Zoey’s Heart
Many years ago, I was told I likely would never be able to have children, and I was devastated because all I ever wanted to be when I grew up was a Mama.
In 2018, I got married, and we decided to throw everything we could at making our little family grow. We ended up needing to do IVF, and it took 3 tries to finally get a viable pregnancy, but things still weren’t perfect. Every week, they told us to expect loss. The embryo wasn’t growing right, but every week our baby grew and grew.
Until we reached 20 weeks, when we were hit with a diagnosis. Our daughter Zoey was going to be born with a very severe heart defect called hypoplastic right heart syndrome. Simply put—Zoey only has half of a heart. Our world was shaken as they explained our options, everything from termination to what her life would look like if we brought her earthside.
There was no question to us. This little girl was already a fighter, and we would fight for her. We became heart parents that day.
In November of 2021, our sweet girl was finally here, given the name Zoey Louise Love—“Life Warrior.” At 7 days old, she experienced her first open-heart surgery. At 5 months, her second. Life was hard that first year and so incredibly scary.
After she survived her second surgery, I knew I wanted a tattoo that shows her strength and incredibly rare, special heart. Aimee Ford took my vision and made it into something gorgeous that I get to live with forever. She gave me Zoey’s beautiful, strong—but only half—heart, along with our birth flowers to show how strong we are as a family.
Zoey is 3 now and having her third open-heart surgery on May 6th. She loves touching my heart tattoo and hearing how it’s actually hers. She may only have half a heart, but she has twice the love and fight.