Dear Sydney,
My goal today is to find our camera. I am determined! But until then a post without pictures will have to do.

First on the list, your cousin was born yesterday! Yes- baby Chyanne (I have no idea how Aunt Laura is spelling her name so I could have totally butchered it...sorry!) was born a month early and was nice and healthy! We are so excited for you to have another buddy to cause trouble with.

Next on the list- I wanted to tell you about your surgery and how it all happened. It's a neat story, I think. After the anesthesiologist walked away with you in his arms we went to the waiting room where they told us that our first update would come in about a half-hour when the surgeon actually began to make the incision on your chest. And they were right- about 30 minutes later we received a phone call from the nurse practitioner telling us that the surgeon has started his work. She told us that our second update wouldn't be for about an hour and a half.

So we waited and waited. Soon the time came and in walked the nurse. I could tell by the look on her face that something wasn't quite right and even by the way she started her sentence when talking to us let me know that there was a problem. She told us that Dr. Kaza had gone in and closed your big hole down in the ventricals of your heart by using a patch and he also closed another hole up in the atrium of your heart by using tissue that came from another place in your heart. After he thought he was done, they started your heart up again, took you off the heart-lung machine, and your heart began to beat on its own. They then stuck a camera down your throat that took direct pictures of your heart. There they discovered that there was a leak. The nurse thought that they had found another hole but we later found out that the leak was coming from the patch that was placed down in between the two ventricals. The patch was not stitched up completely and the surgeon was not about to let his job go unfinished. So- all we knew was that the Surgeon was going back in. Which means that they hooked you back up to the heart-lung machine and stopped your heart again. The nurse said we would hear from her again in about an hour.

Twenty minutes passed and I could see the nurse turning into the waiting room. She was coming to talk to us. My heart dropped. Why was she coming so much sooner than what she originally told us? She wasn't supposed to be here for another 40 minutes. Did something go wrong? Our minds started racing. The nurse sat down and said, "He's done." The surgeon had gone back and added a few more stitches to the patch and the leak had been fixed. Your heart was now beating on its own- again and they were in the process of closing your sternum with wires and then your skin with dissolvable stitches.

I felt like I could breathe again. Up until that point my body had been heavy with a weight that I can't even describe. I never realized how heavy it was until it was gone. All I wanted to do at that point was see you. I didn't care how many tubes you had... I just had to see you with my own eyes.

I love that the surgeon had gone back with a camera to check his work. He told us afterwards that he never leaves a job unfinished so he wasn't going to leave you with a leaky patch. Thankfully!

I don't want to bore you to death so I will save you more stories for tomorrow. You and the surgeon were definitely being watched over that day. I know it for a fact. We love you.

Love forever,
Mom