On the weekend I went to my Aunty Melisa's wedding. She looked really pretty. Even though I wasn't in the wedding party, I got to sit with them for some photos during the ceremony. I had lots of fun and danced well into the evening (8pm!!!) before Grandma and Guppy took me home.

Congratulations Melissa and Daniel

Love Mia

My New Car

This is my car. I look really cool in it! Mum and Dad push me up and down the street. I wear my shades to look extra cool!!

Home

Home from Hospital! We got home on Saturday evening, unfortunately Mia bringing a nasty conjuctivitis with her and a green snotty nose (which I also have). She wakes through the night crying because she can't open her eyes, poor baby. I myself have woken with her Rotavirus today, no vomiting yet though. So the both of us have green heads and feel like crap. Need a few days in bed I think!
Cheers

Rotavirus

Mia has rotavirus!! At least we know what is wrong now. She is still very sleepy all day and not taking enough in the way of fluids and food so is still on the drip. Maybee another feeding tube tomorrow, but only a few days, just for a bit of sustenance.

She is playing the part, loving all the attention. Thanks for the messages!

In Hospital

Hey all, we have been in hospital with Mia since Monday, after she fell ill starting by throwing up scambled egg all over my car! Sudden onset and she has been very unwell. Very high temperatures although they don't really know what the source of infection is.

She is picking up today, starting to be interested in her surroundings and giving a few smiles if you are lucky! Hopefully home tomorrow though, if she starts eating and drinking again.

I wonder if she picked up something from thos orange undies?
Cheers!
Lyndall

One for the 21st board!! Mia has taken to a pair of Richards undies, yes, orange undies. She screemed blue murder when I tried to retreive them. She finds them wherever they are!!! Pulling them on, and off, and on her head. Hmmmmm.



On a brighter note! We spent the weekend at Eildon and went on the old steem train at Alexandra. Mia loved it. She is doing really well, eating loads and crawling everywhere!
Cheers

Tube gone but not forgotton

Mia's tube came out last Thursday and we have successfully kept it out for a week now. The outage was accidental, but we decided to give her a go. She isn't drinking really well, but she has never had to drink, so probably just doesn't understand. She gets most of her fluid from custard, yoghurt and jelly, and sips water from her sipper cup. Her appetite has definately improved without the force feeding, and she is doing really well. Weigh in at the end of next week will be the real test!

Otherwise she is doing really well and as you can see, is as cute as ever.
Cheers!
Lyndall

BIRTHDAY SUCCESS!!

Mia is ONE!!! Can you beleive it? I suppose she has been through enough in one year to make it feel somewhat like a year! On Friday she had her first party with friends from Mothers group, followed by Dinner with her Grandparents. She danced, played the Piano and went to bed at 11pm!!!!!!!


She wore a beautiful party dress for her party on the weekend and was once again the belle of the ball. Thanks to all those who helped make her birthday special with wishes, cards or gifts.

Hey all, can you beleive I am nearly one! Well, just look at my skills on the bike. Mum and Dad have nearly finished the back deck, it looks really cool. I can't wait until my birthday party!

Aunty Nic brought home chickens from Kinda and I thought they were cute.

My little angel

Just wanted to impress everyone with my fantastic photography! And of course, my beautiful baby! New tooth up the top, with the other one almost through. Looks like 4 teeth for her birthday!

Pretty cute huh? For the life of me I can't remember exactly what set the little miss off this time, except I do remember that it was something pathetic. She can turn on the waterworks in the blink of an eye! I did give her a cuddle by the way.



Playing with bubbles..... of course I don't think she had any idea of what was on her head!

Mia is 11 months old today!!!! Happy birthday to you my princess.

Hey all, Lyndall here. Mia is continuing to improve, although she has a nasty cold at the moment. Coughs so much that she loses most of her food again! Before she got sick, the vomits were really good, only really once every two days. She hasn;t been weighed for a while, Monday being the big day.
SHe has had lots of excitement with family birthdays and a trip to Eildon for the long weekend, all of which she really enjoyed.
SHe has just spewed her tube out and is sleeping while I wait for assistance. Cheeky thing.
Can't believe she is nearly one! Can't wait.
Cheers,
Lyndall

TEN MONTHS OLD TODAY!!!!!

Hi all, can you believe that Mia is ten months old today!?!?! We certainly can not. How time flies when you are having fun! So much has happened since last August, some things scary, some things exciting, some that we would rather not have experienced. But all in all, we wouldn't trade our little one for the world!

Mia is still not eating well, and is just starting to have a few sips from a sipper cup. As a result, tube is still there. Daddy Richard felt sorry for her one night after spag bol.......


We have noticed however, that she has a fondness for mint slice biscuits!



Mia is becoming stronger every day. She is rolling all over the house to get around. We do physio with her every day, trying to develop her arm and leg strength to get her moving in more conventional ways!

Will try to blog sometime before her 1st birthday!
Cheers,
Lyndall

Hey! We had a fantastic time in Cairns. Mia was really good on both flights, and we had a seat between us for her which really helped. Dad's ceremony of becomming President of the Australasian College of Physicians went really well and now he has to wear that lovely medallion which Mia has taken a liking to.
She loved the beach as you can see. We also went on a cable car and went to Cairns Tropical Zoo, where Mia cuddled a koala!
Thanks for leaving comments, always appreciated,
Lyndall

Hi there everyone, sorry it has taken so ling for me to update again, but nothing really interesting has happened, and I am so busy at home with the little one. She is doing so well. She has started physiotherapy and is coming along nicely, getting more strength in her legs. Should be able to sit by herself really soon.

Still not drinking, but loving her finger food and if, in fact, I sit down and am eating but don't give her anything, she cracks it! Quite cute really.

She has stopped her diuretcs and seems to be doing really well, although she has had a bit of a cold, so hard to know if her being a bit puffy is a cold or heart. SHe will be seen by the cardiologist when we get back from Cairns. (her first flight!!)

Final total raised at our Good Friday BBQ, $1892.00!!!! Thanks to everyone who supported the cause.
Cheers,
Lyndall

Good Friday Fundraising

Mia held her first fundraising BBQ for HeartKids Victoria as part of the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Many friends and family came to support us and with easter egg hunts, guess the number of eggs in the jar, raffles and donations, Mia raised over $1600.00!!!!! We are really happy with how everything went.

Thanks so much to everyone who came and supported Mia and HeartKids.

Don't get excited, inly temporary tube removal. It is actually 10pm at night, but we waited up for dad to help with the tube so we could do medications and evening feed!
Just a really cute picture though, felt I had to share it!
Mia is really looking forward to hosting her Good Friday Appeal BBQ tomorrow and looking forward to her first easter egg hunt! Will post pictures and news.
Cheers

nothing much happening in our neck of the woods. Mia has finally reached 6kg, 6.135 to be precise. Still not eating much at all and still refluxing. Most importantly, still SO HAPPY as you can see above.

Cheers

Hi all,
Mia is continuing to do really well. NEARLY 6 kg ay the health nurse today, 5.970 to be exact. She likes helping Mum making the bed and loves sleeping with her little tiger. She still isn't eating much and all fluids go down the tube. No end in sight for that just yet! She is being assesed for in home physio and speech path (for feeding) this week, so fingers crossed we can get some more help there.
She is rolling over from tummy to back though and is starting to put more weight through her legs so that is exciting.
See you soon!

Mia just loves her Jolly Jumper (on loan from cousins James and Austin, THANKS) and loves kicking around in the spa with her little inflatable chair. Still very happy, hasn't been weighed for a while. Still refusing solids as well as liquids, still being force fed!!!!!

Loving those Rusks

Mia is loving those rusks! She has worked out how to slide them along her tooth and gets covered in slushy rusk.

Richard took her in to the Kids first thing today after she pulled her tube out at 5:30 thismorning!!!! (only 5 days after last pulling it out!) Mummy is still not confident to do it herself.

She is otherwise doing really well, putting on weight and is still keeping down much more food than she used to. Today she drank 40ml from a cup which is really good for her.

Will keep blogging!
Lyndall

TEETH

Mia is still travelling well. I have just been in at the Children's thismorning after she vomited her tube out after breakfast. Mia's favorite nrse Res stuck a new one down, not before Mia burst into tears as soon as she saw her!?!

Mia has been refusing her solids over the last week and yesterday we got a reason. A TOOTH!!!!!! Bottom left, erupted yesterday. What a clever girl.

Off to have lunch with Cooper and Maddison from mothers group!

Eating Well

Mia is a little small for her highchair, so I actually feed her without the tray!

Likes: Pumpkin, rice cerial with apple or pair
HATES!!!!!!!! Broccoli and potato

Sucking on her first rusk as I type, and seems to be really enjoying it.

Happy Birthday Papa Peter!
Love Mia

Keeping Well

We are all really well at home. Mia still has a little sniffle and wakes a bit blocked up, but is otherwise doing fantastically for someone who has had heart surgery less than 2 weeks ago. I am sure she is growing before our eyes, but have not had her weighed since leaving hospital. Since last Sunday, she had 2 vomits on the Monday and two vomits yesterday. Thats all!!!!! Keeping her food down MUST be good for her.

She is loving her solids, mainly rice cerial with stuff added like apple, pumpkin and banana (not all at once). She is very happy, laughing and playing when awake. She is coping with the heat very well and really doesn't complain much about anything.

Update with some new photos soon!

Home already

Does this look like someone who has just had cardiac surgery?!?!? We don't think so. We bought Mia home yesterday and meant to let people know right away, but were without power from 8pm last night until midday!!!!

She is doing so well, especially coming home on a 42 degree day!!

Will keep you updated

Today Mia had all the left over wires and tubes removed (except her feeding tube of course!!) She could then have her first bath since surgery. STINKY! Her wound is looking a bit bruised, but not too bad.

She had an ultrasound of her heart which the doctors were very happy with. She was able to go on ambulatory monitoring and we went to Maccas for lunch.

Her Thomson cousins came to visit, as did Great Papa Pole.

If all continues to go well, we may be out early next week!

Our little star!

Mia is still doing really well. She is surprising everyone with her speedy recovery. Today she is off oxygen and off her blood pressure medication. She has spent a lot of the day sleeping, but it is really hot in the ward. She is much happier although not her usual self yet. Nanny Sandy got smiles this morning.

Thank you all for your good wishes.

Doing Well

Mia is doing very well. We are so proud of her! We went up to the ward today, which we were supposed to do yesterday, but the bed was needed for a patient from Darwin. All the nurses on 7 West were very happy to see her and kept saying how big she had got! (5.038 kg last monday)

Things are going to plan. She is still needing a bit of oxygen and is VERRYYYRRRYYRYRY grumpy when awake. Today she sort of quarter smiled when I read her Hairy Maclarey.

Will take some more photos tomorrow

It is now 11.30 and we are in ICU. Mia is doing really well, her blood pressure is a little high but other than that they are happy with her progress. She is almost breathing on her own with only a little ventilator support. She is starting to wake up and is looking very grumpy, but has every reason to be. She is not as swollen as last time and is looking great. Thanks for all your kind thoughts and wishes.

Surgery over

Hi all,
received a call from Dr Brizzard (surgeon) at 1:15 to say all went well. The surgery took a bit longer than expected due to scar tissue from the previous operations making it hard to get back into her chest. We now have to wait for her to be sewn back together and stabilised in ICU, we expect to be able to see her about 3pm.
We have a long road ahead......will keep you all updated as much as possible.

Twas the night before surgery, and Mia was watching her baby Einstein DVD, looking georgous in yellow and orange!!

Big day at the hospital today, 7 hours of ECGs, Xrays and blood tests. She was SOOOOOooooo good. Very tired girl, will sleep well tonight.

She is first on the list tomorrow and the surgeon hopes to finish by lunch.

Will keep you all informed as soon as we know how things have gone.
Lots of love,
XXXXXX

Fancy Dress

Tonight we played dress-ups and i got to wear the bear outfit. Mummy and Daddy are acting really strange and won't stop cuddling me. They are weird!!!

Mia loves her sunglasses, she can see much better outside. A very hot and stinky news years day at Eildon.
She also loves her Dad feeding her rice cerial!

Change of surgery

Surprise, suprise.......
Mia's surgery has been delayed until next Tuesday, 17th January. Not sure why, although when the cardiology department rang me they said that surgery had told them Mia was unwell, and that is why surgery was cancelled. Who knows?!?!?
Mia seems to be comfortable breathing with her diuretics and is generally still very happy. She kept me upo most of last night, so we have had a very quite day today, lounging around in bed.
I am taking her into the Children's tomorrow to be checked out because of the diuretics she is on. Hopefully no more drastic changes to plans from now on but you never can tell.
Once again, thanks for all your support. Especially the very regular site visitors and commentors; Heather and Roger, Marg and Jane, and his majestic royal honorable judge and lady Nicki.
Love to all,

Back to Hospital

Mia has been reviewed in hospital on Monday because we have noticed her becoming more short of breath and more tired. The doctors are concerned that the band they placed in September is not doing a good job any more and there is a steady rise in blood flow to the lungs. Mia's operation was originally planned for the 30th January, however, after being reviewed today by the cardiologists and discussed with the surgeons, they have decided to do her next week.

This operation is complicated. Follow the link to find out more.

http://www.rch.org.au/cardiology/health-info.cfm?doc_id=3530

We are going in to hospital on Tuesday for 'pre-admission' and home again, then in on Thursday for surgery.

Once again we will use the web site to keep people up to date as much as possible.

People interested in joining or donating to Heatkids Victoria,
http://www.heartkids.org.au
Cheers,
Lyndall, Richard and Mia