Elizabeth’s Story

Elizabeth’s Journey into life !!!

Elizabeth was born on the 9th November 2005 Weight :- 4.102 kilos Length:- 52cm

On 8th November I was admitted into St George Hospital to be induced as I have had previous blood clotting to the brain and the doctors wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to endure a lot of pain. The contractions started very lightly at around 3.30am. I spent the night thinking about how the labour was going to happen and the thought of seeing my beautiful baby for the first time made me feel at ease. My contractions were slow so they decided to put me on the drip to make them come more frequently and it wasn’t long before I had an Epidural put in. Unfortunately the Epidural slowed the contractions down. The doctors decided to increase the flow of the drip to speed things up a little. I was dilating and things were going well. At about 8 and a half cm they noticed the baby was distressed and were concerned as her hear trate was not beating correctly. A scalp test was done to see from the blood sample taken from the baby, if there was a problem, however the machine had broken down. The doctors didn’t want to waste any more time so they prepared me for an emergency Caesarian section. I wasn’t going to admit it at the time but I was a little nervous and anxious, more concerned for the baby than myself. My husband Leslie was by my side with the video camera ready to tape our baby’s journey into our world.

As our baby came out the doctors uttered the words “ Its a boy, oh hang on a minute its a girl “ and Leslie taped our beautiful Elizabeth being cleaned up and monitored by the other doctor. This was all a bit of a blur to me as I was in a daze. However I did see our daughters face for a split second, and all I could hear in the background was its ok, keep breathing little one. I had a feeling that something was wrong. When Elizabeth came out she didn’t cry straight away and she was blue and floppy. She was then taken to the special care unit to be monit0red. At the time the doctor thought that it was her lungs as she wasn’t breathing very well but Dr. Michelle felt it may have been her heart. I still had not held my baby in my arms and when I came back from the op theatre she wasn’t there. They told me she was still in special care and they would let me know how she is. It wasn’t until my Husband and family went home that a nurse came into my room and asked where is my hubby. I told her that he had gone home and that if there was a problem with Elizabeth to call him at home as he would rush back up here. She tried to reassure me that nothing was wrong but as a mum you know when anything is wrong with your child. We were then told that she may have a heart condition and that Elizabeth would be taken to Sydney Children’s Hospital to have x-rays. My Husband and I were speechless, I still had not held my baby and was so distressed. They brought her into the ward for me to see before they took her away, I wasn’t able to hold her but just seeing her from a distance made me feel so happy and sad at the same time as I wouldn’t see her until the hospital could transfer me. My husband went with Elizabeth and called later on in the morning to inform us that she has what is called Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) and she also has Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) as well as Pulmonary Atresia. These heart conditions are common however its a one in a million chance that you would get all three conditions at once.

We had a meeting with the Surgeon and Cardiologists to discuss Elizabeth’s conditions. There will be 3 operations to take place, the 1st one was done on the 11th November. This is called the shunt operation and will keep the blood oxygenated as Elizabeth was born without a duct and would die if the operation wasn’t done urgently. She was supported by the another duct that eventually dissolves after birth. The 2nd Operation will be performed when Elizabeth is about 6-18months this is called the glenn procedure and the last op at around the age of 5, just before school.

Being given all this information at the time was all confusing, trying to understand all the conditions Elizabeth has. We both wanted to know more but to find out info about all 3 conditions as one was extremely difficult. I guess we are all given situations in life and we are more than capable to deal with them. Sometimes it can be hard to accept but other times it makes you appreciate all that you have in life. Elizabeth is a miracle baby and her Guardian Angel Eliza will take care of her for all the days of her life.

The day of Elizabeth’s operation was so intense for all of us. The not knowing of how her body will deal with such a major operation was so scary. We were all there for Elizabeth, Leslie and myself, our parents, godparents friends and family. The CICU called us to say she was ready to be taken up for her op. Leslie and I walked with the surgeons and Elizabeth to the operating theatre. We kissed Elizabeth and wished her well, told her to be strong and that we are here for her. She had all the tubes in her mouth so we didn’t hear her crying , but her face said it all. I reassured her that all will be well and she is a strong girl who will overcome this ordeal with ease. We had to leave as they were ready to operate. It took approx 3 hours before we heard that everything was great. She was taken back to the CICU and we were allowed to see her within 1 hour as they had to hook her up to all the machinery. When our eyes saw our little girl lying their on the bed all swollen and sore, it really hurt our hearts, but seeing her taking her own breaths was amazing and a blessing. We knew it would take time before we could hold our baby girl however this whole ordeal had made both me and Leslie stronger in everything. It has made us appreciate life and our loved ones more, life is so precious and we should embrace it now.

Elizabeth was moved up to ward 2 south on the 16th November and was on a monitor that showed us her breathing patterns. I breastfed her for the first time on the same day. She latched on in an instant, and was so content, I then had to top her up with formula as the cardiologists didn’t want Elizabeth to be overtired from being on the breast for too long. Each day Elizabeth was growing and getting better with her breathing. More and more family and friends came to visit her and she loved it. Elizabeth made friends with other children in hospital one special friend called “ George” who has such loving parents we all got along very well and supporting each other. The day came when we got to speak to the cardiologists again and they were happy with Elizabeth’s recovery and told us that the monitor can be switched off, the tube in her nose can be taken out and that she could go home within a couple of days. We were so over the moon to hear such great news. Even Santa Claus came to visit all the children in the hospital, and gave all the children presents, Elizabeth got a wiggles pram attachment and mummy took a photo of her with Santa.

Elizabeth was discharged from SCH on the 21st November 2005 and was on her first journey coming home. The car trip was amazing, Elizabeth was looking all around. It was the first time she saw sunlight and felt the breeze on her skin, she loved it all. We finally got home and were welcomed by Papou George, Yiayia Anna, Nono Albert, Nona Mary, Thea Georgina, Aunty Ria, Uncle Con and many more people. Elizabeth loved her bassinette she slept like an angel.

Elizabeth milestones since coming home

Holding her dummy tightly and not letting go
Can see now and can focus on objects and faces
loves the light any form of light.
Cries AWAH AWAH when she is hungry.
Now looks and smiles at anyone, loves to grin
When spoken to she talks back in baby talk.
Loves to kick and is trying to stand when I hold her upright
Loves watching television, I do believe Eastenders is her fav show
At tummy time tries to crawl with her knees, gets a little tired though but is doing great.

We saw the cardiologist on the 13th December 2005 and had an ultrasound done which showed that the shunt is working extremely well. The cardiologist is very happy with the recovery of Elizabeth’s operation and is going to see her in February 2006. We will be seeing the surgeons soon to discuss her op and no doubt the next ops in the coming years.

For now thank you all so much for taking the time to read Elizabeth’s story and sharing our daughter’s life with us.

Cheers Effie

To be continued when we know more about the next op…..

For more details and pictures of Elizabeth, please visit her website at http://www.heldzingen.com/elizabeth

< back