EleNa!!!

So my beautiful goddaughter was finally born on June 16th to Brad and Amanda Sullivan. Baby "E" as she was formerly know as came into the world at 8:07pm and weighed 8#8oz; 21 inches long. Her name is Elena Christine Sullivan and she is absolutely amazing! She was born with transposition of the great arteries, which I won't get into, but she required open heart surgery in her first week of life and let me tell you she was some trooper! So born on a Tuesday she went in for surgery that Thursday. She spent the weekend being closely monitored in the CICU (cardiac intensive care unit) before being transfered to the cardiac step down unit the next Monday. After only a few short days there she decided she had enough of the place and kicked it into gear and was able to be discharged from the hospital on Wed. the 22nd (not even a full week after open heart surgery). Did I mention she is AmaZiNg!??! I love her to pieces already! You know who else in this equation is amazing? My sister Amanda. After hours of induced labor and close to 2 hours of pushing Elena's delivery resulted from a c-section. Amanda, obviously dissapointed took on this new challenge and delivered the most amazing being on the face of this earth. As a result of the c-section she was unable to be with her baby when she went into surgery. They were apart for the first several days of her life. Amanda was the most courageous person I have known during the whole process. Her mommy instincts have really kicked in to high gear. She doesn't know it yet but she is going to be the most amazing mother (I sure am using the word amazing a lot aren't I?). Anywho....I was fortunate to spend close to 2 weeks down in Atlanta helping out where I could but am unfortunately back to reality in Colorado. I miss Elena tons already and its only been a week. It saddens me how much I am going to miss in her life but I have great joy in knowing she has 2 wonderful parents to love her and give her all the attention she deserves!!