Heart Mom's Night Out

Tonight was my Heart Mom's meeting, and it was wonderful to see my new friends.  I have only met most of these women once, but I feel like I have known them a long time.  We had a new mom tonight and I just want to welcome her.  I know for me, until this group came about, I felt isolated.  I felt like I was the only one with a child with a heart defect, even though I knew better.  I longed for someone to talk to that knew what it was like to "walk in my shoes". 
It wasn't long after we had came home with Charlotte that I had to call the Pediatrician's office about Charlotte.  Lucky for me, Dr. Yelton was the doctor that called me back.  While talking,  Dr. Yelton mentioned that there was a heart baby that he looked after a bit older than Charlotte.  I really didn't think much of it at the time, but as time passed I wanted to know who this other mother was with a heart baby like Charlotte.  With 4 other children, I spend a lot of time at the Pediatrician's office......during one of the visits, Dr. Yelton was the doctor taking care of my child.  I mentioned to Dr. Yelton that I knew he couldn't give me any info on the heart baby, but if I gave him permission, could he PLEASE give my info to the mother and see if she would call me.  The next day my phone is ringing and I answer it saying "hello?" and I hear a voice on the other end........"yes my name is Tina Bentley and Dr. Yelton gave me your information and asked if I could give you a call".  Can I say that my life has been changed forever because of Charlotte, but also because of Tina.  I think that Tina and I stayed on the phone over 2 hours that first conversation.  I had many questions and was so THANKFUL that she had called me.  Somewhere in our conversations, Tina heard the need for me to connect with mothers that had children with heart defects.  So Tina came up with the concept of a heart moms group. 
Heart Moms of the Upstate, that is the name of our group.  We meet the first Friday of every month and tell our stories, upcoming surgeries, prayer requests, anything that we feel is helpful to each other.  It amazes me the strength that you can get from each other.  Maybe it's because we know that we each have walked down the same path, some the same way, others a different way, but essentially getting to the same place.  It is a comfort to me knowing that at any time I can call on these women, and that they can call on me!  I look forward to our meetings and meeting new moms and hearing their stories.  Hopefully, at some point, we all can get together with our families and celebrate that God had brought us all together as a family!