Parent Blog: Alisha Munoz
In their words
Alisha Munoz
Newton, Iowa
He was delivered by a cesarean section. When he was taken out, the doctors wouldn’t tell me much about what was going on other than he needed some help. Later that night, Andrés’ lactic acid level was going up, which the doctors told me is a sign of heart failure. They said they would watch him closely overnight.
The next morning, I was told that he was being flown to University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital because my son needed a pacemaker. He had third-degree congenital heart block. That night, on July 31, my son was going into surgery to get a pacemaker for his heart. I was so scared. I had never heard of this happening and didn’t know what to expect. The nurses in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) were amazing in taking care of my son and me since I had just had a C-section and was discharged to be with my son.
Dr. Luis Ochoa Nunez was the cardiologist, and his team were the amazing doctors that took care of my son. Dr. Ochoa came in and talked to my husband in Spanish. That way my husband understood everything that was going on with our son.
Without all the amazing doctors and nurses that worked on my son, I don’t know if he would be here with us celebrating his first birthday. I am thankful for the amazing medical technology and that they were even able to put a pacemaker in Andrés. He was so small.
I would definitely recommend this hospital to anyone. Thanks, University of Iowa for taking care of my son. I don’t know where he would be without the cardiology team."