Open heart Surgery for our Peanut

Update: surgery was a success; we are in ICU and intubated on day 3 still. Peanut now has two infections, and we found out that her right lung is hypoplastic ... We are unsure of what that means next ... This little girl is going to be in the hospital for a few more weeks and will need ongoing support from sick kids; while we continue to stay at the Ronald McDonald House, manage the kids that are not with us, keep Madelena busy and spend time with our newest peanut. It's been a juggling act for sure.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed this far. We all appreciate it so much!

Where do I begin? My name is Christal and my spouses name is Anthony; we have 5 children (1 together and 4 from a previous marriage) and a beautiful baby girl that is on her way. When we found out we were pregnant with a 6th baby ... Well emotions were high, anxiety, stress, excitement ... But overall we were thankful we were given an opportunity to raise another child together and to share our love that our family has for eachother with another baby.

Fast forward to 27 weeks and we have found out that our little peanuts heart is not developing properly and she has what is called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, which has now been changed to a series of congenital heart defects.

This is a condition that is pretty rare, and as I am learning it means that the left side of her heart is smaller than her right and her ventricles are also effected in this case. This means open heart surgery following birth, a delivery at Mount Sinai followed by a transfer of her to Sick kids immediately following delivery, many many tests (we have already had a fetal echo in Toronto, 7 ultrasounds, genetics counsellors, amniocentisis, fetal high risk team, midwives, biophysical tests and lots and lots more heading our way). The financial cost of travel, food, time off work, and maintaining our home while Matilda is in the hospital for what could be months is overwhelming.

We have faith and hope that our little Matilda will be strong and a healthy little girl, but we are looking to our village to help support our family.

Thank you for reading our little beans story, and supporting our family during this time of uncertainty; we know that prayers, love, positive thoughts, and support from all of you will help pull our family through this. We love you all and truly appreciate everything everyone has and continues to do to support us.