Week in Review

For all you big picture types.

Our daughter Sophie was born six weeks early with two major heart defects. The first was a restriction in the aorta that prevents oxygen rich blood from getting to the lower body. The second is a hole between the lower chambers of the heart that forces the lungs & heart to do alot of extra work. Sophie had a successful surgery to correct the first problem on Monday, January 21.

Recovery from the surgery was a little scary, but alot of that was because we didn't really understand what to expect. She was very pale & puffy on Tuesday, but her looks returned to normal by Wednesday. She was on a ventilator to help with breathing until Thursday. We know now that all of this is common, especially for preemies.

Sophie is now back in the NICU. She is breathing on her own & taking regular feedings of milk through a tube. We'll hopefully have a better understanding of her future treatment after the big doctor's pow-wow tomorrow morning. We tend to get a little wrapped up in what's still to be done, but let's celebrate what an amazing week it's been. In a way, she's in the same place she was last weekend except that one major obstacle to normal circulation is behind us. Awesome!