Day 6 of Life

Yesterday, after my last post they started Katherine on her lasix drip to help get some of the fluid off of her so her swelling would go down. Her pressures went down on the lasix, so they ended up taking her off of it and giving her more fluid to help with her pressure which stablized her again. They started her back on the lasix yesterday afternoon, which she tolerated much better. We ended up going home to spend the night for the first time in a week, which was incredibly difficult. I hadn't really missed having her in my belly all that much when we were in the hospital with her, but driving away from her was a different story. It hit me when a song came on the radio that I used to sing to her in the car, and I started to sing it to her but she wasn't there.

Every time we called in the night her nurse, Amber, was very happy with how she was behaving. She was able to wean Katherine off her ventilator a bit so that she is doing more breathing on her own. At around midnight, her pressures dropped again so they increased her epi from .03 to .05 (they had weaned her down to .03 previously). She did ok until around 4am, when her pressures dropped a third time so they removed the lasix drip at that time. They also increased her sedation because she started to show signs of discomfort when they had to do anything to her. She does not like being messed with! After rounds this morning they started her back on lasix. So far she is tolerating it well and all of her numbers look good. They tilt her ever so slightly from one side to another to help move the fluid, which she does NOT like at all. We had seen her open her eyes from time to time yesterday to try and look around, but this morning when the nurse tilted her the other way, she actually started to cry silently. She turned beet red and her little tears started flowing. They gave her a little more sedation to help and I scrubbed up really well, disinfected, and held her little hand and talked to her til she calmed down. It is incredibly hard not to be able to immediately comfort your child, but at least we are able to do something.

The plan for today is to continue her lasix drip as long as she is able to tolerate it, in order to get more fluid off of her. This must occur before they will be able to close her chest. Her heart rate is down to the 150s, which is where they want it to be. Her pressures look good at the moment, as well as her other numbers. They also plan to wean her a little bit more from the ventilator. Her left foot is looking better; it is a lot less purple than it was yesterday. We think she is also dreaming of her paci still, because every once in a while she will look really peaceful and start making little sucking motions with her mouth. We are very hopeful that this will help her remember how to eat, because one of her biggest hurdles after her chest is healed will be to learn to feed again before she comes home. This is one reason why babies who have surgery this early in life have to stay in the hospital so long, because the natural sucking instinct that babies have when they are first born can very easily disappear when they do not have a chance to feed for a while. Her ventilator is hooked up through her nose, leaving her mouth clear. This way, when she is a little more conscious, they will be able to dip her paci in some milk and give it to her to help her practice sucking and for her to associate the taste of milk with sucking.

I know that I have typed a book this morning, but there was a lot to update. We are just so happy and thankful that she is "behaving herself" as they call it here in the CVICU and doing so well. We just praise the Lord at every good report and are so thankful for all of your prayers. They are working!