Olivia Solis has never left the hospital. Born with a critical congenital heart defect, the first child of Dallas ISD trustee Miguel Solis and wife Jacqueline Nortman has spent nearly all her young life in intensive care.

But the gift she received on her three-month birthday gives her a ray of hope that things will change for the better.

Olivia received a new heart, successfully undergoing a heart transplant procedure at Children's Medical Center Dallas that went from Monday evening into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Update: We have a heartbeat❤️❤️ — Miguel Solis (@MiguelForDallas) May 22, 2018

Solis posted a video of his daughter being wheeled out of the operating room at approximately 3 a.m. Tuesday with the following message:

"Olivia's transplant surgery is complete and she has returned to her room as we prepare for a long road to recovery," Solis wrote. "The future is uncertain but brighter than ever before. God has a plan for her and she now has a little angel in heaven who will always remain with her. #LivStrong"

Solis — who has been sleeping at the hospital in his daughter's room for the past three months — was getting ready to go to work when Children's transplant coordinator came in to tell him and Nortman, a pediatrician, about the new heart. It matched Olivia's blood type, A, and was being flown into Dallas from somewhere within a 1,000-mile radius. The surgery would need to occur within 24 hours of the match, they were told.

"[The coordinator] said she had some great news, and I made a joke about maybe getting a bigger bed in here," Solis said. "Then she said, 'Your daughter's got a heart.' When we got the news, there was no delay; we we're like, 'Let's do this.' It was either going to be the last day we have with her, or the beginning of a new life with her."

Dr. Robert Jaquiss, the director of pediatric cardiothoracic surgery at Children's Health and a professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center, performed the majority of the surgery.

While a heart transplant is a risky at any age, especially for an infant, a setback for Olivia nearly a month ago left Solis and Nortman with the realization that their daughter would not leave the hospital without the procedure.

Children's staff will spend the coming days monitoring the function of Olivia's heart and vital organs. Her chest will be closed in the next few days, and she's expected to stay in the cardiac ICU for the following month while her body adjusts to the new organ.

"Usually, it takes time for the new heart to recover and get to full steam," said Dr. Ryan Butts, the associate medical director of pediatric heart failure and transplant at Children's Health. "And for patients who have been in ICU for a while, it takes some time for them to get off a ventilator."

Pediatric heart transplants are rare. According to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, there were only 111 transplants for patients one year old or younger in the United States in 2017; Children’s Medical Center Dallas performed seven of those transplants last year.

According to the same database, the one-year survival rate for 406 infant recipients in the U.S. between 2008 and 2015 was 87.6 percent.

If all goes well over the next month, the family will be moved to a different floor in preparation for taking Olivia home.

Butts said current literature says that a new heart will last 20 years for infant recipients, on average.

"But that's based on cases that were 20 years ago," he said. "If we're lucky, we are going to get better and better in time with this."

Rejection of the new organ is a constant concern, Butts added, but one that will be monitored closely and treated with immunosuppressants. As for the future, it isn't uncommon for patients who have received a heart as an infant to go on to graduate from high school and college, and start a family of their own, he said.

Solis said he's hopeful, but guarded, about her prognosis.

"We're just happy to have one more day," he said. "That's all we can ask for right now."

Solis asked that for those wanting to help families in similar straits, visit the website of Children's Health to volunteer or give.