Heart Love

A friend’s sister is becoming a Mom tomorrow and meeting her son. Her son will have three heart procedures within the first 4 years of his life. The first surgery will be this week. I’m happy to know her and be available for her. Just knowing someone who understands what you are going through is - in a way - comforting. I hope she knows there are a lot of us out there.

Family and friends are always supportive, but in all honesty, unless you’ve been through it, you cannot understand the emotions that come with a child whose heart needs repaired. [And in our case, an extra chromosome to boot!]

I know 1 in 100 babies will have a congenital heart defect. I think I know three people now who have had a somewhat similar journey as us, just in different heart-related forms.

I’m anxious for K and her baby boy this week, though I have the utmost confidence in the Cincy Children’s team and the strength of that baby boy. Through the Ds community, I now know many children who have had heart repairs. And let me tell you - they are strong. 

So this post is just to send my NICU and Heart Mama strength to her and the family. No one wants to have to go through this, but you find strength buried in places you weren’t aware of. It just comes to the surface because there is no other choice! 

And months or one year later you look back at those long days and weeks and realize “Wow, that feels like so long ago!” Look at us now : ) 

Good luck tomorrow, friends. You’ve got this!