♥ Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week ♥ Meet our February 18th Heart Warrior Kinlee Marie. Daughter to Nikki Bennett. (Today is her Mommy’s birthday!!)
Kinlee’s story as told by her Mommy:
This is our miracle baby Kinlee Marie. She was born after a perfect pregnancy and perfect delivery. She came out pink and gorgeous.
At about 14 hours post-delivery the nurses noticed her color wasn't the greatest and she seemed to be struggling to breathe. After the doctor came in and they had called Springfield St. John's originally thinking it may be a lung issue..they decided they needed to call St. Louis Children's Hospital where they had decided she had a heart defect.
She was in multi-organ failure by this point and the transport team from Children's sat us down and were very honest a realistic in what may come in the next few hours! We were terrified. They had diagnosed her with Transposition of the Greater Arteries where her oxygenated blood was not getting to the lungs and the rest of the body like it should. So she was rushed to St. Louis where she had an immediate balloon procedure to reopen the hole in her heart that all babies are born with so the oxygen could start pumping through her body again.
After she recovered from the initial shock of her body shutting down they would perform open heart surgery on her. She impressed all the docs and nurses on her quick turnaround and at 9 days old she had her open heart surgery to repair her defect! She did amazing with her surgery, she had the best doctors and nurses ever!
We were able to leave the hospital when she was just 3 weeks old, when they originally did not see her leaving until at the very least one month old, but she was a fighter She is perfectly wonderful now. Her cardiologist is amazed at how her heart looks like any normal one year old heart!!!
Happy Birthday to Kinlee’s Mommy Nikki!!
Kinlee’s story as told by her Mommy:
This is our miracle baby Kinlee Marie. She was born after a perfect pregnancy and perfect delivery. She came out pink and gorgeous.
At about 14 hours post-delivery the nurses noticed her color wasn't the greatest and she seemed to be struggling to breathe. After the doctor came in and they had called Springfield St. John's originally thinking it may be a lung issue..they decided they needed to call St. Louis Children's Hospital where they had decided she had a heart defect.
She was in multi-organ failure by this point and the transport team from Children's sat us down and were very honest a realistic in what may come in the next few hours! We were terrified. They had diagnosed her with Transposition of the Greater Arteries where her oxygenated blood was not getting to the lungs and the rest of the body like it should. So she was rushed to St. Louis where she had an immediate balloon procedure to reopen the hole in her heart that all babies are born with so the oxygen could start pumping through her body again.
After she recovered from the initial shock of her body shutting down they would perform open heart surgery on her. She impressed all the docs and nurses on her quick turnaround and at 9 days old she had her open heart surgery to repair her defect! She did amazing with her surgery, she had the best doctors and nurses ever!
We were able to leave the hospital when she was just 3 weeks old, when they originally did not see her leaving until at the very least one month old, but she was a fighter She is perfectly wonderful now. Her cardiologist is amazed at how her heart looks like any normal one year old heart!!!
Happy Birthday to Kinlee’s Mommy Nikki!!
♥ Heart Awareness Month ♥ Meet our February 19th Heart Warrior Aubrey. Daughter to Kate Hensley.
Aubrey’s story as told by her Mommy:
On February 19, 2012, we found out we were having a sweet baby girl, but we also found out she had spina bifida. We continued our appointments and found out she also was a cleft lip and palate, heart defect, and her growth wasn't where it should be.
A week after cardiologists said she needed to bake longer, our sweet Aubrey Anne was born. On June 15th at 1043am. She was only 3lbs 3 oz and underwent her first surgery when she was only hours old. Once her myleo (spina bifida) was repaired, she started showing the doctors what she was really made of. She awed the doctors with her discharge in September with no oxygen, no breathing tubes and only a g tube for feeds. She loved being home and snuggling on the couch. We followed up with her 18 specialists and they all seemed positive on her future. A heart surgery in January, her lip repair in February. Everything was planned out.
Aubrey went to see Dr. Gump her neuro surgeon and after a quick shunt scan he decided she needed a VP shunt, saying the fluid on her brain was growing and he wanted a shunt in before her heart repair. On December 27, 2012 Aubrey had her vp shunt procedure and had what they call a "tet spell" in the or. She stopped breathing, her heart rate dipped and scared the doctors to death. Dr. Austin, her heart surgeon came in and put a "A line" in her left arm to help give them access to more IV fluids.
She came back from the OR, and they slowly started weaning her off the vent. Two days later, she coded and was rushed to her open heart surgery two weeks early. She was bronchial spasm ing and the doctors couldn't figure out why. Finally, after two days of trying to get her stable on the ventilator, they decided she needed to be put on ECMO. A life saving machine that takes all the blood out of her body, warms it, adds oxygen and puts it back in. Completely bypassing the lungs, letting them heal. After 5 days of paralytics and rest her lungs were ready to start working again. But that was just the beginning for Aubrey.
On January 9th not even 30 minutes after we left the hospital that night from spending the day there, we received a call that Aubrey had coded. She recovered after 30 seconds, but they had no reason as to why it happened. The next day, she continued to have spells of "near codes" all day until finally one very smart and awesome doctor did a heart echo to find a huge blockage in her right pulmonary artery.
Blood was only going to one lung making the other lung completely useless. After a trip to the cath lab she was stable and on the road to recovery. While during this unplanned hospital stay she did earn the need for a trach, to give her lungs more time to heal...it made her so much stronger. Aubrey is a healthy 8 month old, almost 11 pounds, and rotten as ever!
Aubrey’s story as told by her Mommy:
On February 19, 2012, we found out we were having a sweet baby girl, but we also found out she had spina bifida. We continued our appointments and found out she also was a cleft lip and palate, heart defect, and her growth wasn't where it should be.
A week after cardiologists said she needed to bake longer, our sweet Aubrey Anne was born. On June 15th at 1043am. She was only 3lbs 3 oz and underwent her first surgery when she was only hours old. Once her myleo (spina bifida) was repaired, she started showing the doctors what she was really made of. She awed the doctors with her discharge in September with no oxygen, no breathing tubes and only a g tube for feeds. She loved being home and snuggling on the couch. We followed up with her 18 specialists and they all seemed positive on her future. A heart surgery in January, her lip repair in February. Everything was planned out.
Aubrey went to see Dr. Gump her neuro surgeon and after a quick shunt scan he decided she needed a VP shunt, saying the fluid on her brain was growing and he wanted a shunt in before her heart repair. On December 27, 2012 Aubrey had her vp shunt procedure and had what they call a "tet spell" in the or. She stopped breathing, her heart rate dipped and scared the doctors to death. Dr. Austin, her heart surgeon came in and put a "A line" in her left arm to help give them access to more IV fluids.
She came back from the OR, and they slowly started weaning her off the vent. Two days later, she coded and was rushed to her open heart surgery two weeks early. She was bronchial spasm ing and the doctors couldn't figure out why. Finally, after two days of trying to get her stable on the ventilator, they decided she needed to be put on ECMO. A life saving machine that takes all the blood out of her body, warms it, adds oxygen and puts it back in. Completely bypassing the lungs, letting them heal. After 5 days of paralytics and rest her lungs were ready to start working again. But that was just the beginning for Aubrey.
On January 9th not even 30 minutes after we left the hospital that night from spending the day there, we received a call that Aubrey had coded. She recovered after 30 seconds, but they had no reason as to why it happened. The next day, she continued to have spells of "near codes" all day until finally one very smart and awesome doctor did a heart echo to find a huge blockage in her right pulmonary artery.
Blood was only going to one lung making the other lung completely useless. After a trip to the cath lab she was stable and on the road to recovery. While during this unplanned hospital stay she did earn the need for a trach, to give her lungs more time to heal...it made her so much stronger. Aubrey is a healthy 8 month old, almost 11 pounds, and rotten as ever!
No comments:
Post a Comment