PICU baby

It certainly has been a busy afternoon!  Once she was out of surgery, it seemed like things moved very quickly.  We got to meet her at the elevators and see her and touch her and then she was whisked off to the PICU.  I went to pump and then had just a few minutes to call some family and talk to an insurance lady  before it was time to go back and see her.

I have spent a lot of time holding her hand :)  She was coming out of the anesthesia much earlier than anyone anticipated and squeezing my fingers when I tried to take my hand away was one of her first movements :)  When she eventually falls back into a deeper sleep she lets go but whenever she is semi-conscious, she wants Mommy's hand :)

The surgery went well.  They patched her large VSD.  Her ASD had closed completely on its own.  They discovered she had more extra veins than just the extra superior vena cava so they didn't do the traditional bypass but another version (I cannot remember what he called it).  They thought she might have right pulmonary artery stenosis and may have needed angioplasty but he says when they got in, it wasn't too bad and he believes it will resolve enough after recovery that it wont need any work.  They will watch it, though, and may need to do a cath later if it causes problems.

They hope to have her weaned from the ventilator tomorrow morning.  They are already weaning her off some of her heart meds, although she is still on them, just lower doses (I can't remember the names--something with an M and something with a P).  She needed some platelets and albumin and potassium.

When they were warming her up to get her off bypass, she had heart block so she has an external pacemaker as a backup.  Not too long ago, her heart rate dropped while I was away pumping but not low enough to make the pacemaker kick in.  Shortly after I returned, she had another drop.  They are keeping a close eye but may need to set the pacemaker a little higher if it keeps happening.

They gave her a little sedation to help her rest and sleep and I suppose I should go into the waiting room with the little chair beds and try to take a nap but I'm not ready to leave her yet unless I have to (basically to pump and to get food :p)