Parent Stories

Nyah - Australia

This is our daughter Nyah, she is 5 months old and was born with CMV. I had no idea I contracted the virus when I was pregnant.
 
It was the most frightening time of our lives, her viral load was in the millions but for now she is happy and healthy. We have to monitor her hearing, of course, but we so far have been very lucky with her health. 
 

Gage - Missouri

There’s this boy. I’m completely head over heels for him. He has a way of capturing hearts with his smile. He’s my first-born son.

Gage came into our lives in July of 2014 following a normal pregnancy. Shortly after his arrival and a brief stay in the NICU, we were thrilled to be home with our baby boy. That’s when we got a call with results from bloodwork, confirming the doctors’ suspicions and our fears—a diagnosis of CMV.

Callie - Missouri

My first grandchild was born on September 5, 2017, and she passed away on September 11, 2017 from CMV. My son Clayton, his fiancé Brittney and the rest of the family are still in the grieving process.
 
Throughout their pregnancy, everything was as perfect as perfect can be. I could not have asked for a better person to be carrying my grandchild and take care of her like she did. Brittney took very good care of herself and Callie. Every time they went to their doctor’s appointments, all was perfect. Baby was right where they wanted her to be, good weight, good size: All of it, perfect. 

Chief - New York

This journey has caused me to be very passionate about CMV awareness - to the public, to expecting mothers and to our healthcare providers. I've contacted my local lawmakers to persuade them to pass proposed legislation in NY state that will require CMV testing for newborns that fail their newborn hearing screenings and require educational information for pregnant women about cCMV. I'll do anything I can to help.

Elizabeth - Maryland

CMV is often found in child care centers. I was unaware that cytomegalovirus (CMV) was an occupational risk for daycare educators when I became a licensed home daycare provider in Maryland in 1987. I didn’t know that CMV could devastate my pregnancy with Elizabeth, who was born severely disabled by congenital CMV in 1989. 

Avery - Utah

My husband and I had no idea what CMV was nor did my O/B. I was hospitalized for about 2 weeks because I was in preterm labor with my son (Avery). I received all of the necessary steroids to make sure that he would have a fighting chance to survive, 2 weeks had come and gone. 

Elisabeth - Florida

My husband and I adopted Elisabeth from birth. We were there for doctor's appointments, ultrasounds, and the birth. We were blessed with Elisabeth on June 9. The birth mother was tested for CMV in her second trimester and was tested negative. Total time from arrival at the hospital to delivery was 80 minutes! 

Conner - Arizona

My little boy Conner was born January 7th, 2012. The next day the doctor told us he had CMV. We had no suspicion that anything was wrong. The only thing they told me during the pregnancy was that he was a little small. He passed all his newborn tests they did hearing, eyes, and for seizures. 

Scarlett - Texas

Scarlett is 9 years old, the youngest of our four children. I had a normal pregnancy and she showed no signs of CMV at birth. When Scarlett was five she didn’t pass her hearing screen at a regular doctor visit. In hindsight, she had been saying ‘what?’ a lot and asking for the TV to be turned up…but we hadn’t put two and two together. We quickly learned that she had mild-moderate hearing loss in both ears. We immediately got a hearing aids and accepted this disability as positively as we could. 
 

Abigail - Illinois

On July 28th 2011, I found out I was pregnant with our second child. I was very excited and a little surprised at how much quicker it happened the second time around. I called my husband at work with the happy news, and then proceeded to call my parents, my sister, and a few close friends because 12 weeks is just too long to wait to share such exciting news.