“My anxiety was high the morning of our 30-week scan, the morning our world was turned upside down. There was a lot of small talk, and then there was silence. I looked at my fiancé with tears in my eyes. ‘I knew it.’”
‘I heard 3 things when he was finally out: ‘He’s here, he’s breathing, and he has a TON of hair!’ What a joyful moment. I say moment – because the joy only lasted that long.’
‘If you would’ve told me 3 months ago that my daughter’s recurrent colds would lead to heart surgery, I would have called you crazy. But that’s exactly what happened.’
“As the mother of then-2-year-old (and illness-prone) twins, I was familiar with baby colds. We used saline, humidifiers, and kept her hydrated. We suctioned when we needed to and let her sleep on an incline. But this cold was… different.”
‘He was 6 months old and only 9 pounds. I am a living nightmare. They knew it was all a tremendous f*ck up. They knew he was like this because of them.’
“I got the call around 3:30 a.m. I spent 9 months preparing for that call. 9 months worth of nights obsessively checking the volume on the phone, making sure it was charged, that it was close by, that I hadn’t somehow missed any calls. Well I got my call. Loud and clear.”
‘My 12 year old son coded. They found a clot. It caused a stroke and heart attack. They brought him back. Miracles.’
“He fought and fought. On this special day, he got to meet one of his favorite super heroes in the form a window washer. Batman is cool and all, but Noah is truly the superhero in this picture.”
‘My mom had a normal pregnancy with me, nothing was out of the ordinary. After I was born, my pediatrician noticed something wasn’t right. I was blue in color and had low blood oxygen.’
“I embrace my scar because it’s a part of who I am. It’s a reminder of everything I have been through. I was a walking miracle.”
‘No, not my child… wait, wait, wait. WHY US, WHY NOW?’: 2 families, 9 children, 3 congenital heart defects
“She didn’t have any symptoms. She didn’t have any signs screaming there was an issue. I thought we knew about these defects. I thought we were safe with all my children checked off with perfect health.”
‘She lived for 2 months and 3 days. I’ve never been so anxious to get to heaven.’ Mom of twins’ grief over loving her ‘beautiful daughter on earth and one in heaven’
“Their hearts were perfect, puffy lips, eyes, ten fingers and ten toes each, we had been blessed. Nothing showed any signs of any issues to come, but they came.”
‘He stopped breathing. His body went limp in my arms’: Mom of son with Down syndrome declares ‘CPR should be MANDATORY for parents to learn’
“He started to turn blue. I remember his big eyes staring up at me – they were like an endless pit of blackness. He was scared, and I couldn’t do anything to help.”
‘He would only have half a heart. This defect is so dangerous that without at least three surgeries, our baby boy would die within his first week of life.’
“Using our wedding-ring fingers in a ‘pinky promise,’ we made a pact and promised that we would move forward with the pregnancy and never look back, come what may.”
‘Scars equal strength’: Mom empowers toddler daughter to embrace her ‘BRAVE SCAR’ after open heart surgery
“Then it hit me, maybe my scar and struggle was simply to give me the tools to help guide my daughter through the same trials and difficulties. She is beautiful, with and without the scars.”
