Layla, born 2011

We were expecting our first child and had no idea how much our lives were going to change forever. Layla was born weighing in at 7lbs.15oz. and was the most beautiful girl I had ever laid my eyes on. Everything appeared normal in the first couple days of life except for the pediatrician heard a slight heart murmur which she said wasn't unusual. We were packing up and getting ready to go home when there was a knock on the door from a Cardiology P.A. coming to check on Layla to make sure that the murmur was normal which she took a listen and everything was fine. I was a little hesitant due to the fact that my sister had her second baby 5 weeks prior to Layla and she was born with 4 major heart defects so I wanted to make sure that Layla's heart was ok and there wasn't anything that they were missing.

 

After the P.A. left the room I noticed that Layla's breathing became very labored so I asked the nurse if she could have the P.A. come in and look at it. Sure enough the P.A. immediately ordered an ECHO on Layla and they told us to go back to the room and wait for them to come in with the results. After we had returned to the room, my husband left to go and get my meds filled so that they were all ready for when went home. I was in the room with Layla trying to get her to eat when the nurse came in and said that they were going to have to take Layla to the NICU and the P.A. would be in to let me know what was going on. We learned at the Nebraska Medical Center that they did not have a PC on staff so once Layla's lines were placed they were going to have her transferred to Children's Medical Center.

 

My heart sank, we were lost we had no idea what her diagnosis was or how serve it was. After getting the Children's Hospital we met with, who I believe is one of the most amazing doctors, Dr. Hammel. He informed us that Layla had a Coarctation of the Aorta and a Bicuspid Aortic Valve. After recently going through this with my niece I had no doubt in my mind that we were in the right place and with the right doctors. We were admitted to Children's Hospital on Tuesday afternoon and Layla had her COA repair done on Thursday morning and we were amazingly discharged on Saturday afternoon.

 

She has been the most laid back and happiest child. She has had her follow ups with her PC and has now been cleared to only go on a yearly basis. She is a bright and shiny little miracle who if you looked at her you would have no idea that she is truly a miracle.

 

Story by Layla’s mom, Samantha – Nebraska