Seth Daniel

Seth was born November 3rd, 2002. He came into this world with a huge secret for everyone! He had a congenital heart defect (CHD). And boy were we surprised! We always had great check ups with the doctor. We only had one ultrasound and things look good, so we thought. Seth was born by c-section and I remember when the nurse was cleaning him and doing the APGAR, she said that he wasn't as pink as she would like him to be.

I asked what was wrong and my doctor said that he was sure he was fine, that newborns sometimes don't breathe correctly at first. So I dismissed it. Seth got cleaned and my husband carried him to me so I could see him and kiss him before taking him to the nursery.

Once in the nursery, the pulse ox was put on him. Seth's sats were in the 70s. They gave him a blast of oxygen and the numbers went up and dropped just as quickly. My husband, Marty, suggested the machine was broken, so blood was drawn, only to confirm what the machine registered. Seth was immediately taken to the NICU and the tests began. I was still in recovery unaware that my perfect little boy wasn't so perfect after all. Marty finally came to break the news to me that there was something wrong and the doctors were running tests to figure it out.

It was finally discovered the Seth had a CHD called Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA). When he was about 4 or 5 hours old, he was transferred to OU Children's hospital across town. My dad drove Marty there and my mom stayed with me. I got to see him for a few minutes before they took him. My doctor came in the following morning and just held me and let me cry for about 30- 45 minutes. Afterwards he told the nurse that under the circumstances he was going to let me go.

Seth was born at 2:31 pm and I was out at 10:00 am the next morning. We had to wait until Seth was days old to get his heart fixed. Dr. Christopher J Knott-Craig operated on him and is forever our hero!

Seth is now 5 years old and is in Pre-K. He is a very smart boy and we are so very thankful to have him. We are now in a support group, trying to make more people aware of CHDs. Any help we can get in doing that is so appreciated!