We finally had a surgery date… well tentatively. Every day for two weeks we had asked anyone and everyone when Sophie would have heart surgery. We would receive similar responses of “well it’s up to the surgeons and how Sophie continues to do.” Until one day the replies changed to “surgery is tentatively planned for July 6th barring no other patients need emergency surgery and Sophie is well enough for it.” A few days before surgery we met with the surgeons. They performed this type of surgery on babies on a regular basis and seemed confident. They said that even though the surgery was invasive it was possible for patients to recover and go home within a week. However, since Sophie still needed to learn how to eat orally we thought maybe it would be possible for us to go home in 2-3 weeks.
We had mixed emotions about the surgery. On the one hand, we were looking forward to Sophie’s heart being fixed and possibly going home in the near future, but on the other hand our one month old baby girl, who actually wasn’t even supposed to be born for two more weeks, could die at any moment during the surgery… We prayed and trusted the Lord for the best.
We arrived early to the hospital on July 6th to hold our sweet girl before the surgery. We fought back fear and tried not to think about the awful possibilities of such a serious surgery. The nurse came in and told us it was time. We walked with her as she wheeled Sophie through the hospital to the surgical wing. We held Sophie as we talked with the anesthesiologist and the nurse who would call us every hour to update us on Sophie’s condition and the progress of the surgery. Then we kissed our precious girl and they took her away.
This whole situation was so serious and unreal that many times we felt numbness from shock with intermittent bouts of anxiety. This was how we felt as we sat in the surgical waiting area. The first phone call from the nurse came and she said they had just put Sophie under and she was doing fine. Then she called again, “The surgeons had to stop the surgery. I will let them explain to you why, but Sophie is in stable condition. The surgeons will be out soon to talk to you after they close her back up.” “This can’t be happening,” I said to Joshua, “What else could be wrong with our little girl.” We were shocked but wanted to keep ourselves together until we heard what the surgeons had to say.
“Your daughter’s heart has a unique anatomy with 2 extra blood vessels and we don’t know where they lead to. We did not want to proceed without getting a CAT scan. We have dissected the area already so after the CAT scan today we should be able to proceed with surgery tomorrow and finish the rest of the surgery pretty quickly.”
Relief flooded our hearts! Nothing else was wrong with our baby girl! We were thankful the surgeons had not proceeded without a clear understanding of her heart since such an action could have been fatal.
After the surgery Sophie was taken to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU). One of the doctors had prepared us for what Sophie would look like after the surgery. “She will have a breathing tube in her throat, several more IVs (possibly in her head), and bloating throughout her body.” When we saw Sophie we were heartbroken but we also had peace (Philippians 4:7) and were joyful (Nehemiah 8:10) that she was in stable condition and that they would be able to proceed with surgery tomorrow. The nurse was so surprised at my composure that she asked if I was doing alright. She told me most moms were balling by now and it was okay if I needed to cry. I told her we had many people praying for us and Sophie and were grateful she was okay.
After they did the CAT scan (something they don’t like to do on little babies because of the high exposure of radiation), they found that the extra blood vessels were going to her arms. One blood vessel in particular had them very confused though. It seemed that it was not pumping blood from the heart to the extremities but was actually pumping blood back into the heart past the coarctation so that it could reach her lower body! It was a miracle!
Although the day did not turn out the way we had hoped, we clung to our gratefulness to God that he was with our daughter protecting and providing for her in ways we couldn’t even imagine.
Weading Out the Truth 
What a great spirit and attitude and what great faith. Sophie is a lucky little girl to have such a mother.