Jacob's Heart Story
| Told by his mom Kathleen.
Diagnosis: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome At our 20 week ultrasound our son Jacob Dylan Baker was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome and a mildly restrictive atrial septum. I am currently 25 weeks pregnant. The past month has been an emotional rollercoaster. We went from picking out Pink or Blue to being told we had to decide whether he lived or not. At first we were told our 3 options, terminate the pregnancy but it had to be within a week, have our baby and keep him comfortable as he passes or 3 open heart surgeries, the first being at birth. We were not given much positive information and it seemed hopeless, we thought we were going to loose our baby. We decided against terminating the pregnancy. If he had to die I wanted to be able to hold him and tell him I loved him. After hours of researching I found other parents with HLHS babies and started finding hope in their stories. I saw kids with the same illness as Jacob who have had their surgeries and gone on to live happy lives. I met a few moms on facebook and exchanged e-mails about what they went through and how their children are doing. The more I read, the more hope I had. There are some great support groups on facebook for anyone looking to meet other parents going through this. We decided to go the surgery route and researched the best hospitals. I decided to go to Children’s hospital of Philadelphia. My sister lived 40 minutes away and they are one of the top hospitals for this illness. The staff there is amazing, after meeting with them I had so much more hope and faith that our son could be ok. It is going to be a long road however they have come so far with this illness in the past 20 years that I know they will continue to find ways to help these kids. Jacob Dylan Baker is due on April 4th, 2010. I pray everyday for the strength to get him through this and for him to be able to live a good life. I pray for all of the heart babies of the world and I pray they can one day find a way to “Cure” this. |
~Love The Bakers, December 2009 |