Shawn and I (Courtney) went to our ultrasound at the perinatologists to check our baby's thyroid. We were 16 weeks and expecting our first child. We found out at the appointment we were having a boy and his thyroid was fine for now. But the doctor saw a problem with his heart. He diagnosed him with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, said the baby was already in heart failure and gave us a very grim outlook. He said we would be lucky if the baby lived through the pregnancy and delivery. We left hysterical and had no clue what to do next.

The next day after we could come to terms with what was happening we got a referral to a pediatric cardiologist from a good friend of ours. We got in to see him the following week, in about 4 days. There office is wonderful. After 2 hours of trying to get the baby to stay still so the technician could do the echo, we finally got to speak to the doctor. He gave a much more hopeful diagnosis, he said our baby is not in heart failure as of right now, that his heart is functioning well enough for him now. He believes there is a coarctation of the aorta which is making the blood back up into the right ventricle, that is making the left ventricle smaller. Right now it is the same length as the right one, it is not as wide. Right now he is just think he will have to patch the coarc when the baby is born and then once the blood can flow correctly it will correct the problem with the left ventricle.

So we are expecting to have our baby next March about 2 hours from where we live. But we are very optimistic and can't wait to see his beautiful face. Please pray for us and Cody Harris.