Desi was going through her normal routine on the morning of Monday April 21st with Dylan and started having chest pains when they were driving to school. Desi's chest pains were excruciating and her left arm went numb, she knew she was having a heart attack. She made a u-turn, drove to her neighbor's house (thank you Amanda!), and told Dylan to go tell Amanda she needed help. Dylan was so brave and did what her mommy told her to do, and then the three of them were racing to the Emergency Room. Desi needed to be transported to University Hospital where she could get to the Cardiac ICU. The hospital wanted to fly her in the helicopter but she refused and told them that would definitely give her another heart attack. Apparently she asked them, "Do you watch the news? I'm not getting in that helicopter," and if you know Desi, you know she absolutely was not getting in that helicopter! With a lot of coaxing, they finally agreed. The Cardiac ICU unit was waiting for her and they got to work immediately. She had suffered a pregnancy-hormone-induced Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection (SCAD), which the doctors called a "heart injury" that has similar symptoms as a heart attack but it's not caused by the typical issues that cause a heart attack (blockages, heart disease, etc.), but by high levels of pregnancy hormones in Desi's case. Who knew there was yet another life-and-death risk for women who are pregnant, right? This was a new one to Desi and everyone in the family! The first week in the hospital was extremely important and also very stressful. Many doctors were working on Desi's team to try to determine, day-by-day, if and when they should do a cesarean section to deliver the baby. She was still 27 days before her due date when the SCAD happened. As you can imagine, these hours and days felt like something out of a nightmare. The medicine she needed to begin healing her heart could not be given to her because she was pregnant, but delivering the baby also put her at risk. Once Desi made it to a week after the event, the doctors decided they wanted to try to get her through one more week, to give her body as much time to recover as possible before the c-section. The second week was a nightmare in a different way: Desi was doing so well physically and the doctors were happy her heart condition wasn't getting worse, but knowing the risk of the c-section coming up was, honestly, devastating and overwhelming at times. Let's skip to the good part... An amazing team of OB, Cardiac, and Neonatal doctors and nurses made a detailed plan for the c-section, and a beautiful - perfect in every way - baby boy was delivered on Monday May 5th. Desi immediately returned to Cardiac ICU for intensive care for the first 24 hours after delivery, and everyone was thrilled with how she was doing. She was moved to a private room, still with close monitoring, by Tuesday evening where she has been with Brandon and baby since. Dylan is so happy to be a big sister and she already loves her little brother so much. Little Brandon Griggs Dowdy is already bringing joy to the world and Desi calls him her little heartbreaker:-) The whole family will be heading home and will need a lot of support while Desi is recovering from the heart condition and from the c-section, which will take many weeks. So many people have already been so helpful with messages, prayers, flowers, and some visits. Desi and Brandon are so thankful for all of you! Thanks so much for helping them during this time.