Hi all,
My first baby has a (mild) heart condition which was diagnosed after birth due to a heart murmur. She is really well in herself and they have said for now it is just a case of monitoring; it may resolve itself or it may stay the same. We have to live in hope but it has been an extremely difficult time and has left me with a lot of anxiety about her first year of life. My risk of having another baby with a congenital heart defect is now slightly higher than someone who has not had any CHD children, although since there is no history of this in our families, it seems that what happened with my daughter was a random occurrence.
We have always wanted two children and I long for my daughter to have a sibling, however there are a few considerations here:
a) emotionally I am not sure I'm ready - or will ever be. I hope I can process what has happened so far and heal from it and move forward, but for now I am still navigating that and finding it difficult. Any mums who have been through something similar, I would love to hear your thoughts especially.
b) I'm in my mid-thirties and don't want to wait too long before trying for a second, if we decide to have one. But I recognise that I need to be emotionally and mentally in a good place to have two young children.
DD is my absolute world and the best thing that happened to me; I am so grateful for her. So I can envisage us only having one but I am trying to work out how much of that is being driven by me being fearful / a little traumatised by the last 12 months.
Thank you