Finn and Bree having a wee chat on holiday (February 2005)

Breana at 10 months of age, one week before her open heart surgery

December 5, 2000

On the 5th of December, 2000, at 6am my waters broke very unexpectedly. The first of our unexpected things to happen!

Dean and I flew into a panic—the twins were coming and I was only 31 weeks and 4 days along in my pregnancy. Dean phoned my specialist and he said to get to our maternity hospital, National Woman's in Auckland New Zealand, as soon as we could.

Well Dean drove so fast we got there before my specialist. They decided to see if they could stop my contractions, which had begun in the car, so that they could get in the two steroid shots that were necessary to mature the twins' lungs for an early arrival.

Thankfully this was achieved. And 2 days later I was transferred to a proper ward to await the twins' arrival. The plan at this stage was to take me off the medicine which was stopping my contractions to see what would happen. If labour hadn't started by 34 weeks then they would start up the labour again as at this point infection, due to my waters breaking early, becomes a very real risk to the twins.

Well we didn't have long to wait.... Saturday morning at 7am a "come quick" call was placed to my husband.

After the help of a wonderful epidural, Finn Purdie arrived at 1.17pm. He weighed 3 lbs. 6 oz. (1630 grams) and scored Apgars of 9 and then 3 minutes later a perfect 10. He came out screaming which was music to our ears.

My specialist then kindly said I would probably have a break of around 30 minutes before I needed to start pushing again, but Breana had other ideas. 6 minutes later Breana Elizabeth was born, also screaming, she weighed 3 lbs. 3 oz. (1505 grams) and scored Apgars of 8 and then also a perfect 10.

I actually got to hold Finn for about 5 minutes before he and Breana were whisked to NICU in an incubator. Dean was also dispatched with the twins to keep an eye on how everything progressed.

Down in NICU, the twins were started on IV antibiotics to stave off any infection they may have got from my waters breaking (later blood tests showed up as negative.) and they were also started on their sugar water.

I finally got down to see them a couple of hours later. And they were the most beautiful babies that I and my husband have ever seen, we were in love with Finn and Bree from the start.

The next few days were relatively uneventful, apart from Finn having a couple of apneas (he forgot to breathe) For this he was placed on caffeine, much to mine and Deans amusement as neither of us drink coffee.

Still feeding and growing and the twins are doing fabulously. Dean and I are so proud of them!! It's getting close to Christmas and we are secretly hoping that maybe we will have the twins home.

Alas our world was turned upside down............

A week after Breana is born a heart murmur is detected. Every day on from this day the news gets worse and worse in regards to Bree's heart. It turns out to be much worse than first, second and even the third prognosis!

Three days later Breana went into congestive heart failure. Top pediatric cardiologists come fast to investigate her. We then had a full prognosis.... Bree has congenital heart defects

She has multiple holes in her heart, VSD's, and a coarctation of the aorta (a narrowing of her aorta).

After discussions with the cardiologists it is decided to try and stabilise Breana's condition and then try to put some weight on her so that she can be operated on. The cardiologists don't want to operate till she is at least 2 kgs (4 lbs 4 oz). At this stage Bree is 1515 grams (3 lbs 4oz).

During the next few days Dean and I watch with horror as our beautiful daughter finds it harder and harder to breathe. Breaking the news to our families is so horrible, they all want to know how Bree will be..... and we don't really know what to say, none of the docs have been too optimistic and nobody will give us that 100% guarantee. They are all just hoping she can put on some weight.

Christmas day arrives, the twins have now been in NICU for 2 weeks 2 days. Finn is now in a cot and having half oral feeds and half NG (naso-gastric) feeds. He is now weighing a huge 1905 grams (4lbs 2oz). Finn has had no more problems forgetting to breathe and has been shifted to level 1 of NICU. Breana is in level 3 (very premature and sick babies are placed here). We wheel Finn down in his cot to be with Bree and we have a family day all together. Bree really perks up for Christmas and we all have a lovely time. The nurses have taken ink footprints of both the twins' feet and have presented them to us in a beautiful Christmas card.

Boxing Day, today is the 4th wedding anniversary of our wedding. Unfortunately Bree is doing worse. She has started to have some quite bad desaturations, where not enough oxygen is flowing around her body. It is decided that regardless of how much Breana weighs they will perform her operation on the 29th of December. Bree will be transferred to Greenlane Hospital via ambulance on the 28th of December. (Luckily for us this hospital is 100 yards from where NICU is.)

This will become a very well-trodden 100 yards in the next few weeks.

December 29, 2000

Bree was 3 weeks old (35 weeks gestation) when she went in to have her coarctation of the aorta repaired. They also decided to put a band around her pulmonary artery to stop so much blood flow back into her lungs (the reason she initially went into heart failure).

The surgeons decided to not fix her multiple VSDs at this stage as it was just too risky, due to her size and condition.

Well the surgery went for 5 hours and Bree did really well. They had trouble ventilating her as her lungs were so stiff due to so much fluid in them. But apart from this it was smooth sailing.

Bree came off her ventilator tube after 2 days. Her left lung then collapsed so she was placed on CPAP for another 4 days.

She spent a total of 6 weeks in the hospital and she got to come home on her due date (2/2/01), 4 weeks after her twin.

Bree came home on a host of meds and also still with a naso- gastric tube for feeding (she needed this as she would tire very easily during her oral feeds).

June 2001

Breana is now 10 months old (8 months corrected.)  She has had a very busy life so far with 2 hospital procedures.

The first was a gastroscopy to check out how bad her reflux is, and the second was a cardiac catheterization to see how many and how large her VSDs (holes in her heart) are. She was also admitted to Starship Children's Hospital, for 3 days due to pneumonia (first and only illness so far, phew!)

They discovered during the catheterization that Bree has 4 large VSDs, they are not sure exactly how many they will be able to patch until they are actually operating on her. Bree's open heart surgery is scheduled for the 9th of October 2001. They are again waiting to see if she can put on some more weight. Ideally her surgeon wants Bree to be at least 5 kgs. I guess time will tell.

Bree is currently 4.8 kgs (10 lbs 7 oz).

The best news is that Breana has at long last had her naso-gastric tube (NG tube) removed. Breana can take almost full bottles, and her weight gains have been ok (good enough to keep the NG tube out, but still slow). Bree is now also rolling and sitting. Bree has started to slow down some and she has taken on a bluish tinge around her mouth and forehead and gets breathless whilst feeding. But Bree is trying not to fall too far behind her twin, Finn.

October 9th, 2001

Breana's surgery to close her multiple VSD's and remove the band around her pulmonary artery was performed on the 9th of October 2001.

She had the two (well only two really) top pediatric cardiac surgeons looking after her, Kirsten Finucane and Alan Kerr.

Her surgery started at 8am and we got to see her in ICU at 3pm.

The operation went better than planned and the surgeons were able to patch (using Dacron) three of the four holes. Bree had two 8mm holes and a 4mm hole. The hole that they didn't repair was right down the bottom and thankfully only 1mm (should close over by itself as Bree grows)

Unfortunately the surgery didn't go without mishap, Bree had "complete Heart Block" For this she was wired up to an external pacemaker to keep her ticking along.

We were told that there was a chance her heart would resume it's natural pacing by itself, but to be prepared that she may need to be re-opened in a weeks time and have a permanent pacemaker fitted.

In light of all that could have gone wrong, Dean and I thought things could have been a lot worse.

Day 2 and Bree is still fully relying on the pacemaker, good news is that she's off the ventilator and breathing by herself, with no collapsed lung as per heart op # 1.

Day 3 and Bree is still fully relying on the pacemaker, but she is starting oral feeds.

Day 4 and still no change pacemaker wise. It is decided that Bree is OK to be moved up to the ward and she has been booked in for surgery on the 15th of October for a permanent pacemaker. Consensus is that if her heart hasn't resumed it's own natural pacing by now then it's not going to.

Well lo and behold, never write Breana Elizabeth Drummond off! Bree's heart resumes its own pacing that very afternoon, and it never stops or falters again. The little minx was just having a holiday.

Bree continues to improve, she has her heart wires pulled out 15th of October and she's discharged the next day.

No five week stay this time, just a quick week.

Well we can't quite believe it, after 10 long months we finally have our little girl fixed (fingers crossed) now we just have to fatten her up!!!

February 24th, 2002

Bree has done amazingly well. She has gone from only sitting in October, to now crawling, pulling up and cruising around furniture. Her feeding has improved out of this world and her weight gains have been great! Bree is still a tiny 6 kgs (13 lbs) at 12 months corrected, but she is approaching the 3rd percentile for weight and is on the 3rd percentile for height.

Bree also has so much more energy and that horrible blue colour to her face is a thing of the past. Bree has been discharged for 2 years, then she will go back to have an echo to see how her one remaining VSD is looking.

We feel so incredibly lucky and we would like to thank this organization (especially PD heart) for all of your support through Bree's ups and downs, "Thank You All!"

October 13, 2005

Where has the time gone? Earlier this year (2005) Bree finally hit the growth charts for weight. Now in October 2005 she is sitting on the 5th percentile for weight and nearly the 50th percentile for height, so a tall skinny. Earlier this year she was discharged from her early intervention services of OT, PT and ST and at her last EI assessment she had caught up to her age group developmentally. Two years ago she was in the 1st percentile (very bad, means only 1 in 100 kids of her age were less developed than Bree) to the 58th percentile. We are very proud of the progress Bree has made, she's come a long way!

Unfortunately at her last PC appointment we discovered that Bree's Coarctation of the Aorta (CoA) has returned again. So we are keeping an eye on it and when she becomes more symptomatic they will attempt to repair it by inserting a stent into her aorta via a catheter. So not as invasive as her first CoA repair. Bree has her next PC appointment in November, so fingers crossed nothing needs to be done anytime soon.

Also we discovered a month back that Bree's reflux has returned, so she's back on Prilosec and we have a much happier giggling daughter again.

Bree's had a fantastic few years and Dean and I feel so very, very lucky.

And just to finish up this update I felt I had to include a little something about Bree's twin brother Finn (no Judy without Punch) Finn has been a sweetheart throughout all of Bree's trials and tribulations. We believe that if it hadn't been for Finn and their competitive rivalry, Bree would never have made the gains she has. Finn is an amazing little boy, who is very sensitive but who has a very built in idea of what is fair and what isn't. And god help the person who tries to push in front of him in line, because Finn will soon be putting that person to the back of the line with a very sound lecture ringing in their ears.

The last nearly 5 years have been a blast and with school starting for them both next year in February a whole new chapter will be starting, I can't wait!