the biggest sigh of relief ever

Ever since I was 17 weeks along we knew that little Em would have heart problems. Davy had serious health problems as a baby, too, so we've been being prepared for this for a while. Still, everything happened so fast. Here's the short version:

Emily had not gained any weight for a while and she had a persistent cough, so I took her in to the doctor on Thursday (9.1.11) morning up at Primary Childrens' Hospital and they kept her.

Her heart and liver were enlarged. She was in heart failure so they admitted her and put her on the schedule for surgery the next morning. They determined that not only did she need a pacemaker, but that she also needed open heart surgery to repair her ASD.

The surgery took 5 1/2 hours. The doctors and nurses that took care of her were AWESOME. Poor Em had a breathing tube, 2 IVs: one in her hand and one in her ankle, 1 central line in her neck, 1 arterial line in her wrist, several external heart leads in her chest, a catheter and a chest tube (don't mention the chest tube to Jason or he'll pass out).

Thanks to our merciful Heavenly Father and the prayers and fasting of our family, ward and friends, Emily is doing really well! She was able to start eating again on Saturday morning and breathing on her own on Sunday. They sent her home on Monday. So, the whole thing was over in 5 days!

Our hearts still feel pretty broken. We basically just wanted to die when she woke up and looked up at us with all that pain in her eyes and she tried to reach for us to hold her. She's so brave and we are so in love with her!

Interestingly enough, while repairing her heart, her surgeon noticed that she has 2 left sides of her heart and 2 left lungs. So, it turns out that she doesn't have Sick Sinus Syndrome. She has Heterotaxy Syndrome. Upon further investigation they realized that her spleen is non-functional. They'll have to check out the rest of her abdominal organs to make sure everything else is OK. Pretty crazy, huh?

Well, she'll need a new pacemaker surgery in 3-4 years. For now we are so happy to have our precious baby home with us! Thank you to everyone for your messages and calls and prayers. We love you all so much! We know that she is a miracle and consider ourselves very, very blessed!