As many of you know, our road to parenthood has not been easy. We struggled with infertility for several years before the Lord blessed us through IVF with our identical twins, Galen and Grey. They will be four in July and have brought so much life and joy to our lives. Still, we knew our family was not finished and were excited and hopeful to continue growing our family. In 2020 (woo-hoo! what a year! 🎉), we started the arduous but fruitful process of an IVF cycle and were blessed with another successful transfer. Another BOY on the way! We decided to name him Lucian.

At our 20-week anatomy scan, we received news about our baby boy that would forever change our lives. Our OB suspected a congenital heart defect (CHD) which was later confirmed by a fetal cardiologist with the Vanderbilt Pediatric Heart Institute. Our son was diagnosed with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), which is categorized as a critical CHD. CHDs are present in fewer than 200,000 births in the US each year. Of these births, less than a 1000 are HLHS. In short, the left ventricle of a HLHS heart does not develop. Therefore, baby Lucian will be born with only one functioning ventricle. This is a defect with no cure.  He will never have a “normal” heart. This diagnosis is not compatible with life without surgical intervention, and although surgery provides us with HOPE, there is no guarantee of survival. Therefore, Lucian will need a series of open-heart surgeries. The first will be performed within a few days of being born. We anticipate a post-op hospital stay of at least 4-6 weeks, but it is not uncommon for recovering babies to require several return visits or even spend their entire interstage (the time between the first and second operation) at the hospital. That second surgery will fall sometime around 4-6 months and a third and final planned procedure some time between two and four years old.

We are scared and sad for the journey that this sweet baby and our family will be facing in the coming months and years. We are choosing hope and trust in the Lord. We have so many dreams for our son and are looking forward to a full life with Lucian. We have already spent many months fighting for this boy and are steeled in our resolve to continue this fight. Galen and Grey are so excited to be big brothers and talk about Lucian every day. Thank you for your prayers and for walking this road with us.