It's a Wonderful Life
Elliryn McPhillips was born on the 29th of November, 2006 at 9.37 a.m. Our little, 6lb 14oz bundle of joy came into this world with a whimper and was rushed straight to the neo-natal unit. She had a pre-natal diagnosis of congenital heart disease; a complete AVSD - a big hole in her little heart. On top of this, they found that she had a hypoplastic right ventricle; one of the chambers of her heart was too small.
From the neo-natal unit she was moved to the Special Baby Unit and from there to the Clark Clinic. Every step of the way we could not have asked for better care for her. "Your daughter is beautiful, Mr McPhillips" a nurse said during Elliryn's first night in hospital. Hearing someone say ‘your daughter' for the first time brought me out of the surreal daydream that was the birth of our first baby.
We got her home on Christmas Eve, almost a month after she was born. She was the best Christmas present possible!
Elliryn is an old Welsh name meaning ‘sun beam'. Without a shadow of a doubt, she has brightened up our lives immeasurably. Like any new parents, our lives have been turned upside-down, back-to-front and inside-out, and we have loved every second of it.
Because of her heart problems, she was very slow to feed and up until her operation in July 2007, she was on eight feeds a day, each of which lasted at least an hour and a half. On top of this she was given her medication. We fed her every three hours and counted every millilitre as we struggled to get her up to 11lb for her operation. She was weighed every week and each weigh-in was fraught with anxiety and worry over whether or not she would put on any weight. The feeds, the medicine and the anxiety only served to heighten our love for our little girl even more. In our arms, or from her cot or Moses basket, she dictated the rhythm of our lives, giving meaning to our being.
We got the dreaded call for the operation on the 10th of July, a Tuesday, and she went in on the Sunday, for her operation the following day, Monday 16th July. She was 10lb 15oz.
We waited for her to be brought to theatre, we waited while she was in theatre and we waited and waited until the anaesthetists brought her back to us from her sleep. You do not think about possible outcomes, you just wait, wait and wait some more. Everything went well and we finally brought her home from the Cark Clinic, for the second time, on Friday, the 3rd of August. It was like Christmas Eve all over again. Our little girl was home and her little heart was mended.
Since Elliryn came into the world, she has filled an awfully big whole we did not know existed in our lives, and which have now changed for ever; for the past year there have been no nights out, no romantic dinners, no lazy afternoons. Instead, now, it is bath-time, play-time, feeding-time, grumpy-time, sleepy-time, in short, it is a life filled with love and joy for our beautiful daughter Elliryn. And it is a wonderful life!
By Conor and Johannahir - Proud Parents of Elliryn McPhillips