He had open-heart surgery at 9 days old—how Children’s of Alabama helped him thrive

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When Davis Riddle was born at Flowers Hospital in Dothan, everything seemed fine. It wasn’t until day two that Amy and Mike Riddle were told that their son had a potentially life-threatening heart defect and needed to go to Birmingham immediately. Read on to hear Davis’ story and how Children’s of Alabama has helped him thrive ever since.

Their lives changed when Davis was just two days old

Amy had just taken her first postpartum shower two days after her son was born when she received life-changing news.

“Davis was diagnosed with a coarctation, or narrowing of the aorta—the main artery leading out of the heart. He also had two ventricular septal defects (VSDs), or holes in the heart.”

Amy Riddle

They rushed him to UAB and transferred him over to Children’s where they eventually spent 19 days in the Cardiovascular Intensive Care Unit (CVICU).

To add to the equation, Amy spiked a fever during delivery and needed to spend another day at Flowers Hospital in Dothan before she could join Davis and her husband in Birmingham.

The staff at Children’s helped their family understand everything

Amy was discharged the next day and immediately traveled to meet her family at Children’s. Davis soon underwent open heart surgery at nine days old.

During surgery, Davis’ vocal cords were paralyzed. Because of this, his parents had to watch out for aspiration while feeding him.

The staff at Children’s helped them learn how to work through the challenges.

“We worked with occupational therapists, speech therapists and so many others. They basically taught us how to feed him and even how to pick him up. It’s scary enough taking care of a newborn, even scarier with a newborn that had all of these challenges.

They made sure we understood everything that was happening.”

Amy Riddle

Davis is now four years old and thriving

Since his surgery, Davis has gone from having trouble breathing to being able to run around with no issues.

While Davis is doing well, the Riddle family has not seen the end of their time at Children’s. Davis will probably undergo more procedures until he is a teenager until his heart is fully grown and he is ready for a stent implantation.

Amy told us that Davis is never upset or fearful going to Children’s and that the staff makes everything so much easier and less scary for him.

“From the doctors and nurses to the child life specialists and even the chaplain, they all check on us consistently and make sure we are taken care of every single time we’re here.

To families that may be facing something like what we were and have no idea what the future holds—this team has made everything easy to understand and goes above and beyond to make sure that not only your child is taken care of, but that your family is taken care of.”

Amy Riddle

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