Why I do what I do

There is not a day that goes by that I don't thank God that Jilliana's congenital heart defect was diagnosed so early.  The earlier a CHD is caught generally the better chance the baby has.  If a baby is not diagnosed during the pregnancy and no one knows there is something wrong until the baby's health begins to decline after he or she is born then it's a race against the clock to figure out what's going on and what needs to be done.  At my very first ultrasound at 11 weeks they saw something wasn't right!  (They couldn't tell that something was wrong with her heart that early on but saw excess fluid around her head) so by the time it was time for Jilly to be born her heart defect was already completely diagnosed so then everyone was ready and knew exactly what to do when she arrived!  That is what I want for everyone who is pregnant with a CHD baby.  While we may never know what causes congenital heart defects or how to prevent them (although hopefully one day we will!) we can do our best to make sure they are diagnosed before the baby is born and hopefully spare a precious little angel from losing their life...a mother and father from losing their child, a brother or sister from losing their sibling, a grandparent from losing their grandchild, an aunt or uncle from losing their niece or nephew..so I feel compelled to share what I have learned about CHDs with everyone and tell my pregnant friends to ask about their baby's heart...not because I think something will be wrong with their baby, (I think their probably won't be ANYTHING wrong) but because by that rare chance that their little one happens to be that 1 in 100 like my Jilly was I want them to have the best chance possible!!!  So that is why I do what I do:)  

*heart hugs*