Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Day 2 of recovery for Natalie

Natalie is doing very very well. So well, in fact, that she actually ate this morning- a few ounces of formula. And get this (this is unusual I was told because of no appetite after a surgery like this) Natalie drank 20 ounces of Pedialyte last night. I got into the PICU at 6:30am and they told me this! lol She is one thirsty baby. She has no breathing tube, no feeding tube (unnecessary now), the chest tubes that drain the suture in her chest will come out tomorrow sometime (yay). Which btw, I asked the nurse what all causes her the most pain and most of it actually comes from the chest draining tubes because they pull on the skin at the chest. They're actually being held together with the stitches on her chest. OUCH. Unfortunately, it's the only way to keep it all connected. Once those tubes come out they notice how much better painwise, babies do. They've also been giving her a Diuretic because she needs to pee more. She's pretty bloated and swollen looking..but right before I left her at noon she looked less puffy. She's such a trooper.
She is still on a low dose of Fentanyl but alot less compared to yesterday. They've also been giving her some Tylenol and her reflux medicine. Oh, and the IV's may come out today also! Towards the evening. I'm actually going back with Ricky around 4pm. It's actually an empty house right now. :( The Jamester is with his Gammy having a blast. They should be here to stay at some point today..hopefully I'll get to see him. I haven't seen him since Sunday! :(
Again, Natalie is doing wonderful. All of the nurse and doctors are so amazing there. Every nurse that's been taking care of her is so sweet. It was a big tougher today only because she's not in a coma-state like yesterday and had an upset or angry cry every other minute..but then she'd drift back off to sleep for a few minutes and then the cycle would repeat. She has her favorite blanky that Nanny made her right before she was born and her favorite pacifier and a few other misc. things. We have to be careful to not touch her or wake her because now, she WILL wake up easily. lol Which makes me feel even bad with how loud it is there. And every so often several "fellows" (ie- students) crowd around to take notes. Kind of annoying, but hey, they gotta learn firsthand. Oh, and I forgot to mention that all of Natalie's "sats" are great! Her pulsox fluctuates between 82-90. =) More to come later.....

2 comments:

Unkempt Mommy said...

What a brave little gal. It's so great she is downing all those fluids by herself. Sounds like she's on the road to a speedy recovery. Yay, Natalie!

Anonymous said...

Yep, its official-Natalie is "Super Baby"! I'm glad she's recovering so well. PP