Recovery- Day 3

Thanks so much to my talented sister, Kyla, for the new blog header.  She designed it, and also took the family photos used in it.  I love it!

Today was a much better day than yesterday!

-Last night went pretty much how I expected it to go.  Evin had a decent night, but wanted us to be right there anytime she opened her eyes.  If we weren't, she got upset; if we were, she went back to sleep.  Mitch and I switched off all night on sitting by her bed.

-She started tee teeing  more today and is getting rid of quite a bit of the fluid she had put on.  Her pre-surgery weight was 13 lbs, after surgery she was 15.5 lbs, this morning she was 14.5 lbs and this afternoon she was 13 lbs 7 oz.  She is making huge progress!

Doesn't she look much less swollen than yesterday?!

-Her chest x-ray this morning looked much better than yesterday's did.  They also did a belly x-ray and we could see that her tummy is full of air, which is making her uncomfortable.  She got milk of magnesia this morning to try to move things out, but it didn't do a whole lot.  She had a semi poopy diaper this morning, but it wasn't much and just kind of mucus-y.

-After the doctors did their rounds this morning, they put in orders to pull Evin's chest tube.  She got pain meds for this and was a champ as they removed it.  She immediately started acting like she felt better after it was pulled!

The 3 best parts of the day:

-We got moved from PICU to the cardiac floor!  They said after the chest tube was out, Evin was definitely ready to make the move.  We got moved here around 12:30 and it feels like we are in a hotel. We have a decently sized private room with a mini couch bed and a reclining chair.  We also have our own bathroom and shower, and we are able to eat in the room.  Pretty fancy if you ask us! ;)  We are able to hold Evin anytime we want now that she has the chest tube out.  The cardiac floor is very different than the PICU, and the parents are the primary caretakers here rather than the nurses.  Obviously the nurses are still making medical decisions and are involved and attentive, but we decide when she eats, gets a bath, needs to be repositioned, etc.  In the PICU Evin had her own nurse that was at her bedside pretty much 24/7.  Here, the nurses have a couple of different patients, and they pop in every few hours unless you need them for something.

When changing floors, the older babies get to ride in a wagon instead of in the hospital bed.  Evin was too little to ride in one after her first surgery, but I remembered seeing bigger babies in them.  I hoped that she would get to ride in one today, and she did!  I think I was more excited than her. ;)

Lookin' pretty comfy with her cape wrapped around her.

Happy to arrive in our new room, instead of an open area with just curtains to separate the patients!

-They slowly started turning down the oxygen in Evin's nasal cannula today, and she is now completely tube-free on her face and no longer receiving any oxygen.  This morning she had started swiping at the cannula and she was not at all tolerant of having it on anymore.  We are all happy it is not longer necessary!

-Evin started eating more today and also received another Glycerin suppository today, which resulted in a big ol' poopy diaper tonight!  We will continue trying to feed her more tomorrow, and hope to get another good poop or two out of her so things will become regular again.

Overall, it was a fantastic day, and much needed after a rough day yesterday.  Evin is starting to feel more like herself and even gave out a few smiles today.  We hope things will be a little more low-key now that she has way less tubes/wires.  We should be able to focus on getting Evin stronger and eating more.  Tomorrow Evin will be checked by a cardiologist for the first time, rather than a PICU doctor.  We are anxious to hear what he has to say!

Evin got a sponge bath tonight and I think she felt so much better after it.  She also got to start wearing clothes again.  Yay for Evin!

Thank you for the prayers!  Tonight (and always!) we praise God for all He has done for our peanut!  Please continue to pray for a healthy recovery, for Evin to continue to lose her fluid weight, for her to begin eating larger amounts and more frequently, and for digestive system to fully wake up and work as it should.

I just went back and re-read the post and noticed how many exclamation points I used...it just goes to show how exciting of a day it was for Little E!