The Norwood........

  Lily arrived safely at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  I recovered from delivery and was able to be discharged the following day to be with her and my husband.  I remembering arriving at the CICU for the first time, and seeing my baby hooked up to so many beeping monitors, and IVs.  The nursing staff was fabulous at CHOP.  To this day I will never forget our first nurse, Lisa who very meticulously explained to me each medication, wire, and event that was going on.  I greatly appreciated her caring and kind nature.  CHOP's CICU is set-up mostly in pods.  Each pod contains 4 newborn isolettes, and each baby has their own nurse.  There are constantly doctors and nurses in and out of the pods, monitors beeping, people whizzing by to give medication, do consultations, etc.  It is a very busy place!!
  Lily was scheduled to have her Norwood procedure, which is the first in the three-staged surgical repair for HLHS children the next morning, but we ended up being "bumped" a day due to a critical child who was flown in from another state.  This is often the case, especially at a hospital like CHOP whose Cardiac Center is highly regarded and highly referred to by other hospitals and states.  I think it is important to give more specific information about what the Norwood surgery.  Below is the link to an excellent video which depicts the Stage 1 (Norwood) part of the reconstruction.  If you are unable to click on it, you can copy and paste the URL into your browser window:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-87kq98l1kk&feature=player_embedded

  I actually wish I had seen this video prior to Lily's surgery, as it much better shows how the surgery is actually performed.  Finally on February 27, 2006, at 3 days old Lily was scheduled as the first-case that day for her Norwood procedure.  We were brought a mountain of paperwork to sign the day before which included every possible risk, etc that could happen to our baby.  We met the anesthesiology team, surgical team, and finally Dr. Thomas Spray who would be Lily's cardiothoracic surgeon.  I can't say enough about Dr. Spray.  He is a pioneer in his field as well as someone who is known world-wide for advances in the field of pediatric cardiac surgery.  Children come to see him from across the United States, and the world.  He is what I like to refer to as "a gentle giant."  I am eternally greatful to this man for everything he has done for Lily as well as countless other CHD kids.  Really, words cannot express enough........
  We gave our kisses, said our goodbyes, not really knowing if/when we would see our little girl again.  The team assured us that they would take good care of our baby girl, and give us regular updates.  And then, she was gone.......
  We took up our spots in the waiting area of the CICU.  My husband, mom, dad, brother, everyone.  Lisa our nurse said she would give us hourly updates from the surgical suite.  The surery was expected to take about 5 hours, but we had been told Dr. Spray was very quick.  
First update- she is connected to bypass
Second update- they have made the first incision
Third update- she is all done
  Wait.....she's done???  3 hours into the surgery, it was complete.  Dr. Spray was able to close her chest, she was stable, and all went as planned.  She would be wheeled back to the CICU within the hour. I breathed the first sigh of relief since the moment she was born...........