CHD AWARENESS WEEK: Self Care

My pregnancy was pretty uneventful. My biggest complaint was heartburn. To be clear, it was raging heartburn from 4p-6a for 6 months. I was eating tums like popcorn. So when Louis was born and we were thrown into this world of heart care and surgical intervention, I didn’t give any thought to what my needs were as a new mom. It was hard to even step away from the hospital just to take a shower. We are so lucky to have such caring friends and family asking what we needed and offering help, but we didn’t really NEED anything. Recently, I read this The Mighty article from The Mighty, and it put a lot of feelings into words for me.

We live two miles from the hospital, a very direct route. We knew Louis would need heart surgery before he arrived, so Dan had planned his freelance work to give him three months off, and I wasn’t working. Our bills were paid, our insurance covered Louis’ care, and we could go home at night and still be 5 minutes away if Louis needed us. Obviously none of this was ideal, but we were set up with a best-case-scenario. It occured to me that not everyone has that flexibility. The social worker came everyday asking what we needed, and I told her I wanted to offer up our extra bedrooms to out of town families. There’s no way the hospital can advertise that for so many liability reasons, but it’s been a bug in my brain since. Recently, through our supportive network of care givers, I was connected to a group of women who are starting a nonprofit to do just that! Handing it to Hospitality is starting their 501C3 journey and creating an airbnb-like experience for out of town families needing care from our children’s hospital.

I didn’t have to think about where I would sleep while Louis was in the fight of his life. We are being given the opportunity to open our homes to families who need a little self care while their children fight their own battles. I can’t think of a better way to give back to the hospital, full of nurses and surgeons, who saw us through our worst days and who continue celebrate our best days.