Breathe...

I woke up with a huge pit in my stomach, I couldn't believe this day was here. I would find myself tearing up as I got ready to head to the hospital. Once I got in the car I couldn't hold them in anymore. I just silently cried as Greg drove. The closer we got the more anxiety I had. This was it, my baby was having open heart surgery.

Waiting...

I composed myself by the time we got there and we walked in and sat in a waiting area for an hour. Why they had us come in at 6:30 AM to sit around waiting was beyond me. We finally went back into yet another waiting area. We were surrounded by other families that had kids going into surgery. It ranged anywhere from a bump on a leg being removed, to tonsils being taken out, to the worst being Addison's open heart surgery. Our surgery may have been worse, but man watching little kids being so scared and sad was heartbreaking. I thanked God that Addison was so young and didn't know what was to come and further more, wouldn't remember it.

We waited for a while to meet the team that would be taking care of Addison. The nurse checked her I.D. bracelets and noticed that her blood I.D had the incorrect number on it. We had just had my Dad drive 20 mins to bring us that very bracelet because we had accidentally left it in my other diaper bag, and we didn't want them to have to redraw blood. Well it turned out since it was done incorrectly they would have to draw blood again anyways. So I woke my poor parents up for nothing.

We finally met the surgeon after all the others were already taken back for their surgeries. By this time it was 8:40 AM, already 40 mins past when the surgery should of been started. They told us about all the possible things that could happen, the worst one was the possibility of her being paralyzed from the heart down. I really wish they wouldn't have done that. It was just more for me to worry about.

They took her from us at the "goodbye area", I held my composure but then cried as we walked away. I knew it was for the best that she get this surgery but it was so hard to let her.

They came in and updated us a few times, just to keep us calm I think. She was doing "fine", they finished in three and a half hours. She did amazingly, of course... since she is amazing!! They had taken care of both places of the aorta that were thinning. Such a huge relief, they hadn't thought they were going to fix the less severe one yet.

So today I breathe a little easier. Addison is recovering better than expected. She has been sleeping pretty peacefully with little to sometimes no pain medication, which has shocked the nurses. She is our sweet little fighter...