Healthy Heart Party

Today we celebrate a healthy heart!!!  There aren't enough exclamation points in the world to highlight that sentence for me!

It has been one solid year since the day we handed this amazing girl off to her surgical team for her AV Canal repair or as you know it Open Heart Surgery.  She was a tiny girl a day shy of 4 months old.

The emotions flood back of that morning.  Handing her over is by far the hardest thing I've ever had to do.  Fear overwhelmed us as we prayed over her little 10 pound body.

Thank the good lord for his strength, my extreme amount of faith, and a strong husband by my side.

Over four hours of waiting with a full on support group of family and very close friends kept us for the most part occupied.

We finally saw our girl again with all the tubes and wires.  This picture looks good in comparison to what we first walked in on.  It made my heart break time and time again that first day.  She was in pain and that is hard to take.  She had an amazing cardiology team & CICU nurses by her side.  They made sure she was in the best care possible.  I am forever indebted to them.

Each day she was incredibly stronger & her pretty eyes shown with this new glow of health.  Heart failure no longer existed for her.  She wanted out of that bed so badly & we wanted her out too!

The moment we got her out was like holding her for the first time all over again. 

She no longer will rock a flawless chest, however what she wears instead is a badge of courage.  The mark of a truly remarkable girl.

She continues to bless us daily with her bigger than life personality.

Tomorrow we are celebrating.  Our family is coming over for a healthy heart party.  We can't wait for everyone to love on our sweet girl & rejoice on a better year with a completely repaired & perfectly functioning heart.  We have been on a journey, but it is one I never regret because we look at health as the blessing it is and we are stronger, better, more God fearing & God loving people than we ever were before.

And to Dr. Huddleston - we are forever thankful for the miracle you performed on her heart.  You are one hell of a surgeon!  And I truly believe you are one of God's best tools to many more families!