Wednesday, January 6, 2010

One Year Ago Today.....

I will actually start with 2 yrs ago...almost to the day. Bethany was 3 weeks old and we found out she was sick. She needed to have open heart surgery. She has PAPVC (Partial Anomolous Pulmonary Veneous Connection). A very scary day for all of us.
Now, to one yr ago today.....
January 6, 2009 Bethany had her surgery. They went in and made all her valves and arteries connect to the right places. We sat in that waiting room all morning. The nurses were amazing. They called us every hour to update us on how the surgery was going. I looked around at all the other parents in there and wondered why they were here. Was it something serious like Bethany or was it something less complicated and they would get to leave later that day? I would watch parents come and go and got more nervous and sick to my stomach as the time went by. The nurses phone would ring and I thought I would throw up. But everytime they called for us it was good news....she was doing great. Four hours after it all started we got one last call. They were done. She was in recovery. I immediately went to the bathroom and threw up. All the nerves and axiousness finally decided to leave me! She did great and they fixed it...her heart, although still not like a normal heart, had been repaired to the point it would work correctly. The Dr. came and talked to us and told us what he did. Not sure I listened to all of it....the important part was she was going to be ok. As I shook his hand I realized he had our babys tiny little heart in that very hand not 30 min before that. I sat there for a few minutes and cried as Tyson just held me.
The nurses took us to the PICU where she was awake. She was just lying there with all these tubes coming out of everywhere! I was so scared for her. She was hooked up to 6 different medicine machines. She had 4 IVs...one in each hand, one in each foot. She had a chest tube in for drainage, a catheter, and a wire in her neck to help measure her heart rate. She had wires coming out of her chest that were hooked up to a pacemaker. She looked up at us and reached for us. We werent allowed to pick her up or hold her and she was crying. It broke my hear because for the past 5 or so hours all I wanted to do was hold her. It would be 2 more days before we could hold her. She had some amazing nurses. Our favorite was a lady named Mary. She had been a cardiac nurse for 25yrs. She did a great job keeping Bethany calm and mom and dad informed. She kept us updated on everything. She was a fun nurse. We met some other moms there whose little boys were worse off than Bethany. Ben had been there his whole 8 weeks of life and wasnt going home anytime soon. He ended up getting a heart transplant a month later. He is doing great. Bridger, whose mom Staci helped us more than anyone, had been there his whole 4 months of life. He got to go home for a bit but ended up back in the hospital. Sadly, he passed away in August, one month before he was to turn 1.
Bethany got to leave 6 days after her surgery only hooked up to the oxygen. We go in for check ups but they all say she is doing great. We are just waiting for the day she needs her pacemaker. The longer we can wait the better. I wish I was financialy wealthy...I would donate money for research for Congenital Heart Defects and spend my time volunteering at the hospital instead of at work! We do fundraisers for the cause so if you can help out it would be greatly appreciated!
So we made it through the first year post surgery. She has turned 2 and boy is she sassy and active. We wouldnt have her any other way!

Hailey

Hailey is in the 4th grade this year. I can't believe how big she is getting. She is really into science stuff. She loves anything about the universe and planets. She loves to experiment and figure things out. Hailey is a wonderful big sister. She loves helping out and taking care of her little sister. She can make her sister laugh more than anyone and is VERY protective. We are so proud of her.

Bethany

Bethany just turned 2. She is a sassy little girl but I wouldnt have it any other way She is a tough girl. She loves her big sister so much. She loves to play with her and they have a lot of fun together. She is into Curious George and Super Why. She can count to 14 and say her ABC's. She eats EVERYTHING! You would never know this kid had to have heart surgery!