Jackson, born 2014

My husband, Layne, and I had tried to get pregnant for a year and a half. I was finally sent for fertility testing and underwent a hysterosalpingogram (HSG) in October of 2013. I work in health care and was told by one of the doctors that I worked with at the time, “I hope you are ready to get pregnant because you will be pregnant before you know it after having the HSG”. Boy was he right. I was pregnant one cycle later. I was so excited to finally see a positive pregnancy test at a time when I had all but given up on getting pregnant. It didn’t seem to really hit my husband until the day he heard four very important words, “you’re having a boy”! I have never seen Layne so excited.

 

I was having a pretty normal pregnancy. Tired all of the time, nauseated 23 hours out of the day, and I practically lived in the bathroom. Before I knew it, I was in my second trimester and it was time to undergo the anatomy ultrasound. My husband couldn’t attend this appointment so my amazing sister-in-law went with me. She being excited about her nephew’s arrival, couldn’t wait to see him in action on an ultrasound. Having her there, and me not being alone on this particular appointment, was truly a blessing from God. He always takes care of me. The sonographer looked and looked and looked. Then she got my doctor and he looked. Finally, I was told that they couldn’t see one of the chambers of my son’s heart very well. I was assured by everyone that there was probably nothing to worry about but that I was being sent to a specialist to get a better look.

 

I waited two very long days for my appointment with the specialist. They did a fetal echo for about an hour. I could tell by the way the sonographer spoke to me that there was something wrong with our baby. I told my husband this very thing after we were taken into a conference room to await the physician to come in and give us the results. Layne told me I was over-reacting, but me being in health care, I had treated my patients the same way when I knew that patient was about to receive bad news. Sure enough, in walks the doctor and confirms my fears with one simple sentence, “Your son has a congenital heart defect”. To be honest with you, I don’t remember much about the appointment after he uttered those words. I completely fell apart. I went straight to bed and cried for days.

 

My darling son, Jackson, was born on August 18th, 2014 with Tricuspid Atresia (hypoplastic right ventricle). He has undergone the Blaylock-Taussing Shunt and the Glenn Shunt so far in his precious little life. He will have the Fontan Shunt sometime around his 3rd or 4th birthday. He is absolutely amazing!!! He does all the things every other toddler does to the point that most days I forget he has a heart defect. He is my miracle in every sense of the word. God blessed me with a little boy that has already taught me more in his year and a half on earth than I could ever imagine. My faith has grown by leaps and bounds and I owe a lot of that to my heart warrior! I pray every day for Jackson’s heart, his health, the hospital and staff where he is cared for, the research done worldwide for CHD, and for heart babies everywhere.

 

Story by Jackson’s mom, Jamie - Tennessee