13 years ago I gave birth to a stunning little baby boy called Harry Charles Wiginton. Harry was born with a heart condition which meant he required open heart surgery once he was born. Ronald McDonald House gave us hope and support through one of the hardest times in our life.

This story is about our baby boy who is now a teenager his flight and where he is now, It is also about the hospital, the charity, and our stories as his Mum and Dad.

When we found out the bad news

When we fell pregnant for the first time it was the best news we could hope for. However, at the 20-week scan, we were informed of abnormalities with our baby's heart. As the pregnancy progressed the true nature of the abnormalities became clear and our unborn baby was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.

What is Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) is a birth defect that affects normal blood flow through the heart. As the baby develops during pregnancy, the left side of the heart does not form correctly. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome is one type of congenital heart defect.

(My thoughts at this point, I was lying on the bed watching the scan image and thinking how lucky we were as I was informed I might not be able to have children so I was not paying attention to the change in my Husband Tony face. Or the fact the scan was going on for longer, or that another person was called into the room to check the results.

It dawned on me when we were asked to wait in a small room on our own with a box of tissues and a bible.! This is when I knew something was wrong!)

We were faced with the option to terminate our unborn baby or continue with the pregnancy and face the following options.

1. Our baby will be born and we can allow him to die naturally within the first few days
2. Our baby can be offered surgery to replum his heart and at this time the longest survivor was in the USA at 15 years old.
3. Or we could hope that our Babies heart would grow just enough to allow for the narrowing to be removed and the heart re-inflate, this was the best possible outcome.

Our story will continue with each step and how the Hositpal ( Guys and St Thomas Evelina children's hospital) supported us on every appointment and still do to this day!

Julia x

New posts will be posted below.