Surgery

The first picture shows Ingrid's omphalocele exposed while her dressing was changed. And the second one show's Ingrid after her surgery today...

But first the good news! Ingrid had 2 poops during the night and Kate helped change a 3rd poopy diaper early this morning. All this pooping means that her digestive system is working well! Daddy had his chance to help change a diaper later in the morning and he even got to hold Ingrid, briefly, while her nurse changed her bedding. Our baby-parenting skills are coming back slowly.


It turns out that Ingrid needed surgery on her aortic artery today. Without medication her artery was too constricted to allow enough blood to flow to her abdomen and lower extremities. After our roller-coaster yesterday it was somewhat of a relief to have the surgery sooner rather than later.

She went into surgery shortly after noon - Mommy & Daddy are getting awfully good at waiting. We received a few messages on a pager about her progress during the operation and were relieved when the surgeon came and told us the surgery was successful. He cut out the coarctation (I don't know if that's the proper spelling) and reconnected the artery adding a patch for good measure. Ingrid is spending the night in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit instead of the NICU because the nurses there are more comfortable helping kids recover from heart surgery. (It's hard to see in the picture but they had to restrain Ingrid (with gauze and safety pins) because she was moving around too much. Feistiness is a good sign!)

We are relieved that the 2 major complications discovered after birth have been resolved. She will need a few days to recover from her surgery, then we can focus on managing her omphalocele. Overall it was an emotional day that ended on a positive note!

Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support - it's working!!