my $select = IO::Select->new();
    $select->add(fileno $child_reader);

    $last_heartbeat_sent = gmtime(0);

    my $buf = '';
  PROCESS:
    while (1) {
        my @ready = $select->can_read(5);
        if (scalar(@ready)) {
            my $read = sysread($child_reader, $buf, 64*1024, length($buf));
            if (!defined($read)) {
                warn "Failed read on pipe to parent - $!";
                last PROCESS;
            } elsif ($read == 0) { # EOF
                warn "EOF on pipe to parent";
                last PROCESS;
            } else {
                while ($buf =~ s/^(.*)\r\n//) {
                    send_message($1); # send msg down socket to server
                }
            }
        } else {
            my $now = gmtime;
            if (($now - $last_heartbeat_sent) > 25) {
                send_message("<Heartbeat/>\r\n");
                $last_heartbeat_sent = $now;
            }
        }
    }