Zayden, born 2016

I found out when I was 20weeks pregnant that my baby boy had a special heart. Being a 1st time mom I was so scared. When Zayden was born he looked and seemed normal and no one could tell something was wrong but there was and that was just fine. He had his 1st surgery only at 9 days old. The day they scheduled his surgery that had to wait 24 hours to be on the safe side because while prepping for the surgery they hit an artery instead of the vein they wanted too. After the doctor was done they left his little area around his heart open with a patch. The day they finally closed it I was so happy. Zayden seemed to be doing so well and everyone kept saying he will be going home soon. Well as they were trying to take his breathing tube out he started having seizures so he was put on the EEG machine come to find out he had a stroke on the left side of his brain. A week later he finally was allowed to be held with no breathing tube and sent to a step down room to help work on his feeding. It felt like it was taking forever because he just wouldn't eat from the bottle. I guess he was getting tired of having all the lines on him so he pulled the feeding tube and a few days later he finally was eating without a problem and got to go home on December 27th, a month and few days after he was born.

 

Zayden is doing great these days his stats are like they want his color is amazing, and he's gaining weight like he should. Every day he shows me just how strong he really is and I am so thankful.

 

Story by Zayden’s mom, McKayla - Virginia