Finding out about Allyson's CHD

Once again it is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness week.  You can read my post from last year here.  It is a funny thing reflecting on how CHD has become a part of our lives.  It brings back so many emotions, I get teary eyed when I really sit back and remember everything.

 I was reading a blog where a mom said having a child with CHD is not the end of the world but it is the beginning of a much different one.  I agree so completely with that statement.  We had some very scary times but our life wasn't over.  I know that we were very lucky in that Allyson had a very common and repairable defect, she had a Ventricular Septal Defect known as a VSD.  She had a hole between her Left and Right ventricle.  Many others have much more complicated defects.

source

I remember when we first learned about her defect.  However much had happened before we learned of her heart defect.  The day after Allyson was born she was transferred to The Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa because our Hospital didn't have a NICU. She had a very serious case of pneumonia.  We were lucky that I was discharged in time to follow the Ambulance transporting her all the way to Napa.  That was a heart wrenching drive to say the least, and I am not sure Steve and I uttered more than a word to each other the whole time.  I cried most of the way there.  Both my parents and Steve's parents were following behind us, our wonderful support system. 

After Allyson was admitted into the NICU we found out we were lucky enough to be able to stay in an extra room near the NICU.  This was truly a blessing.  I am still not sure exactly how we came to be able to use that room.  Since I hadn't given birth at this hospital they didn't have to give me a room.  I think a combination of Allyson's condition, how far away we lived and a lot of help from our Heavenly Father helped it all come together.  As a side note I kept waiting to see how much that wonderful room was going to cost us, but it never appeared on any of our many medical bills.  

Allyson in the NICU
October 2009

I am not sure exactly how many days we had been in the NICU before we found out, I think it was 3.  All the days ran together for me (I remember being startled by the sunlight each day when we left the hospital for dinner). It was long enough that Allyson had begun to stabilize and was doing much better. Our pediatrician told Steve and I that they had detected a murmur in Allyson's heartbeat and a pediatric cardiologist would come talk to us.  I remember Dr. Bose talking to us and explaining what the murmur meant and what a VSD was (until they did an echo cardiogram the diagnosis was unclear). After he left I lost it.  I couldn't take any more bad news, I told my mom I couldn't take anymore.  Thankfully I was able move forward thanks to lots of love and support from family and friends.  I came to terms with the fact that Allyson's CHD wasn't the end of the world.  We moved forward in our new world, learning about CHDs and what can be done to fix them, facing the possibility of surgery.

Here are some places where you can learn more about CHDs:

My cousin is blogging about CHD this week with a giveaway!

I enjoy reading this blog, she has links to all the posts about her son's journey with CHD on her sidebar (scroll down a little ways).

Some good information and statistics here.

Stay tuned for the story of Allyson's VSD closure surgery.