Zachary, born 2009
At my 20 week scan, we were told we were having a boy! We were so excited, then 10 minutes later we were told that our baby had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS); it was a shock. I'm a nurse so I knew right away what to expect and we knew right away we wanted to have the three stage surgery performed after birth. I was then followed with echocardiograms at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where I then delivered my handsome little boy Zachary. He was born on his due date 11/24/09, weighing 7 lbs 4 oz and 17 inches long. He had great apgar scores at birth and then was taken to the cardiac intensive care unit at CHOP for medications to keep him going until surgery.
At one week old, he had his first of 3 surgeries performed by the wonderful cardiac surgeon, Dr. Spray. His surgery itself went great, but during recovery he got a blood infection from the lines he had in and they also found a clot in his portal vein in his liver, which was from the umbilical venous line. After 6 weeks in the hospital (4 weeks on IV antibiotics for the infection) he came home! This was the best day ever. Zachary was lucky enough to be discharged feeding well with no NG tube! He enjoyed being home and was growing and progressing nicely.
His second surgery was on April 21, 2010, when he was five months old. He weighed 12 lbs, 6oz for his bi-directional Glenn. It went great. His only complication this time was a pleural effusion, which he had the first surgery as well, this was treated with high flow oxygen and a diuretic. He was home in 5 days.
He is growing well and continuing to surprise his mommy and daddy with the big boy things he is continuing to do! He's so far on track developmentally and is mommy and daddy's little miracle. He's a strong little boy and other than his scar (we call it his zipper) you wouldn't know there is anything wrong with him. He's a strong, handsome, special little boy who loves as if his half a heart was a whole heart!
Story by Zachery's parents, Megan & Chris - PENNSYLVANIA