New weight for Lydia!

We took Lydia into hospital for her first check-up with the cardiac team and dietician earlier today. She now weighs 6Lb 15Oz - wow! The dietician was very pleased with her weight gain. The nurse was also pleased with her observations and confirmed her operation scars are healing nicely. The registrar scanned her heart and confirmed that things are still looking good. She still has the tiny hole in her heart (VSD) but this will either close on its own, or she could just live with it as is. There is a very small possibility she might need it closing when she's a teenager, as it's very close to the tricuspid valve, but that's just speculation at this stage and is a very long way off! Her aorta repair seems to be holding up well, and again they will keep their eye on this, as her aorta was so small at the time of the operation she may need the scar tissue "balooning" at some point in the future, but again "time will tell" and all is well at this stage! We mentioned that we were concerned Lydia's cry was very weak sounding (it sounds like she's got a very sore throat) and they confirmed that this may be due to some damage to the nerve that supports the left hand vocal cord. Aparently, this nerve is looped right around the aorta at about the point where her coarctation repair was done. Again, time will tell how this heals up, but she might well sound a bit like a new Bonnie Tyler as she grows up - at least we'll be able to tell the girls apart a bit easier!! We have an appointment to see the plastic surgeon from Moriston hospital in Swansea on Tuesday about the skin on Lydia's arm, but when the cardiac doctors took a look at it today, they were keen for us to point out that it was the Bristol team that referred her, not the Cardiff team, as they felt it was healing nicely on it's own and the pastics team would wonder why on earth she had been referred in the first place - which is an encouraging situation! We are waiting to hear about the hearing test appointment, but Lydia is currently very blocked-up and can't seem to hear a thing, so we're hoping this will happen when her tubes are a bit clearer! Phoebe was very blocked-up when she first came home and this is probably them becoming used to life in the dusty, pollinated world outside of the sterile hospital wards! So, it's all moving in the right direction at last. Thanks again for your ongoing thoughts and prayers. Report more as it happens....!