My husband and I were married 13 years before we became pregnant.  When we found out, we, of course, had all the natural fears of becoming parents but not once did we think about potential health problems.  I had taken every known precaution to ensure a healthy pregnancy for months before we even tried to become pregnant.  Since I was an older first-time Mom, I had numerous sonograms, and everything seemed to be going well.  When our baby girl was born on Friday, September 15, 2006, we were elated.  She was absolutely perfect!

We were released on Sunday and had her first well baby check-up on Tuesday.  Everything seemed fine.  However, the next day we received a call telling us that she had tested positive for hypothyroidism and that we needed to come in the following day to discuss treatment.  Here I was bawling my eyes out because she would need to be on medicine for the rest of her life for the hypothyroidism.  Little did I know at the time that it was the least of our worries.  It was at that fateful doctor visit that we were asked if anyone had told us she had a heart murmur.

We were referred to a pediatric cardiologist who we visited the next Tuesday.  He put her through some tests and told us he would be back after he reviewed the results.  At that very moment, I knew something was wrong.  My feeling was later confirmed, as the cardiologist came back with a 3-D model of a human heart and proceeded to explain that our baby had a double inlet left ventricle (she did not have a right ventricle) and transposition of the great arteries.

Since that diagnosis, our life has been a series of doctor visits, surgeries and worry.  However, we are the fortunate ones, as our baby girl is strong, smart, beautiful and funny.  To see her, you would never know she has any health issue much less something so serious.