Heart defect

Immediately after his birth, Thomas was transferred to intensive care, so his father could not hold him yet. If all goes well, this will soon be possible for the first time. “We’re going in all directions emotionally. We can’t take our baby home. The only thing you want, of course, is to hold your baby all day,” says Elsie. She is sitting next to the bed where Thomas is lying. “We knew it, but you couldn’t imagine it.”

“We did a 13-week ultrasound. They hadn’t done that in a long time, kind of a pre-medical ultrasound,” says Elsie. She also had a NIPT. “It came as a bolt out of the blue that there was Something was wrong with his heart.” The next day, they made an appointment at Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital.

To draw

“Then the cardiologist did an EKG,” Elsie recalls. It turns out that a lot was wrong. “What will come next? Yes, a lot of anxiety and a lot of fear. It really felt like the ground was falling out from under our feet.” Maren sits next to her and agrees. “These were very intense weeks,” Ilse continues. “Those were the first four or five weeks.” Very intense.”

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Maren is allowed to hold Thomas for the first time with the help of nurses who closely monitor all the wires and cables. Everything starts beeping. Marin finds that exciting. “I’m not going to do this for very long,” he says anxiously. But Elsie and the nurse reassure him. “Yes, I’m sure you’ll keep it up for a long time.”