She's a New Woman!

Liviana officially has anatomy that looks 'somewhat' like it should. The surgery went well. Her stomach bowels and spleen were all up in her chest cavity. They are now down where they belong and we are able to see what she has for a left lung. The docs are saying she has more than "usual", which sounds good to me.

They were able to do the surgery laproscopically, which is less evasive and leaves her with just three little scars under her arm and around the back a little. They did have a slight issue when they were preparing for the hernia repair, (they set a Broviac line first) when her breathing tube came out and they had to stop and reset it and then do all of the prep over again for the hernia repair.

They showed us the pre-op and post-op x-rays and indicated that her diaphragm, on x-ray looks close to normal. They did not have to pull it tight for repair and did not have to use a patch, which is great. She did not need extra blood pressure medicine or transfusion in surgery, which is also good.

So, all that great stuff said...It is pretty touchy right now. Dr. M. is still here checking her blood gases regularly and trying to get her oxgyen saturation rates where he wants them. Right now, she is riding the vent which they tell me is normal for post-op. Before surgery she was initiating quite a bit of her breathing. Dr. M. said her vent settings are acceptable but not exactly where he would like to see them right now. They moved her vent tube up a little so it can assist with the inflation of the left lung. You can look into lung avioli and all kinds of other lung function definitions for more info if you really want to know more :).

Brad has gone home to spend some time with the kids. I miss Aria and Miles so much but they are doing great hanging out with Dooda. Given how touchy these next 72 hours are Brad is going to stay the night tonight with Liviana (only one person can stay). We know she is in good hands (although we do have some issues with the current nurse but she gets off soon) but it is so hard to be away from her at all, let alone when she is such a fragile state.

I am pumping every 3 hours to ensure that Livvy will get the breastmilk she needs when she is able to begin her feeds in the coming days or weeks. It is somewhat difficult at times to sit and pump knowing how I could be holding and nursing my sweet, sweet girl. I know that time will come and I am so looking forward to it.

She is so precious, so sweet and such a little fighter. I am so thankful to be past the surgery and hope that we can continue to make more forward progress towards Liviana getting to come home.

Please continue to pray and keep her in your thoughts. I wish you all could see her sweet face in person. She would melt your heart.