[The meaning of being a mother of a child with a heart disease: a phenomenological study].

The objective of this study is to understand what it means to a mother to have a child with a heart disease. In order to do so, a phenomenological approach was used. The study was carried out with mothers of children with congenital cyanotic cardiopathy at the Infant Cardiology Center of a public hospital in Campo Grande, State of Mato Grosso do Sul. Ten open interviews were made based on the following guiding question: What does it mean to you to have a child with a heart disease? The comprehensive analysis of the reported speeches made possible the construction of three categories: "Discovering the disease: being up against the unknown"; "Living together with cardiopathy: being with the child in the disease", and "Believing in a stronger force: the necessary support". The impact of the disease on the mother begins the moment the child is born. Desperation, guilt and insecurity are mentioned as present feelings. It is in God, however, that such mothers look for the necessary support to follow this new path--a path of pain and faith.