My TREASURE

If you are ready and want children, then have them. It is really a really wonderful and amazing blessing to be a parent / parents. These are my 4 children :

Nurul HAZIRAH - a girl, 28-02-1999 (8 years old in 2007)

HARIZ Akmal - a boy, 23-05-2000 (7 years old in 2007)

Naura HUSNA - a girl, 01-10-2002 (5 years old in 2007)

Nurul HANNA - a girl, 18-9-2006 to 27-09-2009 (9 days - died due to the Hypoplastic Left Heart syndrome)

So there are times that my wife and I will be referring to 4H or 3H when we talked about our children.

What is HYPOPLASTIC LEFT HEART syndrome?

In hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the left side of the heart -- including the aorta, aortic valve, left ventricle and mitral valve -- is underdeveloped. Blood returning from the lungs must flow through an opening in the wall between the atria (atrial septal defect). The right ventricle pumps the blood into the pulmonary artery and blood reaches the aorta through a patent ductus arteriosus (see diagram)

The baby often seems normal at birth, but will come to medical attention within a few days of birth as the ductus closes. Babies with this syndrome become ashen, have rapid and difficult breathing and have difficulty feeding. This heart defect is usually fatal within the first days or months or life unless it's treated

Although this defect is not correctable, some babies can be treated with a series of operations, or a heart transplantation. Until an operation is performed, the ductus is kept open by intravenous medication. Because these operations are complex and need to be individualized for each patient, it's necessary to discuss all the medical and surgical options with your child's doctor. Your doctor will help you decide which is best for your baby

(in our case)

We had no clue at all, totally blank. Not until the last 24 hours. I was totally shocked - very unexpected. Why unexpected? Actually the hypoplastic left heart syndrome is not a really rare syndrome, but we were not equipped ourselves with such knowledge to face the situation. There were actually signs of the syndrome even during the early stage of the pregnancy but nobody noticed. Not even the doctor.

First sign - Very weak heartbeat during the first fews weeks (2nd or 3rd week) of pregnancy. Urine test was positive but no heartbeat detected during the scan. The heartbeat only detected after the doctor had to really zoom in to search for heartbeat.

Recommendation - Insist for an ECHO SCAN to check the structure of the heart immediately after birth. Only echo scan can detect this  hypoplastic left heart syndrome. At this moment I am not sure if they can do echo scan during pregnancy. There will be no really complication to the baby during the pregnancy as she/he will be supported by the mother's body system and only after the birth, the defective heart has to work extra hard and will deteriorate very quickly.

Second sign - The lips (area around the lips), tongue and inside the mouth turn blue whenever the baby cries. This is due to the lack of oxygen supplied blood pumped to the head.

Recommendation - Don't wait for the second sign. We didn't have a chance to react at all. Detected 2nd sign around 9am. Went to see a doctor at 10am. Referred to heart specialist around noon. Echo scanned by heart specialist and informed about the syndrome. Make appointment with another specialist around 4pm searching for hope and managed to agree with our National Heart Institute specialist to carry out surgery. System deteriorated around 8pm on the same day. Admitted to ICU around 9.30pm. Put under sedative and supported by machine. Went into coma around 3am and I officially lost my baby at 8.35am.

I WISH SOME OF YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM THIS BRIEF INFORMATION AND HAVE AN EARLY START IT IT HAPPENS. IT HAPPENDED IN MY COUNTRY (mine was not the first case or would be the last. That specialist that I consulted, she handled 5 cases that year alone). IT HAPPENED IN YOUR COUNTRY AS WELL. LOTS INFO ON THE NET. GOOGLE OUT. BABIES WITH HYPOPLASTIC LEFT HEART SYNDROME STAND HIGH CHANCE TO SURVIVE IF BEING TREATED ASAP.

FEATURED ARTICLES :

I am not saying that everyone in this world is sharing the same feeling as mine. These might be interesting articles to some people.

Children Are a Blessing and a Treasure - (.... I am still fascinated by the magnificent unfolding of personality and intelligence that springs forth when life is new...That handiwork by the Creator is never more evident than when the characteristics of "humanness" begin to unfold like flowers on a spring morning...Admittedly, children are costly in every way. The emotional and spiritual investment required is immense.... read more)

The Blessing of Having a Child with Down Syndrome - Chase is the youngest of our 9 children. He was born on 10/6/04 and was blessed with Down syndrome. Chase weighed 3 lbs 5 oz & was 14 1/2 inches long and also was born with a heart defect called an AV Canal. He spent his first 5 weeks in the hospital as a grower before we could bring him home. This is the story of our little man and his milestones....read more)

Married No Kids Site- People from all areas of the country, with different careers, income levels, religions, and ethnicity decide to remain child free... likes having the freedom to do what she wants, when she wants. "I like my house in order. I don't like a lot of noise or chaos in my home...I don't want kids the same way some people say they don't want a cat or dog....read more)