One year ago today, my daughter was two days removed from open-heart surgery. That first week was impossible, but little signs of strength from Babs helped us pull through. Today, Babs is walking around the house like she owns the place, whereas one year ago, I was excited to hear my baby snore for the first time. It meant she was getting better…
March 3, 2010
Our baby had heart surgery two days ago…I can’t imagine a scarier event that anybody could experience. One of the doctors said there is nothing more extreme you can do to an infant than heart surgery. It’s been impossible to write about, so I haven’t until now. The recovery road has hit speed bumps along the way. One step forward, two steps back. The nights can seem endless.
I’m going focus on two things that happened today, though, as our baby slowly heads towards recovery. Barbara Anne, still heavily sedated, opened her eyes, and looked into mine. We have seen her eyes open a few times, but this time, she was staring into mine. It was amazing.
Five minutes later she was snoring. Normally I’m annoyed by snoring. I’ll turn on a fan to drown out the noise. But this time, snoring was perfect.
As for Lucy and I, we’re staying strong, and thankfully have a little room at the hospital just around the corner from our baby, so we can check on her at 3AM if we need to. Thank you to everybody for the emails, texts, messages, prayers, and support.
Still a long road ahead, but I’ve looked into Barbara Anne’s eyes, and I’ve heard her snore. Lesson for you: don’t get mad at somebody that snores tonight. Enjoy the snore.