Irreversible brain damage

Meghan King Edmonds is facing a challenging road ahead as a parent.

The reality TV star revealed in a new blog post that one of her twin sons, Hart, has "irreversible brain damage," which she had suspected since he was born last year.

In the heartbreaking blog post called "My Hart," King Edmonds wrote, "The nurses struggled to straighten his legs to measure his length. He suckled hard, shallow, and often until I bled and he spit up black." She had Hart and his twin brother, Hayes, in June 2018.

"I just knew," the "Real Housewives of Orange County" alum admitted. "I told our pediatrician — she said he was fine. I begged for a neurologist referral and when I got it — he said he was fine. I then begged for a neurologist who specializes in Cerebral Palsy (I jumped through hoops to get this appointment, so many hoops) and she said he might be fine. I then begged for an MRI."

The news couldn't have come at a rougher time in King Edmonds' life. In June, news broke that her husband, Jim Edmonds, admitted to having an online relationship with another woman, where explicit photos and texts were shared, but no "type of relationship or physical contact" was made, according to him.

"Do I believe him? I don't know. Because I don't trust him anymore. Physical or not, he still had an affair and he admits this to me," she wrote at the time on her blog.

The same week she found out about the affair, King Edmonds decided that Hart should still have an "elective MRI with anesthesia" to help diagnose his condition. The baby's neurologist confirmed King Edmonds' worst fear.

"Hart has minor Periventricular Leukomalacia on both sides of his brain (namely the white matter), but more so on his right," she explained. "She said that this explains all of my concerns: the rigidity in his muscles, the (somewhat) delayed physical milestones, the lack of fluidity with arm and leg movements, the stiffness in joints, the weakness in his lower back, the somewhat favored use of his right side. She told me this mainly occurs in premies and since he was not a premie (he was born at 37 weeks gestation) she believes this damage somehow occurred ‘a couple months before he was born." Hart will be at risk for being diagnosed with cerebral palsy as he gets older.

"Hart has irreversible brain damage, it's called PVL," she added.

"That night Jimmy and I went out to dinner for the first time in weeks," King Edmonds said. "I explained to Jimmy how we are not somehow compromised or punished for having a child with special needs (whatever that may or may not mean!), we are BLESSED. I will go on about this another time but just know that I do not see his diagnosis as anything but a gift: we were chosen to take on this special person. I truly feel as if we've doubled down and won the underdog hand. Truly."

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/meghan-king-edmonds-son-brain-damage