Stanley’s Story

Early November 2021 my husband, Taylor, and I found out we were expecting our first child. After a few months of trying, we were so excited to have a little one on the way.

Everything was going well, aside from some minor nausea and exhaustion. All our early trimester screens were coming back clear, with nothing to be concerned about.

After our 20 week anatomy scan, we received a call from our midwife saying that the radiologist found some heart abnormalities that needed further investigation.

Our stomach was in knots and we were trying our hardest not to fear the worst.

After multiple fetal echocardiograms our little one was diagnosed with Hypopastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and Total Anomalous Pulmonary Veins (TAPV). (What does this mean? HPHS means the lower left chamber/ventricle did not form properly and was extremely small, causing the aorta to be small as well. TAPV means the oxygenated blood returning to the heart had no where to go and the veins were not attached to the heart).

Okay, so what did that mean for our baby? Well first, his condition was deemed incompatible with life. Those were the hardest two words to hear.

We were given a few options, like carrying our baby to term and letting him die as peacefully as possible, performing 3-4 major open heart surgeries after his birth that would be considered palliative or terminating the pregnancy.

We opted to terminate our pregnancy at 21 weeks to provide our son with the most peaceful passing we could. We knew that for our son, his life would always be filled with pain and challenges and this condition would ultimately result in a very early death. We knew we had a chance to keep him comfortable for his whole life and he could die comfortable, free from pain, inside of me, his mommy.

This was the hardest decision my husband and I have ever had to make, and our first real parenting decision. This has been incredibily hard for us and we are learning to find ways to cope and grieve and honour our son.

That is when I decided to turn my hobbies and art therapy into this business. Stanley’s memory will forever live on in the things we do. So thank you for stopping by today and thank you for reading our son’s story.