Born with a heart defect, baby soon had seizures, stroke and more

Amber Noggle's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. 在那之后，她和达斯汀·瑟宾很难再次怀孕.

所以当他们发现安珀经过多年的努力又怀孕了，他们很高兴. 他们做了早期测试，以确定孩子的性别，并列出了一个可能的名字清单.

Walking into their 20-week ultrasound, 安布尔和达斯汀第一次见到他们的宝贝儿子很兴奋. Halfway through the appointment, 超声医师让安布尔在办公室里转一圈，重新定位婴儿的位置. When she got back to the room, 一位更资深的超声医师过来仔细检查了超声波.

Amber felt the atmosphere shift. Her anticipation turned into anxiety.

Something isn't right with our baby, she thought.

一位专门研究高危妊娠的产科医生被叫进了房间. The doctor sat with Amber and Dustin to deliver the news. Their son would be born with tetralogy of Fallot, 先天性心脏缺陷实际上同时包含四个不同的问题.

In those first few days after the ultrasound, they grieved "the loss of a normal pregnancy," Amber said. 他们明白儿子的诊断会带来挑战，并做好了迎接挑战的准备.

达克斯·瑟宾(Dax Serbin)出生在威斯康星州麦迪逊市的第二天晚上，他停止了呼吸. An alarm went off, and doctors rushed into the room. They quickly hooked him up to a ventilator.

A couple days later, Dax developed an infection around his heart. Then he began having seizures. And a stroke.

除了每一段明显的危险之外，一系列挫折还造成了另一种复杂情况. 他们推迟了达克斯接受心脏手术的线上电子游戏飞禽走兽.

Dax was finally healthy enough for surgery at 11 days old.

It worked. Doctors repaired all four heart problems.

Dax spent a month recovering in the hospital. 他继续去看心脏病专家检查心脏，并去看神经科医生，以确保他的大脑在中风后发育正常.

现在5岁的Dax已经达到了每一个里程碑——从坐起来到走路和说话. He's growing and developing exactly how he should be. Since his dramatic start to life, he's known nothing but normalcy.

As a kindergartner, 他可以做运动(他最喜欢的是棒球和足球)，在学校操场上不受限制地跑来跑去.

He also understands some of his own story. He knows the scar on his chest is from being cut into by doctors, and he happily tells people about it. “他会成为一个了不起的孩子，有很多故事要分享，”安布尔说.

"Dax is a dynamo," said his cardiologist, Dr. Carter Ralphe. “他的先天性心脏病病史当然没有以任何方式阻碍他."

While Dax was in the hospital, 安珀和达斯汀学习了婴儿心肺复苏术，并得到了一个随时随地婴儿心肺复苏术培训包带回家.

三年前，电视主播安珀和达斯汀想做点什么来回馈社会. They launched a campaign to raise funds to buy CPR Anytime kits, with help from the American Heart Association. 他们最终购买了211套，捐给了达克斯接受治疗的医院的家庭, 以及麦迪逊地区其他医院的新生儿重症监护病房.

When they were ready to consider adding another child to the family, 安珀和达斯汀做了基因测试，以确保达克斯的心脏病没有遗传上的联系. 当测试结果为阴性时，她们感到更放心了，很快就怀孕了.

Throughout most of the pregnancy, Amber felt anxious, even though all the tests and checkup appointments went smoothly. 他们甚至做了胎儿超声心动图，以确保婴儿的心脏正常. 但直到她能面对面地看到他，知道他是健康的，安布尔还是很害怕.

On the day Xander was born, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

对达克斯来说，他的弟弟只是他可以分享内心故事的另一个人.

Stories From the Heart 记录心脏病和中风幸存者、护理人员和倡导者的鼓舞人心的旅程.