G
gottabeleib
Great to be here . . . I have been reading these forums over the past few weeks and have found the support, kindness and positive attitudes that everyone maintains truly invigorating. I wanted to share a little of the journey my wife and I are about to begin.
We are expecting our first child in September and recently had deal with some challenging news. Our daughter, prenataly was diagnosed with mild AS, mild Reg and a moderate dilated ascending aorta. This has all been very overwhelming to say the least. I was frightened enough at the thought of being a father and responsibilities that come along, now this has really begun to test my resolve. I went from reading "what to expect when your expecting" to every available article on stenosis, CHD and anything else I could get my hands on. I am now more knowledgeable about the heart than I ever really wanted to be : )
The toughest part with all of this is the unknown. What will happen after the baby born? How fast will this progress? Can she live a normal life? Is there a good chance our baby will be needing surgery early in life. Scary stuff !
In baseball terms, I feel like we are down 3-0 and haven't even taken the field yet.
We live in NYC and have already met a few times with an excellent pediatric cardiologist who has conducted multiple echo's. Each time the echo results have remained stable and continue to be mild. I am generally a positive guy and having been trying my best to keep a positive outlook. I know I need to be strong from my wife as well, but I have been really sad the past few days and haven't been able to "kick it" yet.
If anyone has any thoughts or would like to share any of their experiences it would be much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Andy
We are expecting our first child in September and recently had deal with some challenging news. Our daughter, prenataly was diagnosed with mild AS, mild Reg and a moderate dilated ascending aorta. This has all been very overwhelming to say the least. I was frightened enough at the thought of being a father and responsibilities that come along, now this has really begun to test my resolve. I went from reading "what to expect when your expecting" to every available article on stenosis, CHD and anything else I could get my hands on. I am now more knowledgeable about the heart than I ever really wanted to be : )
The toughest part with all of this is the unknown. What will happen after the baby born? How fast will this progress? Can she live a normal life? Is there a good chance our baby will be needing surgery early in life. Scary stuff !
In baseball terms, I feel like we are down 3-0 and haven't even taken the field yet.
We live in NYC and have already met a few times with an excellent pediatric cardiologist who has conducted multiple echo's. Each time the echo results have remained stable and continue to be mild. I am generally a positive guy and having been trying my best to keep a positive outlook. I know I need to be strong from my wife as well, but I have been really sad the past few days and haven't been able to "kick it" yet.
If anyone has any thoughts or would like to share any of their experiences it would be much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Andy