Talking Heart-To-Heart

Since this is the big topic of the day, I wanted to update everyone on what's going on with my heart. When Mommy was pregnant with me, one of my early ultrasounds showed some anomaly with my heart.


My doctors feared that it would be a problem with my mitral valve in the left side of my heart--hypoplastic left heart syndrome, which means the left side of my heart would grow smaller than normal, making the mitral valve unfunctional or even absent. This is the side of the heart that pumps the oxygenated blood out to my body. If that happened, I would need up to 3 surgeries to fix it.

My due date was Sunday December 14th, and the doctors hoped I would grow as much as possible before I was born in hopes that the left side of my heart would catch up. They also wanted to be sure the right doctors were around when I was born, so they scheduled Mommy to be induced on the 15th if I didn't arrive before then. I heard them talk about it so much that when Monday morning came, I was ready!! Mommy's water broke around 4:30 am and her contractions started around 5:30 am. By that point we were on our way to the hospital. I had to go to the big hospital in uptown Charlotte, NC -- Carolina Medical Center Main. Their logo represents the tree of life, which I think is pretty cool. This hospital has lots of my doctors--cardiologists and surgeons, and the Levine Children's Hospital, which is where a lot of kids like me hang out to get better.

Mommy had a long day of labor, I guess I was having second thoughts or something. My Auntie Heather was with Mommy the whole day, along with Janey, her main nurse. I'll go into more detail about everything later but it was an exciting and tiring day. They did finally induce Mommy--hey, I'm not one to skip an appointment! At 6:50 pm I decided enough was enough, and out I came! The doctors were too late, so Janey delivered me, and Aunti Heather cut my umbilical cord. The nurses cleaned me off and Mommy held me for a bit while my ride to NICU (the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) was on the way. Then I had to go get checked out by the cardiologist to see how my heart was.

Mommy got to finally eat some food while she waited. Then the cardiologist, Dr. Sturn, came to see her and gave her the news. The good news was that the left side of my heart had grown more, and I did not have hypoplastic left heart syndrome. I did have some birth defects in my heart that would need attention, though. The main issue was that my aorta was too narrow where it arches like a candy cane from and around the heart to take the blood to my body. This would restrict the flow of blood. Dr. Sturn called it severe coarctation of the aorta with arch hypoplasia (meaning it wasn't just pinched in one place, but was narrow for a lot of the arch). They would have to do surgery to fix this. Later the nurse showed Mommy a website, which shows what they do in the surgery. You can see it too-- view slides 1-3 at this link. They also said they would check to see if I had a hole in my heart, which I did. That is called a PFO or patent foramen ovale. I also have a biscuspid aortic valve, which means that the valve in the left side of my heart has two flaps instead of the usual three. This is not a big issue unless it makes it difficult for my blood to flow correctly. The doctors will keep a close eye on me just in case.

I spent my first few days in NICU. Since I was full-term I was the biggest baby there! Most of the other babies were preemies. They put all these wires on me to monitor my heartbeat and how well I was oxygenating myself. They also had an IV connected with my umbilical cord to give me sugar water and vitamins to keep me strong. Mommy and Auntie Heather had to scrub up and put on a funny yellow smock to come into the NICU to see me. I had my own setup with a bed and a warmer above it, so I could hang out in my diaper, the nurses could monitor me closely, and I could still stay warm. Other than the wires, I looked great. I did sleep a lot though. The doctors gave me a medicine to keep my PDA open until my surgery. The PDA, or patent ductus arteriosus, is an extra blood vessel that helps a baby's circulation while still in Mommy's tummy. It usually closes up after birth, but it would help me a lot until the doctors fixed my heart.

My surgery was this morning starting around 8:30 or 9:00 am. Dr. Baird was my surgeon. He opened my chest up from the front, and hooked me up to a heart/lung machine. Then he stopped my heart in order to do the surgery. By 11:20 they had fixed one problem, and I was doing well. Then they fixed my arch, restarted my heart, and closed me up. Dr. Baird came out at 3pm to tell Mommy that I was doing very well. I look great and my heart rhythm is back to normal. Everyone is very relieved! They are taking me to the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU) where I will stay until I am better. The nurse warned Mommy that I would have a lot of wires and tubes, including some drainage tubes and a breathing tube. I might even be swollen and not look a lot like myself. But the tubes should come out within the next day or two. Mommy will be able to visit me in about an hour in my new room.

Well, I'll give you another update later! Right now I'm going to sleep this off...