Our chd miracle turned 10 today

This evening we are extremely blessed to be celebrating our son’s 10th birthday. While most birthdays are special days, today is a special milestone for our family.

Ten years ago I was in labor with my first child. We expected a healthy baby and were excited to get through the delivery and take our “normal” baby home.
Life didn’t quite work out that way. 36 hours into labor my OB decided it was time for a csection. Not the news I wanted to hear, to say the least. But knowing I would finally meet the baby I had loved for the past 10 months made surgery more acceptable.

Half hour into surgery we heard the words, “It’s a boy!”. A few minutes later I was given a quick peek on the way to the warmer: lots of dark hair, attentive eyes, beauty beyond description. But something was wrong. our baby was quiet and turning blue.

The next memory I have was that of asking if my baby would cry and why he wasn’t pink. We were told he was being place on oxygen. At that point my blood pressure sky rocketed and I was sedated.

I remember ‘waking up”in recovery and being aware that our pediatrician was standing near me holding a box of kleenex.

My motherly instincts, a whopping hour old, kicked in.

Then we heard the words that completely changed our lives:

Congenital Heart Defect

“What??? What is that? That can’t happen to US!!!”

Denial, anger, grief overwhelmed us for the next minutes.

Two hours later the diagnosis of Transposition of the Great Arteries (as I recall the “what huh? the what’s that???”) changed our lives again. But this time we had help , a diagnosis, and hope. Most importantly, we had hope.

Life hasn’t always been a walk in the park, but we have our son.

And tonight we have supportive family, good family, and a healthy son. We may have to live with CHD, but we aren’t running scared anymore.

Happy Birthday Sam!