September 27, 1997 Up until the day before Charlie was born I thought I was having a healthy baby. 3 weeks before I was due, my doctor sent me over to a specialist for a special ultrasound just as a precaution due to the fact that I had a over abundance of amniotic fluid. That same day, he sent me to Portland, OR to have echocardiogram and the next day I was induced. She said her right side of her heart was almost 2x as big as her left and to remain in utero would only be worse on her heart. We were all in shock and very scared. After having 3 very healthy boys to find out so abruptly was extremely frightening.    After Charlie was born, they took her off and I didn't even get to see her for a long time, but I knew that she was stable. She went to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital in the NICU. She was unable to suck and breath at the same time and would have apnea spells all the time. It was determined on day two to keep her Ductus Valve open by medication so they could do surgery on her on October 1, 1997 to repair her coarctation of the Aorta. She also had a VSD, but they were not concerned with it because it was small and they thought it would close on its own. Her surgery went well, but the narrowing was larger than they thought and was determined that she had a hypoplastic aortic arch repair. In the cardiac recovery unit, Charlie was struggling to get of the ventilator. She was extubated and then re-intubated, then she got pneumonia. I couldn't hold my precious baby girl for over a week, with all the wires and tubes it was almost scary to even attempt to. When I finally did, I just cried and cried with so much emotion. Charlie was at Doern Becher's Children's Hospital for over a month. I stayed at the Ronald McDonald House the whole time. When she was finally able to go home, they did one last echo on determined she has Bicuspid Aortic Stenosis, and Mitral Valve Stenosis. She would need future surgery to repair her valves. That was totally a shock to us. We thought her heart troubles were repaired and then to find out she had other, was hard to accept. Charlie went home with an NG Tube because she still struggled eating. She was just too weak. Once we got her home we found out she had severe reflux too. She was hospitalized several times at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene for various infections and viral illnesses. At 2 1/2 months we decided a G-Tube would be in her best interest due to the fact that her feeding issues would be long term. Charlie struggled gaining weight for months so at 8 months she had stomach surgery (Fundoplication) to prevent her from refluxing up all her feedings. The surgery itself was very painful for her, but a month later she began to gain weight.    Charlie is now 2 years old and has been triving every since. She still has a low immune system but weighs 26 lb. and is a bright, and very happy little girl. She has echo's every 3-4 months and her aortic and mitral valves are considered to have a moderate stenosis and her VSD has not closed on its own. Charlie's 5 heart defects are all on the left side of her heart which technically qualifies her as having Shones Complex. We are currently playing the waiting game with her valves and our main focus right now is trying to get her to eat orally so we can remove the G-tube. We truly feel blessed to have our precious, priceless little girl in our lives. She has already given a lifetime of joy! Thanks for reading her story. 
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