CHD Awareness My Story

Congenital Heart Disease is something that I never thought about. I didn't know anyone who had it. I didn't give it much thought at all. Not when I was pregnant with either one of my boys. As with most moms, when I was pregnant I worried about EVERYTHING! I took care of myself, ate right, exercised, and took all my vitamins. I wanted my baby to be healthy. But, It never crossed my mind that my baby could be born with a Congenital Heart Defect. And my first son, wasn't. He was a very healthy little boy! But, with him being my first born, I would still fret over every hiccup, sneeze or cough. I bundled him up like it was the middle of January, even though he was born in June. When I had my second son, I swore things would be different.  I wouldn't worry as much, I wouldn't be so uptight. Maybe even let family hold him without sanitizing their entire bodies beforehand. On April 8, 2007 Max was born. It was a somewhat uneventful birth, everything seemed fine and Max was deemed healthy. We went home and began our life as a family of four. After a few days at home, I noticed Max was breathing a little fast. I would count his breaths, not really sure what they were actually even supposed to be. Three or four days of the rapid breathing I took him to the Dr. We were sent home. No oxygen sats were taken, no leg pulses checked. Nothing. To be honest, I didn't even think to ask or wasn't aware of these tests. It was believed to be normal newborn breathing. The rapid breathing continued, a second Dr. appointment was made, still nothing. It was getting worse. I made the third Dr. appointment, he was two weeks old. Finally, leg pulses were checked, a pulse ox test preformed, chest x-rays were taken, and a pediatric cardiologist appointment made. This was on a Monday. I was scared, but still unsure of exactly what was going on. Our cardiologist appointment was the next morning. That tuesday morning I found out my son had several heart defects. He was taken by ambulance to the local hospital, intubated and then airlifted to UCSF Children's Hospital. Max was in congestive heart failure. My life was forever changed that day. Before April 23, 2007 I didn't give Congenital Heart Defects much thought, even though 1 in 100 births a child is born with a CHD. It is the number one birth defect! Yet, I didn't even know the warning signs. February 7-14 is Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week. I posted several CHD facts here. I encourage you to take a look. I leave you with a picture of my little Miracle and Heart Hero, Max. He has had two open-heart surgeries. He had a pacemaker implanted when he was a little over 20 months. He is our Miracle!  Living life like any normal 4 year old!

http://shoomie-occasions.blogspot.com/2011/02/chd-facts.html