While still in the womb, Chloe Bennett’s congenital cardiac condition was identified. Two life-saving procedures were required for a baby girl who was born with a “heart forward,” the first one being performed when the child was only three hours old.
On an ultrasound at 20 weeks, her mother, Stephanie Bennett, was informed that her baby was having a transposition of the great arteries (TGA). This potentially life-threatening disease means that the main blood vessels in the heart are damaged in the wrong way, stopping the flow of oxygen throughout the body. The 37-year-old mother was warned that the baby’s only chance of survival was surgery and that she would have trouble breathing once out of the womb.
Chloe was taken to the operating room three hours after she was born, for the first surgery to help her breathe. The newborn baby underwent surgery again after sixteen days, as surgeons worked to reattach her heart.
I found out something was amiss with my baby’s heart when I was 20 weeks pregnant. They claimed that because of her heart’s improper direction, she would not be able to breathe independently when she was born. I feared the worst for her. She underwent four general anesthesia procedures and two major surgeries in the first 16 days. But I was allowed to take her home just a week after her open-heart surgery.
Mrs Bennett and her husband Charlie were finally allowed to take their new daughter home seven days after her major open heart surgery, despite warnings she could be hospitalized for up to a month. I can’t believe we’re finally home after all she’s been through.
Despite the scar, it’s incredible how healthy she is now considering what she’s been through. Chloe underwent her first operation while I was getting a blood transfusion. Charlie runs between the two of us because he is unsure of who to be with. After inserting a catheter through her navel, they inflated a balloon inside her heart and then extracted it. Through the hole this made in her heart, oxygen and blood were able to mix to keep her alive until her big surgery.
She once had 45 holes in her body at once, according to my count. Additionally, she developed necrotizing enterocolitis, which required two postponements of the procedure. A third session was scheduled as Chloe was recovering from a potentially fatal virus, but doctors warned her parents she might not show up. Chloe had general anesthesia on June 15 in order to reattach her heart.
It was the longest day of my life, according to her mother. It felt unsettling to wait for her to leave. But thanks to their incredible skills, the doctors were able to reconnect her. My young daughter Chloe struggled to move on from it. I was able to reclaim her in my arms after 48 hours had passed. The best news ever, that. She is now doing well, and her siblings enjoy her company. She has a scar the size of my index finger, but her stitches have now fully healed.
She never complains and always smiles, she’s the happiest baby
