Influencer who lost daughter months after getting open-heart surgery while pregnant gets tattoo in her memory

Lifestyle influencer Leah Jay Ramsey, 35, has revealed she got a heartwarming tattoo to honor her late daughter, Rowe, who tragically passed away months after she underwent open heart surgery during her pregnancy. 

Ramsey took to Instagram on July 20 to share the new body art, which was a drawing of her late daughter’s heartbeat inked on her forearm.

‘Her heartbeat,’ Ramsey wrote in the caption of the post.

Ramsey and her husband, Michael who live in Texas, first announced the heartbreaking passing of their daughter in an Instagram post on June 11.

They shared a photo from the hospital room, as Michael held the baby in his arms.

‘Our daughter. Rowe,’ Ramsey began the post. ‘The strongest little girl we will never get to know. 

‘You made it through infections and multiple surgeries, even when the odds were against you. But it just wasn’t your time.’

‘We are absolutely devastated. Rest peacefully. Love always, mom, dad and your big brother Reeves,’ her harrowing post concluded.

The devastating news came months after Ramsey underwent emergency open heart surgery while pregnant. 

She and her husband share son Reeves, three. 

Ramsey has been open about the traumatic incident on her Instagram page, previously explaining that she had felt sick over the past year, and thought she may have an autoimmune disease.

However, after her leg had swelled up to become ‘huge and excruciating,’ doctors discovered that she had strep in her blood as well as a blood clot in her leg.

The infection had been in her body for a year.

‘Then everything moved fast. Infectious Disease confirmed the blood infection,’ Ramsey wrote in an emotional Instagram post at the time.

‘Cardiac surgery found a vegetation growing on my heart valve. High-risk OB monitored baby through it all.’

‘I was put to sleep three times, had two major surgeries, multiple blood transfusions… and open-heart surgery while pregnant – which still doesn’t sound real when I type it.’

She was required to go under open heart surgery for the valve to be replaced. 

The six-hour ordeal required the pregnant model’s heart to be stopped for 80 minutes.

Ahead of the surgery, Michael wrote in a post that there would be ‘significant risks for the baby,’ but added that, ‘Leah is our main priority right now.’ 

‘If all goes well, she could be out of the hospital four to five days post-surgery,’ he continued.

‘Leah is doing well all things considered, taking each step in her stride and being brave in the process.’

Throughout her recovery process, Ramsey took to Instagram to document each milestone, including graduating from cardiac rehab on May 27.