As we expected her back was covered and wrapped, then she and Peter went to the NICU at Good Samaritan while they finished up my c-section. There she was weighed, and they started an IV and prepared her for transport to Children's Hospital. They had a VERY hard time starting an IV, she gets that honestly from me, but they finally got her started on one and brought her down to me in the recovery room before she was transferred! This was really the first time I got to see my sweet baby girl! She is GORGEOUS! I was in so in love with this perfect little angel from the second I heard her cry!
They transported her to Children's and Peter, my mom and his mom all went there too. They got Emma all settled into her pod and then they allowed family to see her! At Children's they gave her a day to just chill before she had to go into surgery. Surgery happened Tuesday around 12:30 pm. She soared through it beautifully. Her hydrocephalus was pretty severe though so they had to give her an EVD, which is an external temporary shunt. Dr. Stevenson didn't want to do both surgeries at once given the length of them both. Also due to the size of her lesion they had to make incisions on either side of her abdomen so they could use that give to close her back up. This was done by a plastic surgeon so her scarring will be minimal.
Her recovery has been beautiful! She's uncomfortable though obviously because of all the things that she has had done in a week, but also because of her EVD and back closure she has to lay on her tummy with her head facing left at all times. She isn't allowed to turn her head over at all. This will change though with her permanent shunt. This has also made eating difficult, but we have it sort of figured out for now.In the pictures you can see that she had to get an NG tube, this was because they have such high expectations of how much she should be eating (80 ml, which is about 2.5 oz) so she can have the best nutrition heading into another surgery and just to aide in her recovery. They expect that she eat this amount every three hours, which is A LOT for a newborn to eat. She can still try the bottle and whatever she doesn't eat from that she has to take through the tube. All the doctors are so pleased with her and how she is progressing. Right now they are discussing surgery for the shunt placement on Thursday the 4th or Friday the 5th.
Peter and I are over the moon in love with this little girl! I knew the kind of love that we had for her while I was pregnant with her but never imagined how much more I was capable of.
We appreciate your prayers, thoughts, and concerns for our little family! We ask for continued prayer as she recovers and heads into another surgery that God would watch over and protect our little girl we pray that he keep her out of as much pain as possible! We ask for prayers for comfort and peace to come over us as we watch our baby girl go through so much more then Peter and I could ever imagine enduring.
Now I leave you with pictures, because like I've said all along, she is all that matters!!!
Pardon the spit up... its hard to eat while laying on your belly.
We celebrated our first Easter! The Easter Bunny even came!
(Not sure why this one won't rotate), but aren't I cute sideways too?
Like my bunny hat?
Thanks Gigi for my Easter basket!
One happy family!
Oh Becky! I have been keeping up from week to week and I am just so thrilled about this post! I have been anxiously awaiting pictures! Not that I expected anything less than for her to be just as beautiful as can be, but LOOK AT HER! She is a perfect mix of the both of you, just fantastic color and everything! Welcome to the 9 lb baby club, sister!
ReplyDeleteI'm also a huge fan of the way you guys laid her clothes and hat out! haha!
You both look so happy there standing next to her! So does "GiGi!" I will continue to pray as you all are busy with surgeries and meetings and such. I am so glad to hear that YOU are recovering well and feeling good also!
Get some rest and give her a kiss from us!