Heart defects found..

Chantel

So last week we found that not only were we having a boy (yay! We have a 1 year old girl) but there were heart abnormalities found on our 20w scan. We were sent to have this checked at our high-risk women’s hospital and had our appointment today.

The scan went well and the sonographer was really nice and got good images of the heart.

Unfortunately we got the news we didn’t want to hear. Our baby boy does indeed have heart defects. It looks as though he has a hyperplastic aortic arch and possibly Coarctation of the aorta. Both correctable but explained to us as a “severe cardiological problem” which is not ideal. We won’t be able to find out 100% what the problem is until birth.

We’ve been transferred now to the hospital specialising in high-risk birth and I know we’ll be in good hands.

Obviously my partner and I are devastated and finding it hard to cope with the news we’ve received. I never imagined having a sick/unwell baby and the thought of having to see this tiny little baby with tubes and all that just breaks my heart. The saying “all I want is a healthy baby” really hit home today when we found out he is not the healthiest.

All my thoughts and fears aside, we obviously have unconditional love for this little baby and will do whatever it takes for him to live a successful and normal life. I just wasn’t mentally prepared to be in and out of hospitals in the near future and I know it’s going to be a tough ride.