Hearts full of Love- Congenital Heart Awareness Week

Guest Blog post by Allie Backus

February 7th marks the start of Congenital Heart Awareness Week.

Did you know that 1 in every 100 babies born each year will have congenital heart disease? According to Children’s Health, a baby born with Down syndrome, has a 50% chance of having a heart defect and a 25% chance that they will need an operation. Norah was one of these babies.

We found out that Norah had a heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, when I was 20 weeks pregnant. There is a reason that they call these babies heart warriors.

Along the way, there were little obstacles that we would celebrate because we knew that her heart was not functioning the way should.

For us, it meant:

• Celebrating each day it was still beating
• Celebrating not receiving any negative news during an ultrasound
• Celebrating that I did not need an emergency c-section because her heart was able to handle labor unlike previously thought
• Celebrating that she was not blue when she was born and that her NICU stay was not as long as predicted
• The biggest celebration came after the hardest day of our lives – repair day. After a long day of hoping and waiting, we celebrated knowing that Norah’s life saving surgery worked.

This week I encourage you to do one of the following to join us in celebrating:

❤️ Wearing red is an easy way to show support for those affected by CHD

❤️ Educate yourself more on the topic, it affects more people than you may be aware of

❤️ Donate! Some great places to look into  are The American Heart Association and The Children’s Heart Foundation

❤️ Reflect. Reflect on the beauty in each day, and celebrate those hearts that are still beating