Imagine if you can, learning that you were pregnant for the first time. First the shock, then the joy, then the realization that you and your spouse are going to be parents. You go through all the milestones that one goes through with pregnancy. Morning sickness, loss of memory and train of thought, fatigue, excess energy, food cravings...sometimes weird ones. Seeing your baby for the first time on the ultra sound, hearing your baby's heartbeat, watching your belly grow, finding out if its a boy or a girl. Then the day for your babies arrival finally comes, you are so excited and nervous, but mostly in a lot of pain and exhausted. Then after the pain, pushing, and exhaustion you hear your baby's cry. You are so thankful that she is finally her, they place her in your arms for a little so you can see her and say hi. Then they say they need to clean her up and do some tests. They take a long time, in fact they take a very long time, and there is a lot of whispering between the doctor an the nurses. Then it hits you, somethings wrong. But what could be wrong with such a sweet precious angel. After a few more long minutes the doctor comes over and says that your sweet fragile little baby has a heart murmur. It could be nothing but they would like to do a few tests to make sure. The nurses finally bring you back your sweet little girl, wrapped up in a cute blanket with a cap on her head. After a few days in the hospital full of visitors and happy times with family and your new little one the day comes that you can finally get to take your little one home. You go through what they say is the usual routine before you leave. Watch videos, get shots, fill out paperwork. Then the doctor says they want to do a few more tests on your baby before you leave. An hour goes by, then two. You start to get bored but after four hours the doctor comes back and says that you are ready to be sent home. However he has made an appointment with a cardiologist at the Children's Hospital just to make sure but he thinks something is wrong with your baby's heart. Two weeks later sitting in the cardiologist office, he tells you that your baby has a birth defect and needs to have open heart surgery to fix it.
This is not my experience, but it is the experience of my sister in law. Her first child, a beautiful baby girl was diagnosed with a Congenital Heart Defect known as
Tetrology of Fallot. At 6 months old, my niece Abby had to undergo an open heart surgery to fix a hole in her heart.
I cant even imagine the emotion that came with finding out Abby had a CHD. I have read her mothers account numerous times and have gotten her most descriptive account of what she felt and went through personally. But to me it is still incomprehensible. I wasn't there for this time in Abby's life. I met my husband, her uncle, when she was 6 years old. But she touched my heart and I instantly fell in love with her. She is the reason I started to help spread awareness and do this contest and event, and I keep it going because of her as well as all the beautiful heart babies and heart angels that I have learned about since starting to help spread awareness. You can visit her
facebook page to learn more about Abby.
