Day 1: Post-op, beginning of recovery

*** Some graphic photos***

not too graphic, just might look a little sad at first, but I promise it's all good, ok?

I will try to sum this day up as briefly as I can.

We had a great start to the day, no real hiccups. Last feed at 3:33am and we were good to go. We made it all the way to the hospital, and did all the pre-prep stuff with a pretty happy baby. She didn't get fussy until near the very end, and by then, the nurse was coming to give her some sedating medicine. The medicine smelled just like Tootsie Rolls! Not bad. Piper hated that part. But she quickly became really sleepy and groggy and kinda fall-over-y.

Anyways, she was soon covered in kisses from Mommy and Daddy and whisked away from a nurse to the operating room.

Then, we really just needed to waste time for a while.

Went for breakfast.

Went to the mall.

Went to MEC.

Then we were back before 12pm. We didn't wait long in the ICU waiting room until the surgeon came in and told us a lot of information that I am going to have to get run by me again. The short version is basically, everything went well, though they discovered Piper's hole in her heart was actually more significant than they had thought. That explains why it was so loud form the outside. There were a few other things, but she got an extra patch and all of her muscle that her heart had built up was cut away and some arteries made wider and all looks good.

I will try to get a picture or something on what actually happened. The surgeon introduced us to a bunch of new words. I'll try to wrap my head around it later. Everything is all good and fixed. That is the end result.

This is what we first saw when we came into the ICU. Itty bitty baby on a big bed.

Our first nurse taking good care of her.
Her bunny-bear keeping an eye on Piper.
The ICU was actually not really busy at all. Maybe 2-3 other babies, but they were around the corner, so we really felt like we were on our own.
Piper is intubated and has a feeding tube in her nose. She is on a cooling blanky with pockets of water that they can heat up or cool down as they need. For a while, her temp was down at 33.5, but then her heart rate goes down, too, which is good, but her little arms were so cold! They want it on the cooler side, but maybe not that cold anymore...
That apparatus at the bottom is a pacemaker. There are already pacemaker lines just placed on top of her heart ready to start it up if need be.
Check it out! This nurses name is Piper! She was so thrilled to meet a baby Piper!
We made sure to talk to her, even though she isn't responding, I think it's important. We aren't supposed to touch her too much, as it gets her heart rate up. They want to keep it as low as possible, and it was actually quite high most of the day (150-160's. They want it to be closer to 120's).
At the moment, there isn't much for us to do. As she gets better, we'll be able to help out more. Now, we're just here to be here.
Lots of little labeled tubes. Good thing they know what is going on because I can't tell...
More little valves... Plugged into so many things, but they all serve a perfect purpose!
She really does look like she is sleeping rather peacefully. Her breathing is completely controlled by the ventilator right now. You can see the bandage, too. They will change that dressing tomorrow, about 24 hours post-op. I do want to see that... I am curious.
She is on a continuous flow of morphine and some fluids I think? They will try giving her some of my milk soon. You can see the blood pressure thing, too, and there is an IV in her foot and hand I think? And also a line in her neck, right into her jugular.
Here, you can kinda see her chest tubes. They are draining any excess blood from around the heart from surgery. I never really saw any blood move, but on the floor, there was a machine that was gradually filling up. By the time we left, she was draining much less, which is good news! I know the chest tubes look kinda gross and scary, but once they are out, they are the tiniest little slits and the scars disappear in no time. Once they can remove the chest tubes, that is a BIG step towards recovery. Probably won't happen tomorrow, but maybe closer the Saturday.
At BCCH they are so good about making your child feel good, so as soon as I brought out this bunny-bear, they used it to help prop her up right away. I know she loves how squishy this buddy is and she loves her little nose and floppy ears. She'll be playing and grabbing her in no time.
So this is our journey so far. I hope to keep this space updated as regularly as I can. I think photos speak stronger than words, so do ask questions if you've got one. I will try my hardest to fill in the blank.

Tomorrow, we'll see the hematologist again and see how much G-CSF to be giving now. Apparently, her pre-op blood work had her neutrophils at 18.0! Holy cow! Maybe a bit too high, but still wow! We'll see where she is at tomorrow.

Oh, and I am so glad she is not in one of the isolated ICU rooms. You have to scrub up every time and always wear a mask. I like our spot in the corner. We even stole another glider from one of the other stalls. Bingo.

Ok. Now onto our first night without a baby. We'll see how this goes...