Update on Alannah April 9th

Last night myself and Ev were delighted to visit Alannah without her ventilator! She was on it since Thursday and it took a while to get the balance of meds and fluids right. Over the last few days the ventilator was only a back up. Ev got to give Alannah a long awaited cuddle and whilst it seems that Alannah is ready for the ward, there doesn't appear to be any beds free at the moment. At least it's a matter of "when" and not "if" at this stage.

Alannah is still on a number of medications. One drug is to keep a naturally occuring duct in the heart open (this normally closes shortly after birth). This duct is allowing blood to flow to the lungs. Weaning her off this drug is the next step in her recovery. It will be done slowly to see if she can cope without this duct. If she can't manage without it, another catheter procedure will be necessary to place a stent in the duct to keep it open. At the moment, the cardiologist is hopeful that this procedure won't be necessary.

Alannah's right ventricle is small and the muscle around it is thick. She is on another drug to relax the muscle around the right ventricle to allow more blood into the heart and to allow it to pump more efficiently. The muscle in this ventricle needs to break down to enlarge the chamber and allow the heart to function more normally. This will take a lot of time. She is also on another drug to reduce the pressure in her lungs to allow more blood pass through.

Nothing can prepare you for the rollercoaster of emotions that you go through in these circumstances. It's only been a week, but we feel like we've been here for an age! Mikey has been an absolute gem through all of the madness. He is coping really well and is missing his sister already! It goes without saying that our families have been fantastic support for him and we'd be totally lost without them.

We've learnt that the advice given to us by the nurses is good advice - set no goals and just take each hour as it comes. Alannah is a real fighter and we will wait for as long as she needs to get her home. Thanks for your continuous support, prayers and love. We couldn't get through it all without you.