Do512 Family Featured Babymakers, Claire and Lauren from M.I.L.K. (Moms I’d Like to Know), recently interviewed local mother, Lani Ripple. Ripple’s daughter was born with a Congenital Heart Defect. This is her story.
_________________________________________________
In honor of Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week, (Feb. 7 – 14) we’re bringing you the story of our long time friend, Lani DeGuire Ripple. Her daughter was born four months ago with a CHD and, since then, Lani has done everything she can to educate herself on her little girl’s condition. She was kind enough to share her experience with us- the good, the bad and the ugly- in an effort to put the spotlight on CHDs.
HAVE YOU ALWAYS KNOWN YOU WANTED TO BE A MOM? I think I always kind of assumed that I’d be a mom someday, but I didn’t give it much thought in my younger years. Once we started trying (and trying and trying) to have a baby, the desire definitely grew stronger.
WAS CONCEIVING EASY FOR YOU? Oops, I gave my answer away in the previous question. I didn’t take fertility drugs or have any treatments or anything, but it did take a while to get pregnant- both times. I don’t tell many people about this (so why not start on the Internet?), but we actually lost a baby at 13 weeks during the summer of 2011. The baby had a very rare chromosomal abnormality, and the pregnancy simply wasn’t viable. It was devastating, and I remember thinking “this is the hardest thing I’ll probably ever go through.” Turns out I was wrong. Just so there’s no confusion, our first baby’s rare condition and Nina’s rare condition are completely unrelated. It seems lightning really does strike twice sometimes.
