Finding out we were going to have a baby was one of the happiest days of my life. Finding out we were having twins was one of the most shocking days of my life. And finding out one of them has a heart defect was the most devastating day of my life.
I've dealt with heartache before, but never like this. Finding out your baby has a heart defect comes with a lot of emotions: guilt, worry, and a lot of sadness. The doctor telling me "It's not your fault" didn't help either. I didn't do anything to compromise my pregnancy yet somehow this terrible thing was still happening.
Getting over the initial sadness was a huge milestone. We were going to have TWO babies! It's time to dial-back the emotions and start focusing on the fact that there are going to be two precious little boogers I need to love and take care of. Yes our HW will need maximum attention, but we can't leave our Heart Healthy baby in the dust!
Once the babies were born, everything fell into place. While we were nowhere near a "normal" situation, we certainly felt like it was our normal. Jack went to Cincinnati Children's Hospital, while Savannah stayed with me at Good Samaritan hospital. After the first day, I was able to go visit with him for about an hour at a time. After all, I did have to go back and nurse my other baby. This is where family, especially my husband, came into play. There was always a family member with Jack, and there was always a family member with Savannah. We were lucky to have family members that were able to uproot their lives and help us during this strenuous time. It also put me at ease that these babies will always feel loved, no matter what kind of poking and prodding and medical treatment was going on.
We are still pretty early on in our journey with a HW and HH baby. Jack had his Glenn procedure just 4 weeks ago and he is healing beautifully. We have different activities for both (until Jack is fully healed) and also things they can do together. It's important for us to have Savannah involved with Jack's condition. She has gone to the hospital to visit Jack: twice during his initial stay, and twice during his Glenn procedure stay. We are going through this as a family, and we intend to keep it that way!