One surgery down...

It was a long afternoon, but Gabby is finally out of surgery. The doctors said everything went about as good as it possibly could have. She came back from surgery with many more lines than she left with, but with no extra medications which is a big positive. There were 3 major things that they did while they were in there:

1) They removed part of the wall between the two upper chambers of the heart. This was done so that the oxygenated and the deoxygenated blood can mix in the heart since Gabby will not have use of her lower chamber that would send blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen. The doctors were impressed because often when the do this, the patient requires a little jump start to get the heart going again, but Gabby's heart picked right up as soon as they wanted it to.

2) They tied off the vessel known as the PDA. The PDA helps allow the babies to mix the blood to make sure they are getting enough oxygen. When normal babies start to breathe on their own, the PDA naturally closes off but Gabby has been getting a medicine to keep it open since she was born.

3) They added a Goretex tube to simulate the PDA but in a slightly different location what will allow her to get the oxygen needed for her blood. This will be removed during the next surgery.

All in all it sounds like the surgery went very well and the doctors were very pleased with how Gabby "performed" during everything. We are very happy to be done with this leg of the journey and to get on with recovery and finally get to bring our baby girl home with us. Once again, Abbie and I can't thank everyone enough for the positive thoughts, prayers, and words you have all given for and to us. It really means the world to us to know we have such wonderful family and friends!