Cory Wharton Shares First Family Photos After Baby’s Heart Surgery

MTVs Teen Mom / YouTube Cory Wharton

Former “Teen Mom OG” cast members Cory Wharton and Taylor Selfridge have a lot of love to share this Valentine’s Day. In a February 1 Instagram post, Wharton shared four photos of himself and Selfridge, along with his daughter Ryder (5, whom he co-parents with “Teen Mom: The Next Chapter” cast member Cheyenne Floyd), and his and Selfridge’s daughters Mila (2) and Maya (8 months). The family is all dressed in red and black to mark Valentine’s day, and are enjoying cake pops and flowers. Wharton is also offering a discount code to 1800Flowers in the caption.

“I might be bias, but pretty sure I have the cutest Valentines this year,” Wharton wrote in the post’s caption.

Taylor Selfridge Marks American Heart Month

This marks the first family photo shared by Wharton since baby Maya’s open heart surgery last month. Maya received a Glenn procedure as one step in her road to recovery from tricuspid atresia (a birth defect where one valve in the heart is not fully formed, preventing proper blood flow in the heart and limiting oxygen flow throughout the body).

Maya’s Glenn procedure recovery took longer than expected after Maya’s oxygen levels remained low in the hospital, but her parents were able to take her home from the ICU after 13 days and a second procedure to search for possible causes of her low oxygen levels, though the doctors did not find anything out of the ordinary.

In her post following Maya’s recovery, Selfridge confirmed that Maya would be on oxygen even after being released from the hospital. The youngest Wharton daughter still had a nasal cannula visible in the family photos to assist with her oxygenation.

In addition to Wharton’s new post, Selfridge also took to Instagram on February 1. In her Instagram story from that day, Selfridge shared that “It’s heart month” and included a post from the account Conquering CHD which reads, “Congenital Heart Disease is the most common birth defect in the world.”

In the next slide, Selfridge posted a photo of baby Maya dressed in black with a matching bow and smiling straight up into the camera. Selfridge added a caption of her own, writing, “Maya is 8 months old today!! & 1 month out of her Glenn procedure 🙏🏻 Last year on this day we found out we had a little heart baby in my bell ❤️‍🩹 #chdawarenessmonth”.

The National Institute of Health has deemed February as “American Heart Month” and is encouraging Americans to learn the risk factors for heart disease and has created resources for individuals to monitor and work on their heart health.

Maya’s Numbers are Going Up

Although Maya is still receiving supplemental oxygen, Wharton shared an update via Instagram stories on January 27 to confirm for his followers that things were moving in the right direction.

The U.S. Sun shared a screenshot from Wharton’s story, which included a black-and-white video of Maya, along with the caption, “Somebody is growing some teeth 🦷 Maya is doing great still on oxygen but her numbers are going up so it shouldn’t be too long 🙏🏽 😊”.

Wharton and Selfridge have previously confirmed, when sharing Maya’s treatment plan on their YouTube channel, that as long as all goes according to plan, Maya is due for a break before needing one last surgery, known as the Fontan procedure, which is usually performed at two-to-five years old, and will create a pathway for proper blood flow.

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