancy, the left side of the heart does not form correctly. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is one type of congenital heart defect. It was tragic. The doctor gave me three options: get an abortion, have my child and let them pass away on their own or have my child and give them the necessary surgeries.
Honestly, none of these decisions were easy choices. Some family members felt that it wasn’t right to have my child suffer so it made more sense to get an abortion. The option I chose was for my child to be born and give them the necessary surgeries. I had so many doctor’s visits during my pregnancy just to make sure growth was on track, monitoring the heart and making sure everything else was okay. It was so much.
About 3 weeks before my due date, I started having ridiculous contractions and they were pretty frequent. I didn’t have contractions with my first child so goodness, I was in for it. Eventually, they started getting more powerful and closer together so my child’s dad took me to the hospital. I was told that I had preeclampsia and I had to stay in the hospital. They decided to schedule me for a c-section the next morning. I was previously scheduled for a c-section due to the birth defect but they moved it up.
All night, I couldn’t sleep. I had contractions all night and the nurses would come to check on me pretty frequently. Early the next morning, it was unbearable! They decided to move me and prepare me for my c-section early. I was miserable and I was screaming. I remember the nurse told me “it wasn’t that serious, my contractions are only mild” based on her computer readings. Ma’am, I’m the one having the contractions! Bedside manner, WHERE?!
When I first was brought into the room, I was about 2 cm dilated. Maybe 10 mins later, not to long after the nurse made that comment, they checked again and I was 8 cm dilated! They were like OOOHHH SH*T! Because of my child’s heart defect, they didn’t want to risk the vaginal birth being too stressful on the child’s heart.
I was rushed to the operating room, they did the c-section and my baby girl was here! Yay! Unfortunately, I didn’t get to hold her or anything, they had to immediately take her to keep her stable. I actually didn’t get to see her until maybe a day or 2 later. The children’s hospital is pretty much linked to the regular hospital so she was taken there while I recovered. My family and her dad were able to see her and she was just beautiful! She was stable but had to have correction surgeries within the first few days after she was born. The surgeries went amazing! I stayed in the hospital with her while she recovered, my son with me sometimes when their dad had to work. I knew it wouldn’t be easy but I would do everything I could for her. She was in the hospital for a while as they were concerned about her eating and weight gain.
After about a month, she was stable enough to come home. She did have to come home with a feeding tube. Every feeding, I charted how much she ate and everyday, I tracked her weight. I had medicine that I gave her on a regular basis. Despite everything, she was just the happiest child! My son loved playing with her, he was so happy to have a little sister.
We had frequent doctor’s appointments to monitor her as she had more surgeries that she would need. I left my job to care for her and we just had a good old time. I was exhausted and stressed like even more than a normal mother of a newborn.
BUT my beautiful daughter was here! My heart was so full and has been so full ever since!
Stay well *
To learn more about Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, please visit the links below.
https://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/h/hlhs
https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/heartdefects/hlhs.html
Also, here are some foundations to learn more about and donate if interested!
The Unfinished Thought 