By Britney Boyer
Mommy to Sebastian
Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome
Born May 2023
When I was in my third trimester of pregnancy, I was on my way to an OB appointment, hit a patch of black ice, spinning four times and hitting two trees. I crawled out of my car to wave down another vehicle and call an ambulance. At the hospital they did an emergency ultrasound to check on the baby and unexpectedly found something wrong with the baby’s heart. I was transferred to Barnes hospital in St. Louis where they confirmed that our son had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. It was a blessing in disguise that I was in that car accident, and we found my son’s heart defect before he was born.
A few weeks later, Sebastian was born and immediately taken to the NICU at St. Louis Children’s. During his three month stay in the NICU, the put stints in his heart. It was a lot of ups and downs but he was released to come home for two months before he underwent heart surgery at 5 months old. I remember getting updates during his 8-hour long surgery with pictures and video showing me his heart beating. The hospital stays were long, stressful and hard, but worth it for him to be able to come home safely.
On Angels’ Wings did pictures while my son was in the hospital and those images mean a lot to me. My brother was 11 months old when he passed – he also had HLHS – he would be 19 now. So I worried for a long time that my son wouldn’t live past 11 months old, but this year Sebastian be two! We’ve now done pictures with Santa and have another session scheduled for Sebastian’s birthday this spring.
I’m also thankful for the community that OAW provides. Being able to talk to other parents who are going through the same situation is a big help, knowing you’re not alone.
