Showing posts with label Hydrops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hydrops. Show all posts

Monday, July 26, 2010

Every beat is a miracle....


After trying to conceive for 26 months, I learned on my brother's birthday (12/16) that I was finally pregnant. The first round of IVF worked. I knew this pregnancy was a miracle from the beginning, but I never knew just how much of a miracle.

During the IVF process the doctor was only able to retrieve one egg. The doctor was disappointed, as were Brian and I. The doctor explained that we may have to try an egg donor if this doesn't work. Brian and I kept our heads up high and prayed all would work. It did! The doctor said, "Someone was one your side." The nurse stated, "I am shocked", she couldn't believe it worked.

Throughout the pregnancy, I considered myself lucky. I have friends who are still trying to conceive and can't. I would look at them and think "I remember that, I am so glad I don't have to do that again." I remember rubbing my stomach everyday and anxiously awaiting the birth of our little baby. I continued to think back to the IVF process and I did feel lucky that the one egg they retrieved worked... there had to be reason.

After getting back the autopsy results on Wyatt, I found out just how much of a miracle Wyatt actually was. Wyatt lived for 29 weeks and 1 day with HLHS and Hydrops. Not just HLHS, but the worst case ever. Wyatt's HLHS cause his left side of his heart not to function (which is what HLHS is) but it also caused his right side to compress causing his heart to hardly beat.

Every beat of Wyatt's heart was a miracle. For our son to live for 29 weeks and 1 day with a heart that was hardly beating was a miracle. Our little boy had a purpose here, he fought to show us that purpose, and for Wyatt, every second was a fight.

Wyatt's purpose was to show us that although life may be a struggle, you have to live it, you have to fight. There are many others who have it worse than you do. You have to remain strong and find your purpose.

What is Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome?

Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) is a congenital heart defect that is seen in 1 in every 100,000 births. A mother that has a baby with HLHS stands a chance of 1 in every 1,000 births that her next baby will have HLHS. Having multiple children with HLHS is uncommon, but it has happened. HLHS is a heart condition which impacts the left side of the heart. The left side doesn't develop correctly and causes the right side to work overtime.
In Wyatt's case, his left side didn't develop correctly, he has several issues with valves and such, and his left side was taking on blood but not releasing it. This caused the right side of his heart to shrink in size and hardly work. Since Wyatt's heart was barely working, he began to develop Hydrops.
Hydrops was the piece that the doctors were most concerned about. Hydrops causes the baby to take on fluid and Wyatt had already built up fluid in his lungs, spleen, abdomen, and slightly in his head.
After receiving the autopsy results from our Cardiologist, it was a miracle that Wyatt lived as long as he did. Wyatt basically had a heart that struggled to beat each time it did.
Why things like this happen, I will never know. But my baby is now an angel and he will no longer suffer, for this I am happy.