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During a routine ultrasound I had in the 20th week of my pregnancy, I learned that my soon-to-be-born son, Parker, would be born with a complex congenital heart defect (CHD) called hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS).
Parker couldn't be born in our home state of New Hampshire because none of the local hospitals were equipped to handle his CHD, so we scheduled an induced birth in Boston, and almost immediately after birth Parker was brought to Children's Hospital Bostonís Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU).
Parker's first 24 hours of life were so unstable that doctors weren't sure he'd make it. His condition was so severe that even as his parents we weren't allowed to see him in the cardiac ICU until they could stabilize him with an emergency catheterization. [ more ]
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