The day of Elizabeth’s operation was so intense for all of us. The not knowing of how her body will deal with such a major operation was so scary.  We were all there for Elizabeth, Leslie and myself, our parents, godparents friends and family.  The CICU called us to say she was ready to be taken up for her op.  Leslie and I walked with the surgeons and Elizabeth to the operating theatre.  We kissed Elizabeth and wished her well, told her to be strong and that we are here for her. She had all the tubes in her mouth so we didnt hear her crying , but her face said it all.  I reassured her that all will be well and she is a strong girl who will overcome this ordeal with ease.  We had to leave as they were ready to operate.  It took approx 3 hours before we heard that everything was great.  She was taken back to the CICU and we were allowed to see her within 1 hour as they had to hook her up to all the machinery.  When our eyes saw our little girl lying their on the bed all swollen and sore, it really hurt our hearts, but seeing her taking her own breaths was amazing and a blessing. We knew it would take time before we could hold our baby girl however this whole ordeal had made both me and Leslie stronger in everything.  It has made us appreciate life and our loved ones more, life is so precious and we should embrace it now. 

Elizabeth was moved up to ward 2 south on the 16th November and was on a monitor that showed us her breathing patterns.  I breastfed her for the first time on the same day. She latched on in an instant, and was so content, I then had to top her up with formula as the cardiologists didnt want Elizabeth to be overtired from being on the breast for too long.  Each day Elizabeth was growing and getting better wiith her breathing. More and more family and friends came to visit her and she loved it.  Elizabeth made friends with other children in hospital one special friend called ” George” who has such loving parents we all got along very well and supporting eachother.  The day came when we got to speak to the cardiologists again and they were happy with Elizabeth’s recovery and told us that the monitor can be switched off, the tube in her nose can be taken out and that she could go home within a couple of days.  We were so over the moon to hear such great news.  Even Santa Claus came to visit all the children in the hospital, and gave all the children presents, Elizabeth got a wiggles pram attachment and mummy took a photo of her with Santa.

Elizabeth was discharged from SCH on the 21st November 2005 and was on her first journey coming home.  The car trip was amazing, Elizabeth was looking all around.  It was the first time she felt saw sunlight and felt the breeze on her skin, she loved it all.  We finally got home and were welcomed by Papou George, Yiayia Anna, Nono Albert, Nona Mary, Thea Georgina, Aunty Ria, Uncle Con and many more people. Elizabeth loved her bassinette she slept like an angel.

Elizabeth milestones since come home 

1. Holding her dummy tightly and not letting go
2. Can see now and can focus on objects and faces
3. loves the light any form of light.
4. Cries AWAH AWAH when she is hungry.
5. Now looks and smiles at anyone loves to grin
6. When spoken too she talks back in baby talk.
7. Loves to kick and is trying to stand when I hold her upright
8. Loves watching television, I do believe Eastenders is her fav show
9. At tummy time tries to crawl with her knees gets a little tired though but is doing great.

We saw the cardiologist on the 13th December 2005 and had an ultrasound done which showed that the shunt is working extremely well. The cardiologist is very happy with the recovery of Elizabeth’s operation and is going to see her in February 2006. 

We wil be seeing the surgeons soon to discuss her op and no doubt the next ops in the coming years. 

Please keep logging on to our website as it gets updated almost every day.  We will always have more news to share and pics to view and dont be shy to leave comments as we would love to hear from family and friends.  

For now thank you all so much for taking the time to read our website and sharing our daughters life with us.

Cheers Effie

To be continued when we know more about the next op………..