My husband, Kevin, and I have two beautiful children, Kannon, age 3 and Karson, age 5 months and I have 2 wonderful stepchildren, Lauren 17 and Chandler 7. Karson has a congenital heart defect. I was 25 weeks pregnant when he was diagnosed and that first visit to Arkansas Children's Hospital (ACH), where we learned of his condition will always be remembered.

I had been referred to Arkansas Children's Hospital on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 for a fetal echocardiogram by my doctor in Jonesboro who wasn't satisfied with how the baby's heart presented on an ultrasound. Kevin and I weren't really worried about the fetal echo, thinking everything would be fine with the baby when we arrived at ACH on Friday, September 1, 2006 for our appointment. Imagine our shock when the pediatric cardiologist explained to us that our baby had a condition we had never even heard of, Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). In HLHS, the left side of the heart is severely underdeveloped and cannot efficiently pump blood to the rest of the body. It is one of the most complex cardiac defects seen in newborn babies and may be the most difficult to manage of all congenital heart defects. Although this defect is not correctible, some babies can be treated with a series of three operations, or with a heart transplant. We were told by the pediatric cardiologist at ACH that this is a rare condition but they are seeing more of it. The cause is unknown—it may be a genetic problem, or maybe a genetic problem triggered by something in the environment.

We had to immediately start planning for a long stay in Little Rock, which is nearly 3 hours from home. The next 3 months till Karson's birth were an emotional roller coaster. Kevin and I both struggled with the fact that our child possibly would not make it. As a father, Kevin wondered if Karson would be able to play ball and run and rough-house with Chandler and Kannon. As a mother/nurse who understands how important mother-child bonding is during the first few days of a baby's life I worried that Karson would not know me, feel abandoned, and not know the soothing comfort of a mother's arms.

Karson was born at UAMS on Monday November 27, 2006 at 5:32pm. They took him from me immediately and ran down to the NICU. Kevin didn't even get to cut the cord—besides conception that is a father's first entrance in his child's life. The ambulance transport team from Arkansas Children's Hospital did bring Karson back to the room before they left but he was already in the incubator wired up for the trip to ACH. There was a lot of family there that day including our Pastor, Bro Mike. Before they took Karson away we were able to lay hands on him and Bro Mike said a prayer. Karson underwent his first open heart surgery (the Norwood) when was just 3 days old. We stayed at ACH for about a month and the cardiologists all agreed he was an overcomer. But of course Kevin and I knew he would be, it is our path as sons and daughters of Christ.

Karson was discharged on Friday, December 22, 2006. Although we didn't get to be with all our friends and family for Christmas we were definitely glad to be home. Karson continued to get crankier and crankier over the next few days and on the day after Christmas. We noticed a bright red spot at the bottom of his chest incision (which was for the most part healed). We went to see our pediatrician in Jonesboro on Tuesday, December 26, 2006, he immediately called our cardiologist and were sent back to Little Rock. We were finally settled in CVICU again at ACH late that night. Karson went into respiratory failure that night due to the infection ravaging through his body. He underwent another surgery while we were there this time to clean out the infection in his chest. After another week we came home again.

Karson has done well in the last 4 months since we have been home. We are getting prepared for our 2nd open heart surgery but no date has been set yet. Factors for knowing when it is time are a decrease in his oxygen saturation and a stall in his weight. We check both of these daily and I am in contact with a nurse or doctor in Little Rock weekly as well as a dietician every other week. They recently decided it was time to do a heart cath to start proceedings for the next surgery known as the Glenn. Karson had this heart cath on Friday, April 27, 2006. The cardiologists said everything looked as good as could and surgery would be set in 2-4 weeks.

Our lives have changed dramatically in the past year but we feel it has been for the better. We are stronger in our faith in God. We have grown as a family and now hug and love our boys more than ever. We have started growing a bond with Kevin's daughter, Lauren, again. We have learned how precious the life that God gave us is and we cherish every moment. We don't want anyone to feel sorry for us because that is not why God gave us a miracle. As I heard someone say recently "God made these baby's with half a heart so others could learn to love God with their whole heart." I think that was very well said.