One Year Ago...

I remember one year ago, October 2010, saying "I wonder what will become of this in a year?  Will it just be a painful memory?  Will it all be behind us and we can move forward?". There were so many questions unanswered and we were not going to discover the answers until January 2011. See, we had recently found out that the baby girl we were pregnant with had a "fairly significant" sized hole in her heart. The doctors couldn't tell us when she would have surgery, they couldn't tell us how she would manage outside of the womb, and they couldn't tell us if she would survive.  I was trying my best to play it cool, but on the inside I was a mess.  Who ends up having a baby with a hole in their heart?!?  Not me!  That's the kinda shit they make movies out of for LifeTime movie network (I only know that b/c my mom and sister watch that channel and feel the need to explain the movies in detail to me. Hahaha).

 Ben and I had found out that our female fetus had a heart defect in September 2010. That day was surreal. Thank goodness DCMFM made our appointment to meet with a fetal cardiologist at AI Dupont hospital. I truly had no idea where to begin!  I was going through the motions.  When the office called, they told me when and where to be.  I was in such a state of shock and denial that I just went with it.  We met with our future daughters cardiologist, Dr. Bhat.  Truth be told, when I first met with him I was displeased. He didn't fit the description of the doctor I had pictured in my head. I imagined a clean cut, well dressed, brazen asshole. What I got was a quirky shorter guy with outdated glasses, faded pants with pleats, and a shirt and tie that appeared as if they'd seen better days. I wanted to cancel the appointment and go research the best cardiologist I could find for my unborn baby. Instead, I went through with the appointment. I am VERY glad that I did!  Dr. Bhat, despite his quirky demeanor and less than Nordstrom attire, was the best thing that could have happened to our daughter.  In my eyes, he saved her life...more on that story in the near future:)

    So here we stand one year later. That unborn baby's name is Natalie. She is a cooing, drooling, rolling, happy, smiley, beautiful, 8 month old miracle who happens to be the owner of a fully repaired heart!  Believe me, the path between October 2010 to October 2011 was not an easy one.  To answer the questions I had a year ago...YES, it is all behind us...YES, it is a memory...And YES it was painful, but I would not trade it for anything in the world!