Meet Aubree

Child's Diagnosis: Coarctation of the Aorta, Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Has Kerrington’s Heart impacted your journey? If so, how?:

Yes, by supporting us with care packages while we were in the hospital after Aubree's birth and during her surgery/recovery. Also, we love being connected to other CHD families through the annual Wild Hearts Fun Run and giving back to other CHD families with Kerrington's Heart's Christmas program.

What’s one thing you wish you’d been told at the beginning of your journey?:

To take notes! Aubree has some kidney abnormalities in addition to her congenital heart defects and in the chaos of learning about her heart defect and surgery at just 3 weeks old, I didn't take very good notes on everything for her medical history. It is all so overwhelming, but when it's over, you wish you all of the information about your child's conditions readily available for the future.

Please share a little bit about your story:

I, Stacey, Aubree's mom, was diagnosed with CHD as an infant and had open heart surgery in 1981 to repair my major defect, so we were already very aware of the possibility of CHD before I even became pregnant. We made sure to follow up with my cardiologist throughout my pregnancy and we had the 28 week fetal echocardiogram to check for CHDs in Aubree's heart. We were given as much of an "all clear" as you can be given with a fetal echo, so we thought everything was good and that Aubree would have no heart issues. I had Aubree via C-section the night of Thursday, August 16, 2012, and she appeared to be perfectly healthy. Her daily wellness checks with the hospital pediatrician were all fine, until discharge day on Sunday. We had packed up all of our belongings except for the car seat and Aubree's going home outfit and were just waiting for the hospital staff to bring her back from her last wellness exam to go home. However, they didn't bring her back. They came to tell us that her heart sounded a little bit different than the day before and due to my history of CHD, they wanted to do an echocardiogram just to be safe. After her echo, they came to tell us that they suspected a CHD, but weren't sure which one yet because her PDA had not yet closed (Patent Ductus Arteriosus), so they were taking her to the NICU for monitoring. The next three weeks were a blur of waiting, watching, lots of tests, ruling out a milk allergy due to blood in her stool, being diagnosed with Coarctation of the Aorta and Bicuspid Aortic Valve, transferring to the NICU at Kentucky Children's Hospital, and finally the doctor deciding that we couldn't wait to repair Aubree's CoA - it had to be done before we had ever even had the chance to bring her home. So, at about 3 weeks old, Aubree's CoA was repaired and she recovered with flying colors, being discharged from the hospital just four days after her surgery. Thankfully, ever since, she has been a happy healthy little girl and just by looking at her, no one would ever know she has CHDs. Aubree's CHD story has been one full of blessings and we pray that the rest of her lifelong CHD story is just as blessed and that she can live a long, healthy, normal life.