Connor

When Connor was born he had a little trouble with his breathing, but we figured he might have aspirated some fluid on the way out. When he was still having trouble breathing after a several hours, the nurses thought it best if they kept him close to them at the nurse's station. They thought it best to have some tests done so that they could figure out why he was having these problems.

After a few x-rays that were pretty inconclusive, the doctor on call took a good listen to Connor's chest to see if she could hear any fluid in his lungs. She didn't hear any fluid, but she did hear a murmur. So, she decided that it would be best to send him up to Children's Hospital. She told us that she wasn't too worried because a lot of kids get murmurs and grow out of them. However, since Children's was so close, she wanted to take advantage of their expertise.

Connor was transported up to Children's around 9 a.m., 15 hours after he was born. I was discharged from the hospital by 9:30 a.m. When we arrived, I was shocked to see my poor little boy hooked up to multiple IVs, wires all over, and a feeding tube in his nose. After studying Connor’s echocardiogram, a doctor (who would later become Connor's cardiologist) came over to us and led us to a family discussion room. There he explained to us about the defects in Connor's heart. Connor stayed in the NICU for 5 days getting antibiotics and making sure he could eat on his own.

We took him home knowing that he would have to have surgery at some point, but we didn’t know when. At his two week check-up with the cardiologist, they found that the pressure on the valve was way too high and he would need surgery right away. So, on his 4 week birthday, he went into surgery for a valvotomy. They cut open the leaflets in his valve to make the blood flow easier. He has two regular leaflets and one malformed one, so they still consider him to be bicuspid. The surgery went great and the doctors are pretty sure that he will not have to have anymore surgeries for quite a while. The valve is still leaking, but at the moment it seems to be at an acceptable level.

Now that he's healthy, all this seems so far away. If his scar is covered, you'd never guess that this kid has a heart defect. He's a little on the skinny side, but he probably gets that from his dad and the fact that he never stops moving. I can't believe the energy of this child! I still worry about him every time his breathing gets labored, but I’m not constantly afraid that he will go into CHF at any moment.