Heartbroken No More.

Thursday morning, 9:40 am: Ellie's open heart surgery began.


Monday afternoon, 4:45 pm: We were back at home.

(Not sleeping.  But eating her prayer shawl.)

 For those who missed out on the background, Ellie was born with a complete AV canal defect which was diagnosed prenatally.  (Many kids with Down syndrome have heart defects.  The AVSD/AV canal defect is very common.)  We had been on hold, waiting for surgery to be scheduled, waiting for surgery, keeping Ellie healthy for surgery.  We prepared ourselves for a long hospital stay.

I'll be honest, I don't like hospitals.  I'm thankful for them - Ellie's heart condition would be terminal without her surgery - but I can't pretend that I like staying in one room, the smell of rubbing alcohol, or sleeping in those awful recliners.  Ellie doesn't like hospitals either, so she decided to get out early.

"Seven to ten days, unless there are complications," is the standard hospital stay for this surgery.  I was warned that Ellie may have feeding issues following surgery. She needed to be able to eat and breathe without supplemental oxygen before we could bring her home.

Thirty six hours post-surgery, her only "issue" was hunger.  She couldn't seem to suck bottles down fast enough!  She was transferred from the Cardiac ICU on Saturday, and weaned off oxygen by Sunday evening.

She's only on Tylenol for pain.

All of this goes to prove that my baby is tougher than me.  If someone cracked open my sternum and repaired my heart, I don't think Tylenol would cut it.  But Ellie is a strong little girl.  She is fussier than normal, and pulled an all-nighter last night. Despite our exhaustion, we are so proud.