title: Parents' experiences of having a child undergoing congenital heart surgery: An emotional rollercoaster from shocking to blessing.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe parents' experiences when their child with congenital heart disease (CHD) underwent heart surgery.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  About 40,000 children are born with CHD in the United States each year. Very few studies have explored parents' experiences when their child was diagnosed with CHD and underwent heart surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive phenomenology informed this study that consisted of two interviews with 13 parents.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Parents experienced a "rollercoaster" of emotions. Critical times were when parents received their child's diagnosis, handed their child over to the surgical team, and visited their child in the pediatric intensive care unit after surgery. Related stressors were the uncertainty of outcomes after surgery, the loss of parental control, the physical appearance of their child, and the fear of the technological atmosphere in the intensive care unit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ups and downs of parents' emotions reflected their child's changing condition and parents' adjustment to the condition.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carrington Hall, CB #7460, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, USA. Electronic address: hongwei@email.unc.edu.
authors.forename: Holly
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Family Health Division, School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carrington Hall, CB #7460, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, USA.
authors.forename: Cecelia I
authors.initials: CI
authors.lastname: Roscigno
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, Seattle University, 901 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122, USA.
authors.forename: Kristen M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Swanson
authors.affiliation: The Adult and Geriatric Health Division, School of Nursing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carrington Hall, CB #7460, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, USA.
authors.forename: Beth P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Black
authors.affiliation: Newborn Critical Care Center, University of North Carolina Children's Hospital, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, USA.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hudson-Barr
authors.affiliation: WakeMed Physician Practices-Pediatrics, 3024 New Bern Ave., Raleigh, NC 27610, USA.
authors.forename: Cherissa C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Hanson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D015278:Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D035501:Uncertainty; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Children; Congenital heart disease; Experiences; Parents; Phenomenology