We didn't know it, but our beautiful son was born with a terrible condition
known as Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. In this condition, the left side of
the heart is severly underdeveloped. Rhys' condition, though he gave no
outward signs was on the worst end of bad. He had no left ventrical at all,
and no mitral valve (hence the missing murmmer that might have tipped off a
doctor) and his vessles came off in the wrong places. Knowing what we know
now, we know that surgery or transplant would not have been options for our
little fighter...even though he was very strong, the severeity of his defect
made both those options impossible. Perhaps it is best we didn't know.

Rhys lived beautifully. He loved to nurse, and he loved looking at people.
He had brilliant eyes...they were bright and dark at the same time...like
stars. I remember when his Daddy would hold him, he always tried to control
his head. And he loved to "stand" on Daddy's lap, he was always pushing
himself up, though he was only days old. He was always getting his hands in
the way, he was a grabber. He never showed any signs that anything at all was
wrong with him. He never even looked like a newborn. He was enchanting.

Rhys only lived four days, but those four days were the best of our lives. If
we had known there was no hope for our darling, we would have never taken him
back to the hospital when he started to go bad. We would have kept him at
home, and held him and loved him as he left this world, as we did when he
entered it. There will always be a hole in our family where our "Best Boy" is
supposed to be. We love you and miss you forever darling Rhys.

Baby of my dreams, Baby of my heart,
I hold you close in my mind,
I hold you tight inside,
Baby of mine, never to part.

Baby of our hopes and dreams,
Baby of our tears and sorrow.
Baby of our joy and memories,
Baby of ours.forever.