Post op day 5...

Grace had a good day today!  We are praising the Lord that she seems to be tolerating her feeds via the ng tube (tube in her nose that dumps the food into her belly) pretty well and she is getting her spunk back.  She is actually smiling some and back to her rascally ways...  The second David takes his eyes off of her, she rolls onto her tummy and then smiles about it (she's on sternal precaution, so she isn't suppose to be on her tummy).  Grace also got a visit from a therapy dog today.  She was interested in looking at him, but NOT touching him (or getting too close).

Her face says it all...

I miss David and Grace terribly, but fortunately Abigail and Andrew are world class snugglers and know how to make their Mamma smile through the heartache.

Village, will you please pray specifically that...
-Grace tolerates oral feeds exceptionally well (no dry heaving or throwing up), they are starting them back up tomorrow
-her chest x-ray improves and shows less fluid on her lungs
-Friday's echo results show a healthy heart and that God would get all of the glory!
-we would praise God for the blessings right in front of our eyes and not be concerned about tomorrow or the "what if's" ("what if" the wheels fall off tomorrow, putting Grace in danger and keeping us apart longer, but instead, trust that "even if" that happens, God's got it).

THANK YOU!!!  We love you Village!!!

Post op day 4...

This is David...  Praise God!  Grace's recovery has gone so well that she has already been moved out of the ICU and onto the recovery floor (nursing ratio is 4-to-1, instead of 1-to1).  Grace's cardiologist and her surgeon are both very pleased with how well she is doing.  To be honest, I am very pleased as well.  I feel like I am hesitantly happy with how great she is doing, since her recovery thus far has been so much better than either of her two past surgeries, I feel like I am just waiting for something to go wrong at some point.  However, when I catch myself thinking like that, I have to confess and ask God to forgive me for not rejoicing and praising Him for how great Grace is doing.  Kristi and I came into this surgery with the understanding that we would be here for two to three months.  When I spoke with Grace's surgeon this morning, he stated that, assuming she continues progressing like she has been, then we might be out of the hospital in 7-10 days (What?!?! we are having a hard time even wrapping our minds around that being a possibility).  Please praise God with us for how great Grace is recovering thus far, and also pray that she will continue to do great.  She needs to get more fluid off of her lungs, begin normal feeds (thus far she dry heaves or throws up when she eats, we are praying it is just a sign that her tummy needs to advance feeds at a slower pace, not a bigger issue of some sort) and have a sedated echo that looks good before discharge can ever become a reality.

Although today was great, with Grace moving to the recovery floor, it was bitter sweet because Grace and I had to say goodbye to Kristi this morning and Kristi missed getting to hold Grace by a couple hours.  While it seems as though the past 9 days should have been a little wearisome, it has actually been a tremendous blessing for Kristi and I.  It seems like God blessed us with some much needed time together, so it turned out to be a sort of surgical honeymoon for us.  It is wonderful to experience God's hidden blessings in the midst of trials, and God certainly blessed Kristi and I (and Grace) these past 9 days.  Thank You, Lord!!!

Recovery :-/

Long, rough day so far....  Poor Gracie Doo is happy to have the breathing tube out, but now she's dealing with withdrawls from the pain meds and throwing up from getting air in her belly from the nasal canula that they put in to help her be more comfortable (not have to work so hard to breath)...  David and I are dealing with the heart ache of watching your baby go through withdrawls, throw up and not being able to hold her.  It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to hold her before I leave because she still has her arterial line and the line in her neck in, which they can't afford to lose (especially since she already kicked out the line they had in her foot).  

While I'm bummed I can't snuggle Grace yet, I can't wait to snuggle Abby and Andrew tomorrow!!!

Thank you for praying us through this ugly and hairy time of recovery.  (((hugs)))

Recovery :-/

Long, rough day so far....  Poor Gracie Doo is happy to have the breathing tube out, but now she's dealing with withdrawls from the pain meds and throwing up from getting air in her belly from the nasal canula that they put in to help her be more comfortable (not have to work so hard to breath)...  David and I are dealing with the heart ache of watching your baby go through withdrawls, throw up and not being able to hold her.  It doesn't look like I'm going to be able to hold her before I leave because she still has her arterial line and the line in her neck in, which they can't afford to lose (especially since she already kicked out the line they had in her foot).  

While I'm bummed I can't snuggle Grace yet, I can't wait to snuggle Abby and Andrew tomorrow!!!

Thank you for praying us through this ugly and hairy time of recovery.  (((hugs)))

Post op day 3...

AGH, again!!! and YAY!!!  The same attending was on rounds today (however, we had back the fellow that we really like) and in what I'm learning is his terrible sense of humor, he walked into the room and asked who put in her new bow (maybe we should give him credit for noticing that she had a new bow in)? I jokingly said that we put in a new bow to celebrate what we hope is extubation day!  He asked "are you superstitious?" I said "not a bit superstitious, we are trusting God all the way, the bow is just some added flare."  He proceeded to examine her, walked to the edge of the doorway and says "she squeaks..."  I said "so, what does that mean?"  He put his arms up and smirked (not the warm fuzzy smile, but more like "guess you will have to wait and see").  Rounds went on and our favorite fellow did a great job of highlighting all the the things that Grace has been doing and then said "I think that she's earned her extubation."  YAY!!!  Lord willing, Grace will be extubated some time in the next couple of hours!  It can't come fast enough because Grace has made sure that everyone knows how much she hates the breathing tube.  All of her nurses have been begging for her to be extubated because they are with her 24 hours a day and see how miserable she is.  Will you please pray for a seamless extubation (it can be a very hairy situation)?  

"Check out my extubation celebration bow"...

One down side of being in the hospital is that no exercise takes place and candy is a signature.  Hopefully, some new scientific data will show that a bag of Good n Plenty's will keep the Dr. away (apples are over rated :-).  It's 10:00am and I've already finished my daily bag of them :-/

Once she's extubated, it will officially signify the beginning of sleepless nights for us (mostly David, since I leave tomorrow).  One huge blessing of Grace remaining intubated yesterday is that David and I were able to go to church together last night.  The pastor did an amazing job of literally teaching through the whole bible in about an hour!  He especially focused on what communion signifies, why it is so special for us to participate in, and the type of heart condition that we should have when taking communion.  There wasn't necessarily anything new that he taught us, but it is so amazing how God can make His word so powerful to you that it's as if your hearing it for the first time.  I love that!  It was a great reminder that while we were disappointed that Grace wasn't extubated yesterday, there was a very good reason for that!  God used it for good in that He allowed us to sit under some great teaching and have sort of a date night.  

Well... I didn't even have time to publish this post because Grace made it clear that she was ready to be extubated now!  They extubated her about 30 minutes ago and she seems to be doing good, so far (praise The Lord).  Please, please, please pray that she continues to do well being extubated because this is the time that she is either going to sink or swim.  Thank you praying Village!!!  There are a number of you that I need to text, facebook message, or e-mail back to thank you so very much for your encouragement and prayers.  Until I have a chance to do that, please know that each word that you have taken the time to type has been imprinted on my heart forever!  There is something magical that happens when you are lifted up by the body of Christ, so thank you and please don't stop :-).

"Look, no breathing tube..."

Post op day 2...

Agh!!!  They just did rounds and while we think that Grace is doing awesome (compared to... herself), the first thing the attending says is "I wish she was doing better and not so up and down."  I was taken back because, like I said, we think that she's doing great and all of the other feedback that we've gotten has been the same.  As the fellow began presenting the case and the attending got to hear that her mixed venous blood gas was good (meaning that the coldness of her extremities was more environmental versus poor cardiac output) and other labs looked good, he asked the fellow if "he wanted to declare it a victory."  The fellow was extremely hesitant, but they both agreed that she is doing great for Grace (certainly not "normal" or "perfect", but great for Grace and that is praiseworthy in our book :-).  This is exactly what happen last time we were here... they kept talking about extubating (taking her breathing tube out) tomorrow and then tomorrow became the next day and then the next day, etc until I had to go home before ever getting to see her extubated (but more importantly than just being extubated, I didn't get to hold her- BIG SAD FACE).  While she has the breathing tube in they have to keep her super sleepy because the second they lift the sedation a touch, as the night nurse put it when we called in the middle of the night to check on Grace, "I tried to wake her up a little and she woke up fast and was like an alligator" (you know how alligators do the alligator spin where they spin in circles?).  She certainly likes to keep everyone on their toes.  The main reason they can't extubate her yet is because they need to get a better hold on her fluid balance :-/.  Again, this is such a dance with Grace because you have to give her enough medication to pull fluid off, but not dry her out too much.  Will you please pray that her fluid balance would get under control quickly and that she would blow the Dr.'s and nurses away with how stable ALL of her numbers are and that she would stay comfortable (did I mention how much she HATES the breathing tube?).  It's also painful for us to watch her do what we call the "silent cry," where you can tell she's crying by looking at her face and body language, but you can't hear anything because of the breathing tube... no bueno :-(.

Enough with the... not ideal news and on to some praises...  They just took out her LA line (it measures the pressure in her left atrium) which is a number that I love to stare at on the monitor, so having that number no longer available will give me one less thing to obsess over and they also removed her chest tubes.  YAY!!!  

What a little angel, huh?

Yesterday, my angel of a Mother in Law face timed us during Abby's soccer game, so that we could watch her play (she scored two goals and blocked the other team from scoring a couples goals too), we are so proud of her!  We were watching the game from the back of Grace's room in the ICU and when Abby scored her first goal, David thought, maybe she can hear us (from across the soccer field on the phone while face timing), so he yelled "good job Abigail!!!" The nurse cracked up and I'm sure all 29 beds in the CVICU now know that Abigail scored a goal.  It was actually pretty cute and funny!  We also got to see Andrew playing in the mud at the soccer game (since they had a huge down pour right before the game started) and it was neat to see him having sooo much fun (when he saw us on facetime he didn't know if he should be happy or cry), please pray that the kids finish our time apart strong.  Another praise is that since Grace will still be intubated over night (and knocked out to avoid her doing alligator spins with her breathing tube in), David and I will get to have one more night of good sleep in the hotel room together and we will be able to go to church together tonight (Calvary Chapel has a church service in our hotel).  

So grateful that our God is sovereign and reigns over all this craziness! :-) 

Day 1 of the craziness of recovery...

They just did morning rounds and overall they were pleased with how Grace is doing!  I want to stop and praise The Lord for that...  however, the one thing that they are concerned about is that her extremities are very cold, so they are trying to figure out if it is environmental or is it that her heart isn't doing a great job of getting blood out to her arms and legs?  They are drawing labs to get a better idea of the cause as well as giving her fluids and a medication that will help with her circulation (the nurse said 90% of their patients are on this medication post surgery, so it's common).  Now for the scary, hairy part...  they are going to stop the paralytic and start to wake her up, so that she can start to breath on her own, but at the same time try to keep her comfortable.  This is really where our Gracie Doo becomes a mystery (at least in the past, so maybe she's matured out of her crazy ways :-).  In the past it has been SO difficult to wean her off the paralytic and down on the ventilator, but keep her comfortable and happy.  Will you please pray that she blows us all away with how amazingly well she does this transition and that her circulation isn't a problem at all?  It certainly doesn't hurt to ask, right?  And even if the answer is "no" we will praise Him anyway :-).

Once again, the power of prayer has been reflected in the joy and peace we felt when laying eyes on our little angel for the first time after surgery.  I feared that it would be a sad, scary time, but instead it was a joyous time and the only thing that we could comment on was how pink she looked!  Check out this pink little foot (this is the pinkest her tootsy has EVER looked)!  

So, I tried to convince David not to post the picture of Grace right after surgery on facebook yesterday, but he could not be convinced...  He was just so proud of Gracie Doo that he wanted the world to see how tough she is...  even if it makes some people want to honk looking at a baby with tubes and wires all over the place :-).  I apologize if these pictures make anyone uncomfortable, so this is a warning that a post op picture is posted below :-)

Notice she has her little friends proping up her arms...

More updates to come, they are shutting off the paralytic now, so I'm going to run...