Brand new baby =)

I know they told me that this surgery would help but I wouldn't let myself really believe it. I think I am still in disbelief but she is soooooooooooooo much better!!! We came home yesterday and you would never know she just had heart surgery for goodness sake! She is a little ball of energy! The best part is her feedings. She is eating almost double what she was eating pre-surgery. I am so anxious to find out her weight. We go to the pediatrician for a weight check on wednesday.

Having her home again is so wonderful. Chris and I feel like we brought home a whole new baby in some regards. The feeding thing is a huge change but so are some of her other behaviors. Before surgery I would feed her and she went back to bed instantly and she didn't like to be held for very long. She rarely feel asleep while being held... she just wanted to be in her crib. For the first time EVER I had to rock her before she would fall asleep after her morning bottle. It was the best =) She is also a little nut! She is scooting herself all over her crib! It's so funny. Also I think she smiled for a full hour yesterday =) Best baby in the world!

This week we go to the surgeon on tuesday to have her sutures removed, pediatrician wednesday, and cardiologist on thursday. I will continue to post on monkey's progress. =)

No more ICU!

Yesterday was a very good day for our little trooper =) She had her chest tube taken out and isn't on any IV fluids anymore. The biggest news of all is that she has been eating better than she ever has in her little life! I am so stunned I knew the surgery would help but I didn't think it would happen instantly =) She actually was crying last night and it took me a little while to figure out it was because she was hungry... hahaha. She has never cried to eat... ever!

She is now out of the ICU and on a step-down unit. They were hoping we could go home today but my little monkey can't quite get off that pesky oxygen quite yet. A story we are all too familiar with from NICU. They want her to be off it for a while before sending us home to be on the safe side so we are looking at tommorow for discharge hopefully =)

I might be getting myself overexcited but she looks fatter to me. She will get weighed next week so we will know for sure but she just looks like she has already gained weight! You knows. Right now she is sleeping in her crib with her little thumb in her mouth. Of course its the hand with the IV in it! She does what she wants!

Will continue to update =) Thank you so much to everyone for all the prayers sent our way!

Surgery Update

Surgery went very well! And we got some very interesting news about lover's little voice. Since they were already going to be sedating her an ENT went in to check out her vocal cords to see why she has such a weak cry. Turns out she has left vocal cord paralysis. I have to look up more about this but the doctor said that she may grow out of it... but if it doesn't self-correct she may just have a softer voice. There is also therapy they can do I guess but not until she is older. The really crazy thing to me is that it looks to be congenital. Meaning she would have had it preemie for not. I do believe this is the first actual medical thing (other than a cold) that is not a direct relation to her early arrival. It's a bit of a reality check because I have built up in my mind that her troubles are over once she has her second surgery. I forget that she could have other things happen. Ah motherhood =) I can say that I officially not longer feel guilty for being grateful to have a baby with a little cry =) So she will have a softer voice... like she needed anything else to make her cuter!

As far as her heart surgery the surgeon is very pleased with how it went! Her blood pressure improved significantly immediately indicating better blood circulation (for my nurses... peripheral diastolic blood pressure from 17 to 44 instantly... now it's in the 60s) She has a little incision right under her left armpit and a little chest tube about halfway down her chest to drain any fluid. She will likely have her chest tube removed some time today... there was very minimal drainage yesterday. Once she got to the PICU after surgery she decided she had enough of her ventilator so she self-exbutated... HAHA little stinker. The nurse said to Chris and I that they typically like to leave the breathing tubes in longer but she had other plans for that stinking tube =) Thats my fiesty little peanut!

She has been sleeping most of the night. We are going to try to feed her today when she wakes up. They have been wonderful about making sure she is comfortable... apparently this surgery can be very painful. I imagine it would be considering they have to go between ribs. She is feeling very sore. I think that's all I have for now. Thank you to everyone for all the thoughts and prayers!

Surgery Date Set

We went to see the cardiac surgeon on wednesday and we are good to go for surgery next wednesday. He said as far as heart surgery goes its one of the simpler ones they do in terms of actual procedure and follow-up. Once it's fixed it's fixed. Almost no follow-up. That means one more specialist checked off the list! haha. He is very confident that repairing her PDA will significantly improve her eating and weight gain. He said she has to work so hard to eat and said that when she eats it's feels to her like she has to eat and run at the same time. That really put it in perspective for me. I would cry too if I had to eat a sandwich and run a marathon at the same time!

We go in for pre-surgical testing on tuesday... xrays, labs, all that stuff. We will get to be with little peanut right up until they take her to the OR and we will get to see her right after surgery before they take her to the PICU. She will likely be in the PICU for a couple days then to step-down for a couple days. After surgery she is going to have a chest tube to drain any fluid and she will probably be on a ventilator for about a day.

Mommy has a busy busy day getting ready for little lovers baptism tommorow!!! We are so excited! She will be wearing the same Christening gown as her daddy! (And now has gorgeous pictures in it thanks to Noel!) It will be nice for the family to see her because I put her on lockdown for the winter! haha. I am going be a little nuts about people not touching her. =p

Ok well I keep everyone posted on her surgery as much as I can. I will be living at the hospital so we will see how that works out. Thanks for all the prayers and support for our little trooper!

Little Heart

I spoke today with the cardiologist and after going over lover's test results with the cardiac surgeons they are all in agreement that she needs to have the surgery. My understanding so far is that they will make a small incision on her left side and access her little ticker by going through a couple ribs. She will be the hospital for a few days. We have an appointment to meet with the cardiac surgeons this thursday. They will go over everything with us and then a nurse will go over what to expect in terms of recovery. We will also schedule her surgery that day.

I have to say I am not surprised... this is exactly what I expected would happen. But I also have to say I am surprised by my reaction to it. I guess you can't prepare yourself for some things. The thought of giving her back to a hospital is almost unbearable. Not having her home the first time was so hard but at least I didn't know what I was missing. I don't want to wake up in our bed without her being in her crib. She gives up the biggest smiles in the morning. I think this time I will be able to stay with her so that will help.

I am glad that we are going to get this thing fixed, I know she will feel better. It is so important that we get her as strong as possible for her next surgery. I will post about our appointment afterwards.