When my husband and I found out we were pregnant with our first child, we were so excited. When the day came that our beautiful daughter was born, it was the most wonderful day of our lives. The next day, we were to be sent home only our daughter could not be released. One of the nurses noticed that our baby was turning "blue" when she cried. They examined her and detected TGA. Our world came crashing and all our fears rushed in our minds. Sofia was air ambulance to Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, TX in the care of Dr. J. Mark Morales ( the best heart surgeon ever!!!) She was diagnosed with TGA, VSD, & ASD. She had open heart surgery when she was 7 days old and was the most difficult thing we have ever undergone in our lives. As we saw our baby's heart beating with her chest open (a procedure that is done the 1st 48 hrs. in case of swelling) we prayed that she would come out of this strong. We spent our days caring for her and our nights crying. We were at Driscoll for a total of 19 days. We had ups and downs. We had the best team of doctors and nurses ever. We did not know what the future would hold for our daughter. Well, our daughter Sofia is an enthusiatic, bubbly, beautiful 2 1/2 year old who is living life perfectly normal. She visits her cardiologist twice a year. Her VSD & ASD have closed and her surgeon has determined that she will need no surgeries in the future. GOD IS WONDERFUL!!!!

God is indeed wonderful, isn't He? :-) Thanks for sharing your story! A couple of us have been sharing our stories on a couple of the other links so feel free to read those. Our arterial switch baby was also our first and we also didn't know anything was wrong until after she was born. Ironically, my sister-in-law, who was due with her second child a month ahead of me, ended up having to have an echogram while she was pregnant because they thought there was something wrong with the baby's heart. Everything was fine. We joked at the time that I should just hop up there next, as I'd gone with her for support, so that we could find out the sex of the baby. If I'd done so we would have known ahead of time about Tayler's heart defect. At any rate, the nurses at our little county hospital caught it right away and she was flown straight to a children's hospital an hour and a half away. But I know how hard it was to leave the hospital without your baby. I'd set up her bassinet in our living room and when my husband and I made the long drive the day after I was released from the hospital (I had been taken via ambulance to the same hospital she was in the day after her c-section) to get some more clothes, etc, I saw that empty bassinet and just cried. You're not supposed to leave the hospital without the baby! Even though I knew she was okay and that, God willing, we would be bringing her home, it was still hard. My mother-in-law felt so badly that she hadn't thought to move it upstairs where I wouldn't see it. Anyway, we were in the hospital a total of 5 weeks because she developed some infection and had to stay an extra couple weeks. She had her surgery at 12 days (she was born at 4 lbs 14 oz but by the time she had her surgery she was only a smidge over 4 lbs. When they said on the show that a baby's heart is only about the size of a strawberry, my husband and I realized that, as small as that is, our daughter's heart was even smaller!). God has been wonderful to our family and she will very likely never have to have any more surgeries. She did have to have the balloon procedure at 6 months because there was some blockage of the arteries (or the valve, I can't remember) due to scar tissue. But it's held up and she's doing well. Due to her rough start in life she is quite the little fighter and very strong-willed (a trait that is not always enjoyable now at 6 1/2) and independent. Enjoy your little miracle!

I am so glad to hear that your baby is doing great!! It is amazing how many people have gone through the same experience as we did. It was very tough and I cannot remember half of the things that happened the day they told us about our Sofia. I kind of lost my mind that morning and my husband has had to fill me in on lots of little things. Leaving the hospital without my baby was a nightmare. My husband had to leave with our daughter 45 minutes after we were told of her condition. My parents had to drive me as soon as I was released. We are eternally grateful for all that GOD has blessed us with. I hope to hear from more people that have experiences like ours. God bless you and your family & THANKS for sharing!!

It's been wonderful reading all these stories about babies born with TAG. I was on magnesium sulfate due to preeclampsia and slept a LOT after Tayler was born. I look back at that as a blessing because I was able to get sleep that night I wouldn't otherwise have gotten (without a sleeping pill!). Within two hours of her birth she was being flown to another hospital, my husband, mother-in-law and sister were following in a van, and it was just my mom and me. The three of them were soon joined at the hospital by my dad and step-mom (who drove 3 hours in the middle of the night to be there) so my husband had lots of support. Of course I got there the next day and was able to see her as I was checked into my room. Before being transferred, one of the nurses got out a medical encyclopedia and explained the whole thing to me in layman's terms so that I could understand what was going on. Transposition? Who'd ever heard of transposition? Anyway. We were also blessed to have a family doctor who was very supportive. He stayed with her and the rest of the family from the time she started showing distress until she was flown away. My husband said that he was out in the waiting room with the whole family crying and praying for her. A few days later he told his church family about us and asked for their prayers as well. We have never found another doctor who would be willing to do this and we will always think well of Dr. Stephen Mineart. Keep those stories coming! It felt like we were the only ones this happened to (although we knew otherwise) and if my story of how well my little girl is doing can bring comfort to another family dealing with this then it will have all been worth it.

It is wonderful to hear such amazing outcomes. We think of babies and small children as fragile but they can withstand so much more than we can. We were so fortunate that Sebastian (from the show) hasn't had any complications, I think due in part to his healthy 8lb 4.5 oz birth weight. Granted, I realize he is still young (he is 5 months now), but we were so lucky to come home 10 days after surgery. The triple screen came back with a elvated risk for down's syndrome (1 out of 38 chance) so we did have a level 2 US. They even looked closely at the heart for those indicators and didn't see anything. I had opted for the amnio for a definitive answer and thankfuly it was negative. But there was always a nagging in my head. Not sure why, maybe i sensed something was not right. My parents were the best. We have no family in houston so my mom came back from new orleans, was able to leave her teaching (1st grade) job for over a week to come help. Your support system at this critical time is so important. And it so great to see other sharing so much. I think as moms of CHD children we all understand the stress and pain we felt at first but we all knew we had to be there for our children. The thought of almost losing them (b/c if this was 75 yrs ago, we would have) is still active in the back of our minds so we treasure every moment we have with them. While technology has changed and advanced (Thank goodness), instinct and a mother's love has not. This is not to say we love our other children less, but we have a different relationship with each of them.

I'm so glad to hear that all these children are doing well. When I see my little girl sleeping or playing and learning so much, I am just amazed. She is starting to ask about her scratched (her scars which are lightly visible) and she knows that Jesus put them there. She is very proud of her scratches!! I don't know about you all but everytime we visit her cardiologist/surgeon, I get soooo nervous. I'm so scared that they are going to tell us something new. Then I look back and remember to have faith in God. When I first saw the show about Sebastian, I was in awe!! I had seen many documentaries on TGA but never the full surgery. I was amazed!!!! It is incredible what doctors can do. When they came to tell you the outcome...I was in tears. I remember hugging our surgeon so tight and thanking him for saving our daughter's life. It was a feeling like no other. I saw the documentary at about 1:00am and was trying to wake my husband but he could not snap him out of his sleep. I did see on the website that they will be showing it in February..so I will MAKE SURE he see's it.

I'm happy to hear that Sebastian is doing well! I know watching your story brought back all of the memories for those of us who had been through it before. I have learned an important lesson from my daughter and that is to take each day as it comes. After our 5 weeks in the hospital my Grandfather asked me how I made it through that time. I told him that each day I would wake up and ask God for just enough strength and grace to make it through that day. No more. Then I would go to bed and do it again the next next day. And doing that every day, we made it though 5 weeks of uncertainty. I had a good laugh over your remark about the scars. Along with the incision on her chest, Tayler also has 5 scars where the tubes were inserted to drain fluid, etc. They look like little stars so we used to refer to her as our "5-star baby". Although those scars are still very visible, her incision has faded considerably. It's just a thin, light line now--just enough to remind us what she's been through. We are just so thankful that her two brothers and sister were born healthy! We had our second baby in Iowa 13 months after our first was born (did not plan that and I would NOT recommend it!) and as we went to a family clinic they didn't do any testing. After that we moved here (Mississippi) and due to the large amounts of lawsuits (don't get me started) family clinics won't take OB patients. SO, my OB (and most OBs down here anyway) sent us to a fetal specialist and we had in utero echograms done on the other two kids. It is so neat to see that little heart beating (and so amazing that they can see that much detail of the baby's heart while he or she is still in mom's uterus!) and was such a relief to us to know that the other two were healthy in every way. Thanks for telling us that the show will be on again in February--I had family members who wanted to see it but missed it. Does anyone know when in February it will be on again?

Per the schedule on the web site. Sunday 2/4 at 2:00pm and 10:00pm and Monday 2/5 at 2:00am.

Has anyone seen support type groups where folks can get together and talk, compare notes, and any other support type stuff for kids with CHD?

For support groups in your area I recommend checking with your hospital. There were several "reunions" for the families of the babies who were in the NICU at the same time Tayler was born so there may be a group that meets just for the heart surgery. We lived an hour and a half from the hospital and everytime they had a reunion scheduled we'd previously made plans and weren't able to go. But even talking with other parents who've had a baby in the NICU can be wonderful! I have noticed one thing about being a mom and that is no matter what I have been through there is always at least one mom in the room who has been through at least part of it. They may have had one or more C-sections like me. They may have 4 kids like me. They may have had a baby in the NICU like me. And so on. Anyway, I digress. Check with your hospital NICU or the family support person at your hospital to see if there's a group.

UPDATE on our daughter's health after switch:
We had our six month appointment yesterday and our cardiologist gave us great news! Instead of seeing the doctor's every six weeks, we were bumped up to a year!!! He said he would have never known that she was a heart patient if it wasn't for the scar on her chest. This was the moment I was waiting for...and it was unbelievable!! GOD IS WONDERFUL!!

That is awesome! Praise God for your little miracle. I can remember the days of having to visit the cardiologist every six months... Now we have yearly checkups and people always say the same thing you did---you'd never know there was a problem unless you saw the scar. Tayler is coming up on 7 years of age (March 9) and we are thankful every day for her and for what God has done in her life. She is our own little miracle. Enjoy YOUR little miracle. :-)

It is so great to hear that your daughter is doing excellent! I was asking the doctor how long this procedure has been practiced in the US and he said they started in Europe in the late 70's and in the US the early 80's and so far, all TGA patients are doing extremly well. he explained that the procedures that were done in the US were more effective than the one's in Europe because the devices that were developed were more advanced. The first round of patient's (females) are in their reproductive years and their bodies are doing very well during pregnancies. Isn't that amazing! Great to hear from you!!

I came across this show just the other day and see it should be on next week again. I can't wait to see it. Our daughter Saige was born to us on October 22, 2006 with TGA. We really didn't know what to expect with the open heart surgery and all. She's now 4 months old and weighs 17 pounds 7 ounces as of her checkup a couple of days ago. And like some others have posted, you wouldn't know she'd had any surgery if not for the scar.

An update on Allison: she had her first track meet of the season this past weekend, The Arkansas State Indoor Meet. She won the high jump event with a personal best of 5'3". She is doing well and has recovered fully. We hope she has a good season and we are grateful for her continued good health.

Just wanted to see how everyone is doing? Any updates? Please let us know!! Hope to hear from ya'll!

Tayler hasn't had her yearly exam yet (it's in June) but she did have her first dentist appointment. It was kind of frustrating going back and forth between her peds cardiologist and the dentist as to who actually was supposed to give me the prescription for her antibiotics (if you haven't been told already, any heart patients are supposed to have a little medical card stating that any time they have dental work they need to be on a round of antibiotics to protect against any potential blood poisoning. If, during an exam their mouths bleed and they were to develop blood poisoning it could be too much strain on their hearts). It turned out that after the 1st appointment the dentist will prescribe it but not for the very first appointment. And it's not something her cardiologist prescribes, so at the last minute I had to have her regular doctor call in a script. It basically boiled down to a lot of phone tag. :-) But her appointment went well, her teeth are healthy, and we're all set to go back in September. Will let everyone know how things go in a month after her annual. It has officially been 7 years now. 7 years ago on Mother's Day was the day she had all her pic lines removed and was the first time I had ever held her without any IVs (we were in the hospital for 5 weeks because she developed infections after her surgery; we only went home because they ended up putting a PIC line in her foot for continuous-feed antibiotics. We called the pump her little purse as it had a strap on it for us to carry it with us). Hope everyone else's little ones are doing okay.