Annabelle, born 2005

Annabelle was born on October 2, 2005. She is the little sister of Charlotte who loves her very much. Charlotte has helped her to get better every step of the way.

 

Annabelle's diagnosis at birth was Tricuspid Atresia, Ventricular Septal Defect and Pulmonary Stenosis. She also had an unrestrictive Atrial Septal Defect and a large patent ductus arteriosus.

 

The day that she was born, we went to our local hospital hospital to have her not knowing that anything was wrong. I had a c-section and things seemed to be OK until later when she was trying to feed when she started turning blue. The nurse that we had that night (Annabelle's guardian angel) was not even our nurse as she had been helping out the other nurses that night. She saw that something was wrong with Annabelle and took her to the doctor. The doctor later came in and told me that I had better call my husband because our daughter was very sick and they knew it was ether her heart or lung and she would have to be sent away to get help.

 

When we got to be at her side again, she was hooked to more equipment than we could even imagine. We were overwhelmed with what all the nurses and doctors were telling us. When Annabelle was five days old, she had surgery and things went wrong. The doctors could not close the ductus because her oxygen would drop so they had to leave it open. Then she got an infection so the first time around, we stayed a month.

 

Annabelle had her next surgery when she was three months old. We had to wait until then because the infection came back. Now we are home awaiting the last surgery.

 

We are having fun enjoying her and watching her learn and reach all her milestones. She loves trying to keep up with her sister and it will be cool to see the day that she can have after all that she will have gone through.

 

Story by Annabelle's mom, Jennifer - Vermont