Heartbroken But Hopeful

It saddens me to no end to have to type this - but Baby Ewan (whom I mentioned in my previous post) lost his battle and went to be with God. His mother is so incredibly brave in sharing her story and her thoughts and feelings - I became attached to their little family over the course of a few weeks, and my heart just breaks for them. Please keep them in your prayers.

As heartbroken as I am for Ewan, I am cheering and have great hope for Baby Jordan. He is at Egleston now awaiting the first of his three surgeries. He will have the same surgeon as Annalee, and their family has been on my heart and mind so much. Please also keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

I am humbled by these families and their willingness to share their stories and their fears, hopes and hurt. I have been holding Annalee a little tighter lately having become reacquainted with the heart baby world. We are so incredibly lucky to have our miracle baby, and although I've never taken that for granted... I am thankful to be reminded to count our blessings.

Sending up prayers...

It took me a while to be able to follow other heart babies' stories... it was just a little too close to home. But soon after Annalee was almost a year old, I began to delve back in - one eye closed - to the world of heart babies and their precious, fearful, hopeful parents who dare to share their stories online.

Part of following these babies' stories is therapeutic - it makes me realize how much we have to be thankful for and how far Annalee has come. Another part of me wants to follow these stories because I almost have to... why should I be done with "that world" just because Annalee is healthy? Things could have gone down a completely different path, and I feel a real need to stay connected to that world. Almost a calling to pray for these tiny babies and their little broken hearts.

Right now I have two special heart babies on my mind - one is Baby Ewan. Little Ewan is barely a week old and has already had surgery, several cath lab visits and is such an inspiration. His parents are scared to death - as you can imagine - but their faith is amazing. The other little one I have on my heart and brain is Baby Jordan. Jordan is due in about six days - there is a lot of fear and anxiety about his heart as well... he has been diagnosed with HLHS (Annalee's original diagnosis), and I know it's such a scary time for his family. Please keep both of these amazingly brave families in your prayers... I have been where they are, and it's a dark and lonely place. Prayers can make all the difference in the world.

I'm going to leave it at that for now... nothing I can say after talking about these little ones seems very important. Just keep them in mind and send good vibes. Heart families are a special breed of people and heart babies are such fighters. I have my little fiery 3 year old heart baby to prove it. :)

New Beginnings...

It has been almost a year and a half since I updated this Blog... sinful :) But I was inspired by two very special heart mommies to start writing again, and here we are.

A lot has changed - we are now in Greenville, South Carolina... Annalee is three years old... we are joining a new church and navigating this new state and home town - it's not where I thought I'd be a year ago, but I'm learning that it can be good.

So here we go... a new beginning brought about by empathy and concern for families who went through what we went through. What a special and confusing cycle...