4.22.2012

Post Surgery: Day 7 & 8

The last few days have been a rollercoaster.  I couldn't talk about Zoe without bursting into tears at any given moment... hence the brief blogging hiatus. 

Day 7 after surgery was a BIG day!  Zoe was extubated and breathing all on her own, for the first time after surgery.  She still needed support with low flow oxygen and also CPAP breathing treatments through a mask every 4 hours.  Zoe was much more alert from all the excitement!  



"Just a week ago today was the most unknown and prayerful day of my life. Finally getting the news after 8 hours of waiting, we learned that Zoe's open heart surgery was a success. She has come so far in just 7 days. I love my little miracle heart baby!" - Facebook Status 4/20/12 

Day 8
We took Lulu to the hospital with us for about 1.5 hours.  The first half of her visit, she did her Color Wonder finger painting, watched Finding Nemo and ate snacks.  Just as we acknowledged how good she was being, a meltdown started to brew because she wanted her "pappy" (pacifier) and since we only give it to her for nap or bedtime... she knew what the end result would be.  That decision was not received well... as you can imagine.  Luckily, Gma & Gpa Milne came up to see baby Zoe and to take Londyn back home with them.  


Andrew vigilantly worked on Physics homework... although, we had a super friendly but chatty nurse, so not much got done.

Miss Zoe had a sleeping day and a rough oxygen day.  She had about 4 lines/tubes taken out and was left extremely worn out.  Her oxygen saturation levels were unstable and unpredictable.  
On the bright side, she loved the CPAP breathing treatments, which the nurse said most babies do not like at all.

Eskimo Kisses


I was able to hold Zoe for a few minutes, but couldn't continue because her Oxygen saturations were just too low.  She was so fragile and unstable that I could barely enjoy those few moments together, because I was so worried.  Eventually, her Oxygen went down to 52 and it should be in the 60's-70's.  Mandy (our nurse) decided that we needed to put her back in the bed and figure out what was going on.  It took a good few hours for her to recover from moving out of her bed and into my arms for the first time in 8 days.  I went home in tears, fearing that I could never hold her again without worrying about whether she was going to just stop breathing at any moment in time.


2 comments:

MLHPortland said...

The hospital is such a roller coaster. Nothing describes it more accurately. I too use that same description.
I know that it is not going to really help but I wanted you to know that a roller coaster is exactly what every heart baby goes through after surgery.
Some of the words us heart parents hate most are "this is normal". We all want to cringe (or scream) when we hear them. But please take some comfort in the fact that Zoe's recovery will be just that, a roller coaster.
You will be able to hold you daughter again and you will be able to snuggle and give her big hugs. It takes time. I know how scared I was to hold my son Ben and how nervous and happy I was when we were told we were going home.
You'll get there Armitage family!!
Thoughts and prayers for you all.

Pam Camit

JSLindgren said...

I've hated to draw any connections between my family's experience and yours--they are so completely different! But I realized there is something universal I can share. When we lost our unborn daughter to a chromosomal abnormality, I learned that Heavenly Father loves us all so much that I could eventually trust him--even with my daughter. This trust has brought peace and hope for the future into my family. I figure everyone could do with more trust in the Lord, peace and hope. Thank you for sharing.