this is CHD awareness week

I am ashamed at myself for not making the time to make this known on my blog sooner. It might be national healthy heart month, but this exact week (from the 7th-14th) is CHD awareness week.
There are many angels that have been lost, but they are now up in heaven together without the limits of the human body. My daughter has taught me that there is no room for anything but love and that which comes from a place of love, in our lives. She has taught me how to live, what I had to remove in order to live this way....the guilt, the negativity, the nay-sayers.... I am now surrounded in love. We are surrounded in love and only love. And the only person who could have done that for us was our own child.
We love you, Kaia Belle Urban!
Please take a moment to honor our angels by clicking here.

If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant, I urge you to watch this video. This simple newborn screening could save your child's life. We almost went home with Kaia because the doctors thought she was healthy. If it wasn't for my c-section, this would have been our reality too.
click here & hopefully you can view this. It's on facebook.

Here are the solid facts:
CHD is an anomaly of the heart that is present at birth. CHD’s cause one or more portions of the heart to develop abnormally. At least 35 distinct forms recognized.
(There is no known cause for CHD, although genetics is the number one suspect)

CHD is the # 1 birth defect and is the leading cause of birth-defect related deaths…
(While it is the most common birth defect, it is the least publicized.)

CHD strikes children without regard to economic level, ethnic origin, sex, geographic location or religious beliefs.

40,000 infants are born with CHD each year in the U.S.
(Still, newborns are not screened for CHD’s.)

Some babies may be diagnosed before birth or at birth, some not until days, weeks, months or even years later. Sadly, too many are not diagnosed until after death.

Undiagnosed CHD’s and Childhood Onset Heart Disease cause many cases of Sudden Cardiac Death in young athletes.
(Despite these statistics, teen-aged athletes are not routinely screened for CHD’s.)

There are 1.2 million children and adults with CHD alive today
(CHD affects not only patients, but also entire families.)