Art

Art was a miracle from the very beginning. When I found out I was pregnant I spent three days in and out of hospitals with doctors trying to find my baby. (They thought I had an ectopic pregnancy.) On the third night I was lying in bed with my husband-to-be when I felt an chill go down my entire body, ending in my uterus. The next day I went to yet another doctor who could not understand why no one had seen my precious baby because he was right there in plain view!

I was unaware of any heart defects before Art was born. The day before he was born I went for a weight ultrasound that I had demanded because big babies run in my family. The doctor told me Art was all tangled up and scheduled me for an immediate c-section the next day. This is when it gets hard for me, as I know it is for any parent with a child with a heart defect...

My husband and I had discussed that, if anything were to happen, he was to stay with the baby. Art delivered just fine but after a few minutes they rushed him over to me to take a picture and then he and my husband were off to the nursery. I think it was a few hours later (between the morphine and the epidural I didn't really have any idea how much time had gone by) that my husband came in and held my hand, followed by a doctors with Art in an incubator. I was given the news that something was wrong with Art and they needed to take him to another hospital right then, where he would receive better care. I was able to touch his hand for a minute before he was rolled away with my husband. Later that day a "12 year old doctor" came in and told me my son was going to need a heart valve transplant. I lost it. But thank goodness my husband came back and had another doctor explain to me what was going on. The "12 year old doctor" was wrong. Art had been diagnosed with moderate aortic stenosis. A day later I was out of the hospital and by Art's side. A week later we were all home. Six months later the stenosis was diagnosed mild! Things were going great!

Then, when Art was almost three years old, we got some not so great news. While the stenosis part was unchanged, he had developed aortic regurgitation. Six months after that Art began taking enalapril. We were on pins and needles again, praying for the best but knowing what would lie in the future. Now Art is a little over four. He had is six month check up today where we got some surprising news! The enalapril is working great and we don't have to go back for a year now! I began tearing up in the doctor's office! At least for this next year we can relax a little more and be thankful for every day with our little monkey!