Katelynn’s Heart Story

Diagnosis: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
At: 20 weeks

I was pregnant with my third child and went to the 20 week regular ultrasound especially to find out the sex. We had the ultrasound at the hospital instead of in the office because it was the only day my husband could attend and they only did them at the hospital on Fridays. It turns out it was a good thing because something could have been missed. I went into the room with my husband, my mother-in-law, and my two children who were 5 and 2 at the time. We found out the sex and everything was going well except that she was taking an extremely long time especially when scanning the heart. When I asked the technician what was going on she just said that she couldn’t get a very good look at the heart. She asked if we could go have some lunch and come back in 2 hours so the doctor could follow-up. Right then I got a sick feeling in my stomach that something wasn’t right. We were trying to stay positive. When we returned we were told that her heart had not developed properly and it was difficult for them to visualize all 4 chambers of the heart. We were scheduled for an echo ultrasound at children’s hospital the following week. I was in shock as I was leaving that appointment. How could this happen? What will we have to do now? I immediately went home and began researching heart defects on the internet. Because they had not given me a definite diagnosis I just kind of went through them all. When I had compiled my list, I remember telling my husband that we can deal with this but I just hope it’s not the left sided problem. That is the worst one you can have and is the most fatal. When we finally had the echo done, we were told it was the left sided problem. I immediately felt as if I were punched in the stomach and the breath knocked out of me. We did alot of crying over the next several months and alot of praying. But wh at I did realize is that she was much safer inside of me that out and I wanted to stay pregnant for as long as I could to give her a fighting chance. I also spoke with many other parents some with positive outcomes and some not and I learned that we could do this. I gained strength in living through this with my husband, family and friends.

~Tracy, July 2009