I had Ashlyn on a Thursday in September, '08 at Peace River Regional Medical Center in Port Charlotte , FL. She was just fine, eating well and alert. When we went to be released on Friday, they wanted to keep her because she was running a fever. They ran blood work on her and a culture to see what was causing the fever. She stayed in the room with me until I went home on Saturday. Looking back now and at pictures, she did seem a little blue. I had no idea about Congenital Heart defects or what to look for and the signs, so she seemed perfect to me.

Around 2:30 am on Sunday morning, the NICU at the hospital I delivered at called to tell me that Ashlyn was having trouble breathing, they had put her on oxygen and taken a x-ray of her heart. The x-ray showed that her heart was enlarged and they wanted to send her to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg , FL. They are not qualified to deal with heart conditions there, it is a very small NICU and very new also. We went up there to release her and then went home to get some things to head to St. Pete. She made the trip very well, and once we arrived she was settled.

Then the waiting game started. We had to wait for an EKG of her heart to see what was wrong. Sunday afternoon we met with a cardiologist who explained that she has Double Outlet Right Ventricle heart defect or Tausig-Bing. Basically, the aorta and the pulmonary artery are reversed and the oxygenated and not oxygenated blood is mixing. After meeting with another cardiologist today to discuss surgery and options, it was explained more. In the womb, there is a tube called a PDA or DA that connects the aorta and pulmonary artery and this is how the babies receive oxygen. At two to three days after birth, the tube closes down and the heart begins working normally. The surgery she needs would reverse the valves and close up a hole in her heart.

Monday Ashlyn's oxygen tube was removed and she is breathing on her own. She was then taken off her PGE's (medicine to keep the PDA open) and monitored. Her aorta did not narrow when the tube closed, her vitals remained good along with her breathing and she was eating well, so she as able to come home to grow some more before surgery. The surgery took place on 10/27/08. She had an arterial switch performed by Dr. Jacobs.

Seeing her after surgery was very scary. Luckily a friend of mine had gone through heart surgeries with her son, and it helped prepare us. Ashlyn's hospital stay was pretty good, the only real issues were a small infection and a urinary tract infection. Each day she looked so different and better. That is the most promising part of the recovery, you actually see her recover.