Surgery & Moved To 4D!

On January 19^th when Anniek was 17 days old she had open heart surgery. I was overjoyed when the doctor came out to tell me that the surgery went well. I still had to wait an hour to go see Anniek in the PICU, but she made it through the surgery. I was told that because of swelling they were unable to close her chest so it was still open and would be left open for another 3-5 days.

After the heart surgery it seemed like there was one thing after another. I was unable to touch Anniek because she was on a special machine to keep her body cool, so all I could do was sit with her. I ached to hold Anniek again or at least just touch her to let her know I was there.

After she was taken off that machine and her chest had been closed I could not hold her until she was off the breathing machine which was delayed because there was no "leek" and her throat was swollen. We also found out that the right side of the diaphragm was paralysed because the nerve got nicked during the heart surgery.

It seemed like an eternity but I was finally able to hold my daughter again after 9 days. On the 10^th day after the open heart surgery Anniek got moved out of the PICU and into a step down room on the cardiac floor, the next day Anniek got her own room and a visit from some of the Toronto Raptors that were visiting the floor!