The Big Day

Our big day arrived!  We woke up at 4:15am in order to arrive at the hospital by 6:15am.  However, we did not count on the snow squall that was occurring as we pulled out of our driveway.  Thankfully, we were both safe and on time…but we were very grateful for our early surgery time, as the roads were not nearly as congested as I'm sure they were an hour later.



My sister's husband, a NICU nurse, accompanied us to the hospital. The nurses checked Julia for about an hour, and the anesthesiologist and surgeon both checked in with us.  Dr. Galantowicz (surgeon) kindly said to our baby, "Julia, we have a date!"  Julia hadn't eaten since 9pm the night before, but she was still so sweet and happy.  She is just the sweetest little baby.  The nurses told us she had "won" the cutest baby award of the morning for being so sweet and happy, and they gave her a new toy.  She was able to have any comfort objects we wanted her to have, so she had her blanket, a stuffed owl, and her pacifier with her as went she went back in to the operating room.



I felt very energetic and calm right up until I handed Julia to the nurse in the operating room at.  I started to cry, and Julia, who had been so happy up until that time, immediately started to cry upon seeing my tears.  Such a sensitive little girl.  We had seen this several times with Natalie, where Natalie would cry loudly about something and Julia would then cry, but this was the first time that I realized she was paying attention to my emotions.  I may have tensed and shed tears, but I was quiet - and still, my sensitive little daughter reacted to how I was feeling.  So very precious.

Natalie and Aunt Sarah playing in the snow at home

At about 2:30pm, Dr. Galantowicz came out to tell us that the surgery went well.  He said that the echocardiogram showed that the repair was perfect: no leakage or residual holes!  The surgery took a bit longer than anticipated because the surgery team, despite their high-tech tools for placing IVs, had a very difficult time locating her veins, and it took them quite a bit longer to get her ready for surgery than anticipated.  The poor thing has A LOT of pinpricks on her arms and legs.  Dr. G did say that her heartbeat was a little funky, so that is something that will be monitored closely in order to determine if she might need a pacemaker.

(12/13/13 update: photos removed as seeing them is too painful for us.)

Getting to see her in the Cardiothoracic ICU was not nearly as traumatic as I expected.  She looked so much better than we had anticipated, and her incision is only about 1.5" long and perfect.  I expect more bruising and swelling to occur later, but for now she just looks like she has a ton of wires coming in and out of her.  One of the best things was how much she recognized us right away; she opened her eyes more and more and paid close attention to where mom and dad were.  We didn't expect that, either.

Tonight we are monitoring several things closely, so here are something things you can pray for.
1.  The heart block: Julia's heart isn't beating on its own yet; it is being stimulated by an external pacemaker.  We want it to start beating on its own within a week.  If that doesn't happen, then they will probably insert a pacemaker, which equals at least another week in the ICU.  This is a common thing, and the surgeon was optimistic that it will resolve on its own.
2.  Julia's breathing: she's still adjusting to her new breathing status.  Before, her lungs were used to a very different volume/pressure of blood coming through.  Then she had to endure a ventilator and a bypass machine, and coming out of sedation doesn't help.  So she has a nasal cannula in that gives off a fairly high pressure of air in to her nose so that she can breathe correctly.  Again, this is pretty common.
3.  Julia's chest tube: this tube empties blood that has accumulated around her heart.  Her chest tube has been clearing more blood than they would like, so they are giving her some blood components in order to try and stabilize the wound and bleeding.