Josiah Cambridge’s story as told by mum Katherine

Josiah Cambridge’s story as told by mum Katherine

10 February 2014, 1:55PM
Femme

Josiah was born on Velenttine's Day, but his heart was not normal.

I remember laughing when the dating scan put Josiah due around the 10th February 2010. “God has a sense of humour and since I hate Valentines Day I bet that is when he will be born,” I said. The 19 week anatomy scan didn’t involve any laughter. It was then we were told that Josiah’s heart was not normal.

I found everything in my life faded into insignificance and all I could do was think about this life inside me. Every breath I took was a prayer for him to live. To not just breathe but to really live! I felt like a failure and thought that it was my fault he didn’t grow correctly. 8 weeks later we were flown from Dunedin (where we had planned a home birth) to Christchurch for another scan. The diagnosis was Transposition of the Great Arteries. We were told it is a minor defect as far as potential congenital heart problems go… it didn’t feel minor, knowing he faced open heart surgery.

We were flown to Auckland at 28 weeks for another scan. We packed up our lives in Dunedin and moved to Auckland at 32 weeks to await the arrival of our baby. He had to be born at Starship Children's Hospital where the surgery is performed. Around then I stopped dwelling on what I could not control (the condition) and focused on what I could. I planned to have the most natural birth possible to give Josiah the best start at life. When I felt the first signs of labour a wave of inexplicable peace went through me. I knew that this was my fight for his life. Soon enough I would hand his life over but for now I could bring him into the world. Labour was long and hard but I managed a natural, pain relief free birth. I held him for little more than a minute before he was whisked away to NICU, followed closely by his Dada. And I laughed…Josiah was born at 5.46am on VALENTINES DAY.

We signed our first consent forms for surgery when he was 2 hours old, making us feel the magnitude of parenthood. The surgery was to blow a hole between the chambers to allow blood to mix until they could do the surgery. We started listing ‘little victories’, things that are normal for babies and often taken for granted. Removal of the ventilator, feeding and oxygen tubes; success breastfeeding; moving from NICU to the cardiac ward; being together in our own room for a few days; sleeping and even crying made it onto that list. HE LIVED. 8 days we waited, and then we handed him over for open heart surgery. 2 days later he moved from PICU to HDU on the ward and then after another 2 days we were back in a room (just the 2 of us). Those days before surgery where it was just us were so special. I poured out every ounce of love into his life so he knew what life could offer. And he came back to us.

We were told that in the best case we would be in Hospital for a month but our little miracle did so well that we were released after 2 weeks, 2 days. He came off medication at 3 weeks, 3 days and we moved to Invercargill to start a new life. He needs to have yearly checkup for his heart and development but if you didn’t know about his history you couldn’t tell.

During our stay at the hospital, @Heart’s Family Support workers made contact with us and have kept in touch since we returned home.  They opened their arms and hearts for us.  It makes a difference to be able to talk to someone who understands and actually cares.  We very much look forward to attending their coffee mornings and other events to connect with other heart families.

Josiah turns 2 this Valentines Day.  His life has been an adventure full of laughter and discovery. He has been to Rarotonga, on many plane trips to visit family, driven with me up and down the country, sailed to Waiheke Island and has been tramping with us in the Queen Charlotte Sounds. Josiah is a friendly, musical, animal loving, clever boy. He loves to climb, run, dance and copy anyone (especially the bigger kids he knows). He is a kind hearted and protective big brother to Micah, born November 2011. I have had the answer to my heart prayer that he would not just breathe but have a full life. Josiah has taught me that anything can be faced with faith in God, hope in the unseen and love without exception.

The irony of Josiah’s heart story is…on the day of hearts, 2010, I took my first breath as a Mama, I held my heart baby close and discovered that although it was his heart needing reshaping, his LIFE had reshaped mine.

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