Eliana is in the OR

Hi All,

We are at the hospital now.  I just walked into the waiting room from the OR.  I was allowed to go back with her since she is older than 6 months.

We awoke on time.  :-)  Got in her fluids at 3:20am.  We left home about 5:30 and arrived at the hospital shortly before 6am.  Then the waiting began. 

It took awhile to wait to be checked in as nobody was here to do that yet.  Then we went back into the pre-op waiting area.  As we walked in, I saw the name of Eliana's heart surgeon on the board.  They listed the age of the child to be operated on - 18 days.  I saw the couple with a child this age in the room diagonal to ours.  They looked scared and young.  I debated about walking over to talk with them.  I didn't want to be intrusive, but wanted to be able to encourage them too.  I prayed for wisdom on what to do. 

We had a long wait and so I did walk over to talk with the couple.  They have not yet been home with their baby.  They wondered about the scar and what it would look like.  I asked if they would like to see Eliana's and they did.  I brought her over to show her scar.  We talked about the surgery, the recovery and more.  They had a lot of questions.  I was glad to be able to talk with them.  I was hoping to bring them encouragment.  If you are reading this, please pray for their little girl. 

We met with Eliana's surgeon, Dr Rice as well as her two anesthesiologists, Dr Ross & Dr Chen.  Everyone was very nice.  They all seemed to like her hair.  She has it up in a waterspout.  We dressed her in a small purple hospital gown and socks that both fit much better than the last time we were here.

About 7:30 I carried Eliana back to the OR.  It is beautifully decorated with a fish theme.  The walls and floors were painted.  There was a large screen tv with Nemo on it.  The operating table was tiny.  I layed Eliana on the table and they covered her with a warming blanket.  Soon afterwards they put a mask over her to put her to sleep.  She fought it at first, but then did go to sleep.  I was then escorted out to the waiting area.  Our sweet friend Rebecca is here with us. 

Praying that they are able to find a vein and that all goes well with the surgery.  We are supposed to hear when the surgery starts and then it will last about an hour.   We should be able to see her soon thereafter.  For now, I'm waiting ... and holding on to her little bow.

Thank you for praying!

ETA:  It's 7:59am we just heard that surgery has started and Eliana is doing fine!  Thank you God!

Love,

Leslie

PS  Will try to add photos soon.  Sorry this is jumbled.  It's a little distracting out here.