Happy Hearts

Rejoicing With Them

Today is a day of rejoicing!  My dear friends, Jay and Shauntae (baby Kaitlyn's parents), had their ultrasound today and I am thrilled to announce that they are expecting a healthy baby boy!  God is so good and we are so happy for Jay and Shauntae. 

When I asked Shauntae if I could share the news with you all, this is what she said, "Don't mind at all. People need to hear how  God has blessed us, once again, with a beautiful child.  This time a heart healthy child..........I am thrilled". 

Thank you, dear Lord, for this blessing.

Dear Maggie Jane,

Today marks a very special day in your life.  April 10, 2007 I said goodbye to you and placed you in the hands of a man whom we had only met a couple of times.  He seemed skilled and knowledgeable, but was he skilled enough to save your life?  To fix your little bitty heart?  We did not know.  We did know that God could save you if He chose to do so.  We knew that He was in control and had a plan.  However, that was the scariest part of it for me and Daddy.  We didn't know what His plan was.  We did not know if God was going to take you home to be with Him or let you stay with us.  With every fiber of our beings, we wanted to keep you.  We wanted to hold you, feed you, snuggle you, get to know you, and love you.  So, at 7:00 a.m on April 10, 2007 I put you in Dr. Gandhi's earthly hands, however, I was really placing you in the Lord's hands to do with you what He saw fit.  Praise God, that He saw fit to let us keep you.  I have enjoyed every moment of the last 2 years.  You are a joy and light in my life, and I pray that I never have to live without you.  I have spent the last two years praying for your heart.  Every night I tucked you in bed, I prayed that God would keep you and your heart strong, and that He would let you be with us for a very long time. 

However, Maggie Jane, in the last month God has shown me something very important.   He has shown me that my prayer needed to change.  I've been praying for the wrong thing.  So, this last week, as I tuck you in bed, I pray, "Dear God, thank you for my Maggie Jane.  Thank you for the joy she brings to our lives every day.  God, please continue to keep her heart strong and keep her healthy.  But, God, no matter what you choose to do with her heart, please give her a heart that loves You and chooses to serve You no matter what.  Thank You for loving us.  We love you so much.  Amen"

Maggie Jane, I almost can't believe how much you have changed in the last 2 years.  You, now, love to eat!  Some days, you are a better eater than your big brother.  You love to help with laundry, dishes, picking up toys, packing the diaper bag, and cooking.  You want to do everything that Trent and your cousins do.  I don't think you know that you are the baby... or maybe you do and you are doing everything within your power to change that.  You decided to potty train yourself last week before you turned 2 and you have started talking up a storm.  I don't know where all of these words came from all of a sudden.  Your favorite thing to say is, "NO, I will do it." and you are very adamant that we listen to your request to be independent.  You love butterflies, babies, shoes, Elmo, mickey mouse, your fu-fu, and monster trucks.  Yep, my sweet girl loves monster trucks.  Oh well, I guess that's okay.  You love your bubby and you try your best to be by his side at all times.  You guys play better together every day.  You adore your cousins and your Do-Do (Uncle Luke).  You are the best snuggler and I cherish our snuggle time.  You like to tease and you definitely have an ornery streak.  You have the cutest little waddle and I could watch you walk all day long.  We all sit back and watch you waddle and laugh cuz it's so stinkin cute.  You are a very sweet girl.  You truely care about others and get very concerned when someone is hurt and espcially if they have a bandage or an obvious ouchie.  I love this about you.  You are very compassionate.  You are definitely mommy's girl.  You want me to tuck you in every night and prefer me over anyone else.  I don't mind this at all!  I'll take it as long as I can get it! 

Maggie Jane, I love everything about you.  I am even learning to love your heart... your special heart.  This is very hard for me to say because I would still do anything for you to be born with a healthy heart.  However, this year God has begun to show me how He is going to work this out for good.  He has used your story to reach many people this year.  Your story gives them hope for their heart babies and He is using me to reach their mommies.  I pray that  some day you will know how God chose to use you to tell His story.  God chose us to be a heart family for a very special reason and He shows us why a little bit more every day. 

Maggie Jane, thank you for being you.  I love you so much and I thank God for you every day.  Happy late birthday and Happy Norwood-iversary.  I'm so proud to be your mom.

All my love,

Mommy

A Special Introduction

I want to introduce you to a very special family.  The Marquiss family's life was hit with a tidal wave this summer when they found out that their beautiful son would be born with very complex heart issues:  severe heart defects and his heart would be outside of his chest.  The doctors did not expect him to make it past 20 weeks gestation much less live past birth.  Let's just say that this little guy has surprised everyone since day 1.  Click on over to meet a new friend of mine:  Marquiss Family  I know that you will enjoy getting to know her and her beautiful family as much as I have.

I have enjoyed getting to know baby Ryan's sweet mommy, Leighann.  She is doing an amazing job adjusting to her new life as a heart mom to a very special little guy.  Plus she has two young girls at home as well.  They have a lengthy commute to the hospital and Ryan has been there for several weeks now.  Please join me in praying for this sweet family.

*Plus, I love her last post.  It is an amazing testimony to God's love and faithfulness to His children.

heart baby updates

Thank you all for praying for baby Ashton, his mommy, and Shauntae.  I was gone all weekend and am trying to get caught up.  I don't know a lot but I do know that he had a really rough day on Friday.  He had a blood clot in his aorta and his stomach.  However, as of Sunday, the large doses of heparin had gotten those clots broken up and things were looking much better.  I do not know anything after that.  So, as of Sunday, he was doing much better.  I hope to hear from Shauntae tonight.  Thank you for all of your prayers.

Also, lil miss Charlotte is a ROCK STAR!  She had her glenn last thursday and went home yesterday.  She decided to be just like Maggie Jane and only stay in the hospital for 4 days!  These kids are amazing! 

Baby Abbie, who was born at the end of November with HLHS will be having her Glenn surgery on April 9th.  She had her cardiac cath yesterday to prepare for the surgery.  I am hoping that they are home by now, but I haven't heard yet.  Please be praying for Abbie and her family.  Some of you may remember her from my blog.  This is the baby who had the mysterious miracle vessels that saved her life.

Please Pray

Shauntae (sweet Kaitlyn's mom) called and asked that I send out a prayer request to you all.  A lady that she has known since kindergarten had a baby boy a few months ago who has Hypo Plastic Left Heart Syndrome.  Ashton has done fairly well since his first surgery and had his Glenn surgery (2nd of 3)  last week.  He seemed to be doing fairly well but has developed some complications in the last couple of days.  They attempted to take him off the vent today but were unsuccessful so he is back on the vent and has gone in to cardiac arrest at least once.  Please pray for sweet Ashton and his mom, Diane.  I don't know a lot of details, but God knows every single one even the ones the docs don't know yet.

Also, please pray for Shauntae.  I don't know why God has put her in this situation so soon after losing Kaitlyn, but He has.  Please pray that He gives her the strength that she needs to be a support to her friend while she herself still needs so much. 

I hurt for both of these mamas.  Please pray.

Pray for Charlotte

Please pray for Charlotte.  She has Hypo plastic Left Heart Syndrome and will have her Glenn surgery tomorrow (2nd of 3 surgeries).  Please pray that God will guide the doctors, give Charloote strength, and her family peace.

Please Pray

Please be in prayer for little "Ryan" who I mentioned last week.  They were hoping to wait a couple months for his first heart surgery.  However, God has something else in mind.  Ryan's sats have dropped quite significantly and surgery is immediately necessary.  To put it bluntly, Ryan's heart is about as messed up as they get and the odds are absolutely terrible.  He will be going in for surgery at 9:30 tomorrow (thursday) morning.  Please be praying for Ryan, his family, and the surgical team.  The surgeon said that this is about as complicated of a surgery as they ever do and no child has survived such complicated heart defects yet.  However, we know that God is bigger than any of this and He knows the outcome.  Please be praying for little Ryan tomorrow.

Please Pray

Please be in prayer for baby Henry or also nicknamed Ryan.  He is 1 week old and is quite the special little boy.  He was born with his heart and his stomach outside of his body.  As if that was not enough, his heart has several severe heart defects:  HRHS, absent PDA (ductus), an additional superior vena cavae, pulmonary stenosis, and tricuspid artresia (a missing valve).  This little guy and his family have a long road in front of them.  Please keep them in your prayers and head over to their site to see their beautiful family:  http://marquissclan.blogspot.com/

Heart Day

I added more of our pictures from our Heart Day:  Heart Day Pics

A Special Day

  February 14th is a special day for our family.  This year, I have put some extra thought into our "heart day".  I have tried to figure out the traditions that we will have and how we will explain them to Trent and Maggie.  I had originally thought that it would be Maggie's day.  A day to spoil her and do special things with her.  However, I wasn't totally okay with that.  While Maggie's heart will have the biggest impact on her own life, it has changed our whole family.  So, I wanted this to be a day that was for all of us.  A day for our heart family.  I explained it to Trent today in this way:  God chose us to be Maggie's family which means that He chose to make us a "heart family".  This makes us an extra special family.  So, this is why we celebrate "heart day".  God has made us a heart family and we will celebrate that with everything that we can.

This morning, the kids woke up to a dining room all decorated with hearts and balloons.  There were gifts for each of them and a special breakfast.  Maggie, of course, got a rose from her daddy and I got her a tu-tu (which she loves!).  Trent got a little lego set and I don't think he could have been happier.  We enjoyed our time together at the table and then the kids got to play with their gifts.  I enjoyed just watching them.  Trent and Maggie enjoy life to the fullest and I love that about them!  Our morning did not end here.

This year, my life has forever been changed.  A very special little girl was born on December 2nd, 2008 and I will never be the same.  Let me tell you a little bit about her.  She was beautiful in every way and she was so strong.  She had beautiful, sparkling eyes that captured your gaze.  She loved her paci that she got from the hospital and she loved to eat.  She, like most babies, wanted to be held at all times and she loved her mommy and daddy very much.  Her mommy would have done anything for her, and her daddy was wrapped about as tightly around her finger as she could get him.  She, too, had a very special heart and after fighting very, very hard, she went home to be with her heavenly father on January 30, 2009.  Kaitlyn Grace was loved by so many and we will all miss her very much.  Trent asks about her and we have tried very hard to explain it all to him.  He doesn't quite understand, but I think he grasps a little more each time.  We wanted to include her in our special day today.  So, one of the balloons that graced our table this morning had her name on it.  After breakfast, we went outside, and sent Kaitlyn her balloon.  This is something we will do every year to honor her beautiful life.  We miss you Kaitlyn Grace.

 

 

 

 

This was a our "heart day", and to all of the other "heart families" out there, we wish you a very special Heart Day!