Wyatt Aaron Heinle was born in Minot, North Dakota at 7:55 on 12/31/97. New Years Eve!! He weighed 8lbs. and was 21 1/2 inches long. On the second day of his life a murmur was detected. Our doctor said there was nothing to worry about, that alot of babies have heart murmurs. Boy was he wrong. Wyatt was put into the

NICU and checked by the neonatologist and he could tell something wasn't right. They did an echo and found out Wyatt had some heart problems but were unsure as to what they were because it was a small hospital with no pediatric cardiologists. So we were told our brand new baby boy was going to be air lifted to Minneapolis to the University of Minnesota. My husband and I were in total shock. How could this happen to our baby? A nurse had mentioned getting Wyatt baptised before he left. At this point I totally lost control. I thought her mentioning this meant that my baby was going to die. My husband was the rock that I needed to lean on, if it hadn't been for him I would have fallen apart. They made arrangements for Wyatt and we were told that there would not be enough room for any of us to go along so my husband left right away to make arrangements to fly to Minnesota to be with Wyatt. By this time Wyatt was starting to get pretty sick. While my husband was gone we had Wyatt baptised and I just sat with him in NICU until it was time for them to take him. When it was time for me to say goodbye, he didn't even look like a baby at all. He had a breathing tube in and he was hooked up to so many machines and wires. I was just numb. I didn't know if I was ever going to see my baby again. My husband was already on his way to Minnesota to be there for Wyatt. I had a c-section so was unable to leave right away to MN. I had to go home without my baby which was so hard. I went home and just sat and waited for my husband to call. After he called the outcome was Interrupted Aortic Arch, VSD, and Subaortic Stenosis. Wyatt was too sick to undergo surgery so they were going to wait until he gained strength. Three days after Wyatt had left I flew to MN to finally be with my baby. The next day after I arrived Wyatt had his surgery for IAA. We sat in the waiting room for what seemed like days. The surgery took 10 hours and Wyatt came out of it just fine. We were at the U of M for 13 days and then transferred to

the Minot hospital. Wyatt's main goal here was to learn how to eat, as he had not eaten by bottle since birth. He did not have enough energy to eat so he was fed with an NG tube down his nose. He would only eat 1/2 ounce at every feeding. He needed to eat 2 ounces on his own and keep it down to be able to come home. Things were not progressing very quickly so I was trained on how to put the tube down his nose so I could do it at home. We finally got to bring Wyatt home for the first time on Feb. 6. It was such a happy day to have him home. He was sent home on high calorie formula, a heart monitor, and the tube down his nose. Our daughter Kyla was so happy to have her brother home. The only abnormal thing we had to do was put the NG tube in his nose every night but we all got used to and went on like normal. He was such a good baby and slept through the night because he was eating all night through the tube. At three months he had his 2nd surgery at the U of M again. They were going to fix the VSD and the subaortic stenosis. The surgery went very well. Wyatt recovered very nicely and we were only in the hospital for 6 days. Wyatt was tube fed until he was 4 months old. He still would not eat as much as a normal baby. He would only drink 2 ounces at a time, so I was feeding him all day long. But at least we got rid of the tube. Everything went very smoothly for a while he learned to crawl and all the normal baby stuff. At 9 months even started trying to walk. Then we found out his stenosis had grown back and needed to have surgery again. So off again to MN at 10 months old for the 3rd surgery. We felt like we were pros by then. Surgery went pretty well again. The hardest part was the recovery for he was alot more active now than the previous surgeries. It went fast though, we were only in the hospital for 3 days. After open heart surgery that is just amazing! He did very well and even started walking again 2 weeks after surgery. He is such a tough little boy and through all this is just so happy all the time. We are so very proud of him!! He is now 15 months old and very active. Running, climbing, and learning to talk. His favorite word is Daddy and absolutely refuses to say Mommy. He loves Sesame Street and Teletubbies. As for any more surgeries there is definately 1 more, for the second stage IAA repair. We are also keeping an eye on his aortic annulus(ring) it is too small and needs to start growing or another surgery will be in the future. I would like to give recognition to his doctors and his surgeon as they are all wonderful people. Dr. Foker-surgeon, who is excellent and saved our son's life; Dr. Moller-pediatric cardiologist, who comes from MN every other month to see heart kids from Minot; Dr. Jamie Lohr-pediatric cardiologist, who has helped us and been there through all surgeries; Dr. Allen-pediatrician, who has received many calls from us; and PICU Nurse Ruthie, who treated Wyatt just like he was her own. We miss you. Thank you for letting me share Wyatt's story. Please sign our guestbook, we would love to see who comes to visit us!

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ThisCongenital Heart Disease webring site is owned by Calisha Heinle
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