Day 3 Post op

adding this in for a more detailed account of our hospital stay:

Thursday April 17, 2008

Leah will be going home tomorrow!! She had a really good day today. Her eyes have opened up (her left one really wide). Dr. Stelnicki came by this afternoon and he said that when their eyes open it is a sign that everything is back to "normal" on the inside! Dr. Heger, our neurosurgeon likes to discharge from the picu....the spike in her low grade fever turned out to be a blessing in disguise....we have been able to stay in our private room and not have to move to the regular ward at all.

Her fever subsided last night and never came back today. She is now only on regular tylenol for pain "as needed" and hasn't needed it all day. We gave her a dose tonight when she was going to bed. Her appetite has really increased now that she is done with the narcotics. She nursed really well today. She had 3 bowel movements (which you know is a good sign after any surgery) and many wet diapers. She got the drainage catheter out of her head today and one of her IVs out. Now she just has a heplocked IV in her arm, the oxygen monitor on her toe, and the leads on her chest.

She seems back to herself today with regular active periods again, kicking her legs and trying to coo and "talk" to us, very active...as much as a 3 month old can be. And she is 3 months old today!! When she is awake awhile she gets fussy signaling she is tired. We are feeling SO blessed to have our sweet Leah back!! She has been through a lot this week but bounced back as quickly as they say babies do. It sure is a miracle of God!! I am just so relieved to be on the other side and now having the surgery behind us and our little girl here is just more incredible than words can express!! God is SO good!!

Yesterday both eyes were swelled shut and we were monitoring a low grade fever hoping it didn't spike back up and today she is well enough to go home with both eyes opening (and open tonight). Her neurosurgeon just wanted to keep her in the additional 24 hrs for monitoring to make sure she really was on the mend. They sure take great care of their children and even the parents here at the Joe DiMaggio Childrens Hospital!! Leah has received wonderful love and care!!

The girls have had such a great time with my mom this week!!! They did all kinds of special and fun things together and were totally "spoiled" while we were gone. Though they will be happy to see us I know they will be sad when their adventures with Grandma end this week. It was so nice that they received such great care and I didn't have to worry one bit about them. We sure did miss them though and it will be great to be home all together again tomorrow!! I know they also missed their baby sister.

Thanks again for all your love and prayers....Ken and I have had amazing strength and stamina this week and we know it is due to all the prayers said on our behalf. We are eternally grateful!!