In the operating room: 17 days to wait

What will happen before the operation starts?:

So I am assuming this part we won't get to see at all. In which case, I am glad they are filling us in.

They say it takes about an hour to prep our baby for surgery. Starting with an IV for anaesthetic, and then once that is going, Piper won't be awake to know anything else they are doing. Good thing. That would be the most stressful hour of my life if I were still awake for that. The next time she wakes up will be in the ICU.

Ok. So once the anaesthetic is going, there are a few standard things to do pre-surgery.

1. A tube will go down her nose (or mouth) into her wind pipe to help her breathe during surgery. This is connected to a ventilator, which gives her the right amount of oxygen and does the breathing for her while they are operating.

2. An arterial line catheter will be placed in one of the arteries in her wrist, which will measure blood pressure during and after the surgery. It will later be used to take blood samples post-op, too.

3. Another IV will be placed in her neck (*wince*) or her groin (*more wince*) to give medications and more (infamous) blood products (why they can't just say "plain-old-blood", I don't know)

4. A urinary catheter will be inserted, so they can measure her output

5. A tube called a nasogastric tube (NG) will be put into one of her nostrils into the stomach to make sure that the stomach is empty and then to put the first feeding in there post-op.

So it sounds like Piper might look like one of the Star Trek fiends from the Borg, but I can see the purpose in most of them. 5 tubes in a wee little thing seems kinda crazy. I remember for her angiogram, we had to be so careful for a while after with the incision point (in her groin/bikini area -is it kosher to say that for a baby?) because if she bent her leg too much, it could bend the vein in the leg with the cut in it, and blood could get out and this and that, and basically scare the parents. But they were worried about that... so, with will have 2 more like that. Ahk.

There will be lots more tubes coming and going from her heart, I'm sure, but I don't think they go into specifics... maybe a good thing?

I have a feeling she will be a good deal more sedated, so we won't have to worry about her wiggling right away. They do say though, that most of these tubes will be needed still in the ICU post-op, so we will see her with all of them in.

That might be a bit of a sight, but I like being able to prep for it, mentally, emotionally. I know every time I see a baby with a tube up their nose, my heart quivers just a little. It's just not right, even though I know its there to help them.

Otherwise, life continues on as normal. The fridge was bare, so we tried filling it via mass-shopping-trip, and sorta succeeded, but you know, in like, two days we're going to stare in the fridge and groan "there's nothing to eat!". Such is life. Piper seemed to really enjoy the trip. Oh, and we got her a new big-kid car seat. The First Years True Fit, which is good until 65lbs and 7 years. Sounds good to me. And it is still compact enough to fit in the back of the car. Still rear-facing, there is more room in there than with the infant carrier. Hoorah!