Hospital Update- 3/25/2013

Email sent to family and friends on 3/25/2013:

Evin will be having her first surgery tomorrow.  The doctors have decided that the best option for Evin is to have a Blalock-Taussig Shunt put in, and they were able to reserve her a spot in the OR for tomorrow.  The doctors are extremely confident and optimistic about the surgery, which is comforting to Mitch and me.  It is not the procedure we were hoping for, but this procedure will guarantee a temporary fix until her big surgery in a few months.

It will be a long day for everyone, but we are looking forward to positive results at the end of the day tomorrow.

For today:

Evin’s feedings were hit and miss today.  She receives breastmilk through a feeding tube and they check every 3 hours to see if she is digesting it.  She digested probably ¼ of all the milk she was given.  They keep reassuring us that this is normal and that it will take her stomach awhile to get used to having breastmilk again.

Evin was able to open up her little eyes several times today.  We got brief glimpses of her pretty blues before she snapped them shut again.  The medicine she is on makes her extremely lethargic and also keeps her little eyes and face pretty swollen, so she had not yet felt up to opening her eyes.

We ended the day on a great note as this evening we were able to give Evin a “bath”.  The nurse was incredible and let us do the whole thing.  She then asked if we had been able to hold her since we had been here and we told her we had not.  She offered to arrange for us to hold her since she is having surgery tomorrow.  We were each able to hold her for about 30 minutes.  We were over the moon!  I attached a picture the nurse took of us giving her the bath.

PLEASE send up lots of prayers for little Evin and her surgery tomorrow.

Mitch & Kori

Evin getting her sponge bath.  I think all first time parents are a little nervous when bathing their newborn, but we were especially nervous with all the tubes and wires.  We were so grateful to have this interaction with Evin!

Our nurse was so funny and said she loved to give the babies a towel turban after their baths.  Here is our clean little sweetheart, wrapped up and comfy!

It took 2 nurses and a respiratory therapist to get Evin out of her isolette and into my arms.  I hadn't held her in 3 days and I soaked up every single second that she was in my arms.