CHD AWARENESS



Banner designed by Becki Mobley


February has long been associated with hearts. Valentines Day, sweethearts, romance. For our family, now it is associated with broken hearts. Our sweet Jethro is a February baby, so we are going to have the joy of celebrating his first birthday this month, but it is also CHD awareness month. With the week of the 7-14 officially CHD awareness week. I am going to try to stay top of things this month and post facts about CHDs throughout.

Congenital heart defects are among the most common birth defects, affecting nearly 1 out of 100 babies in the United States. Some heart defects are mild, while others can be life-threatening. Other common birth defects include cleft lip/palate, Down syndrome and spina bifida (open spine), affecting about 1 in 700, 1 in 800 and 1 in 2,500 babies respectively.

I encourage you to stop and read the previous paragraph once again. There is a difference of 600 babies between CHDs and the next most common birth defect. Yet how many of us have heard, or are familiar with Down syndrome, or cleft lip/palate or even spina bifida. How many of us are ignorant of CHDs? And yet, the possibility of knowing or having a child with CHD is much more likely.