The Gal in Charge

Delightful Finch woke me up this morning to tell me that she didn't want diapers any more and she was going to wear princess underwear today.  She'd already taken off the (completely dry) diaper from last night and was fully dressed. I guess that's the end of that.  Even with the weird week, she's still easier to potty train than her brother :p
Happy the weekend is here!
People are starting to get ready for CHD Month (February)....I can't think of anything I want to do to promote CHD awareness aside from drawing more hearts.  ...and I'm already doing that, so I'm not sure it counts..heh!
Seraph has an appointment with her GI doctor next week.  He'll check her G-tube and see that her eating/weight gain is on track.

Seraph out of ICU

They just moved Seraph out of the PICU. She is doing really well. We're waiting for her to make a #2 in her diaper before they can start her feeds. She's playing with toys. She'll sleep better now that she has a private room.

Angel and Strong Bear both have croup. Somehow it skipped Finch. Hopefully they'll be all better before Seraph is ready to come home.

Seraph's GI Surgeries done!!

Here's Seraph at 5am in the waiting room. Usually her trips to the hospital only have one parent. She was thrilled to have both of us with her.The early hour didn't bother her one bit.

Note the redness on her cheeks. That's from repeated retaping of her NJ Tube. That cheek will heal up soon. The NJ also gives her a huge gag reflex. It bothers her nose, and she feels better after she pulls it out.

Seraph had HUGE smiles for her daddy. OK, she always has huge smiles for her dad. It's hard to be jealous when I get to see her being soooooo sooooo happy.

Mommy got big smiles, too. Seraph loves playing with my hair.

More huge smiles for Daddy. Huge smiles for all the nurses, too - even while they were checking her blood pressure.

Not so happy when they placed her IV. ...but a few minutes with her dad and she was happy again.

They were NOT able to do the surgery laprascopically. The pressures in her heart were too high. So, they made an incision just below the scar from her heart surgery. They expected the surgery to take 3 hours. It took 5 hours. We took turns trying to sleep in sleep-resistant chairs. Next time we're going to sneak up to the couches by the piano for naps.

Part way thru, we jumped up and donated to a blood drive. They had free grape juice after!! I hadn't given blood since college. I got up too soon after and got dizzy. I had to lay on the floor with my feet up listening to cool stories about wolf attacks. Anyway....

Seraph's surgery went well. Her NJ tube is gone for good. Her reflux should be gone, too.

Now comes the tricky part - getting off the vent. They had to intubate her for the surgery. They kept her sedated over night. Today they're easing off her sedation so she can start to breath a bit on her own and get rid of extra fluids around her lungs. Her lungs are very wet today.

Seraph has always been slow coming off the vent. Please keep her in your prayers.

Seraph Re-hydrating...

Here's Seraph smiling for her papa!

Some of her medicines help her body get rid of excess fluids.  When she had diarrhea, her doctors thought she was OK on fluids because she's on continuous feeds.  BUT...her body wasn't absorbing the fluids well because she was sick. So she got dehydrated.

They have to rehydrate her slowly...or else she'll get swelling in her brain which can lead to brain damage/coma/death. But none of those things will happen because they're being very careful and she's doing very well.

She should be home in 2-3 days.  They're going to reschedule her intestinal surgeries for next week.

Her nurses say she's always full of smiles!  They love it, and she hasn't given them any trouble.  When we arrived today, she was sleeping so soundly that even when they poked her to draw blood she refused to wake up.  Then her daddy started playing with her - she peeked to make sure it was him....and then was wide awake...giggling for him :)

Postponed...

Seraph's surgery has been postponed.

She is at the hospital being treated for dehydration.  They think she'll be able to come home in a few days.

It's hard to walk out of her room at the hospital.  In the past, I just give her tons of kisses....until she gets annoyed and starts trying to escape!  Today when I gave her kisses, she turned towards me and kept trying to touch my face - grab my nose, my hair, my mouth.  She was all smiles.  I still don't know how I made it home.

I miss her.

Baby Seraph's Cardiology Visit

Seraph did great on her Echo.  She's been approved for her GI (instestinal) surgeries.

She hated it--all the touching and the goopyness! She rolled, wiggled, swatted, screamed, and fought.  The tech thought we might have to sedate her to finish the test.  (Scared me!) Seraph's Cardiologist found her "spunkiness" encouraging.  If her heart function was too low, she wouldn't have had the energy to fight them off that much.  The echo (they did manage to see her heart) showed improved heart function :)

After the echo, they did an x-ray, EKG, and lab tests (drawing blood--eeeep)!  She was NOT happy.  ....except she still smiled whenever anyone talked to her.

I'm happy!

The surgeries will be done laproscopically.  No more food tube in her nose! (She'll still have her oxygen tube.) No more stress over Angel yanking out her NJ tube.  They'll be able to play together!!   Significantly less reflux! Happier, more mobile (yikes, but yay) baby :)!!!