T&A Recovery- Day 3

We're still here at Vanderbilt. For the MOST part, Etta doesn't SEEM to be in much pain, except that she won't eat and (more importantly) she's not drinking much. I'm still making the nurses dose her with Loritab every four hours to make sure she isn't in pain. Which, by the way, holding her down and making her swallow that stuff is a CHORE, but it's worth it, obviously. Last night was a mixture of rough and better than the night before. Keith was here with us because he missed us (and we missed him), but after trying to share this tiny bed with him and listening to him snore all night, and, well, let's just say,  he wasn't invited back again tonight. The monitors beeped less last night and I got more solid chunks of sleep. The 2am dose of Loritab was especially hard on our little E. About 20 minutes after the long battle to get it down her throat, she threw it up. This makes sense because she's been taking all of this stuff on an empty stomach and it can cause nausea. Plus, she gets SO worked up when we're giving it to her that I'm actually surprised she doesn't throw it up at that point. Anyway, I had the nurse give her some Zofran to help with the nausea before we gave her the 6am dose and we haven't had any puke since then.

Keith left just after her team rounded at about 6:30 this morning and it was Snoozapalooza for Etta. She just slept and slept and slept all morning! I finally just got her up around 9:30 or so, offered her breakfast, and gave her a sort of sponge bath. After the bath, I put her into a clean pair of her baby scrubs and we went for a walk/ride around the floor. All of the nurses just adore her and tell me how cute she is every time we walk by, and I tend to agree with them. ;)

"Look ma, no tonsils!"

She was pretty wiped out when we got back from our walk and she drank (!!!) about three ounces of juice before I put her in her crib for a nap. While she was napping, I went downstairs to pick up the prescriptions Keith dropped off on Wednesday night that we'll need if we ever get to go home. I also grabbed some lunch from the food court and brought it back to the room. After Etta got up we took it easy and we also went down to the 6th floor for a bit to play in the Child Life Play Room. She drank some more, but not as much as earlier in the morning.

When we got back to the room, it was time for her to have a steroid to help with swelling and I sat her down to try to feed her a little something (again) and this time she ate! She had a WHOLE cup of vanilla pudding! WOOT! While I was feeding this to her, Dr. Wooten rounded on her. He was pleased that today was a better day, but he still wasn't comfortable sending her home. He'd like for her to get at least 24 ounces of liquid a day and she'd only had about 6 or 7. So, another night we shall stay.

The rest of the evening was fairly uneventful. Another walk around the floor and another round of screaming and forcing her to take meds. She's sleeping now. Hopeful that it will be an uneventful night...

Etta's T&A

After much anticipation and anxiety, Etta finally had her surgery to remove her tonsils and adnoids yesterday. Her surgery wasn't scheduled until 4:15pm!! I felt SO bad not feeding her all day that I got us both up at 5:30 yesterday morning to feed her a pb&j and a pediasure before the 6:00am food cut-off time. She was allowed to have milk until 8:00 and clear liquids until noon. So, to keep her mind off of her hunger, I took her out of the house for about an hour (to a local consignment sale) and by the time we got back home she was tired enough to go down for an early nap (at about 10:30). She slept until I woke her up at about 1:20 to put her in the car to drive to the hospital. We had to be there by 2:15. So, she never REALLY had a chance to think about how hungry she was, which worked out. 

Etta copying Keith. It was cute.

After we got to Vanderbilt and got registered and stuff, they took us back to a pre-op area. (wow. just typing about this is giving me anxiety again...) They put us in a little holding room and had us change her into her hospital pajama get-up and lots of people came in to ask us lots of questions about her health history. While we were waiting for her to go back for surgery, we came across a cozy coupe (car) in the hall and she had the best time playing with that. She drove it up and down the hall and beeped the horn and got in and out of the door. (note to self: buy a cozy coupe).

Then, they took her. That was really a bit much for this emotional mama and I am SO grateful it was over so quickly. They put us in a sub-waiting room and 15 minutes later the ENT came in to say he was all done and she did great and that her tonsils were fairly enlarged and her adnoids were moderately enlarged. Another 15 minutes or so and they called us back to post-op/recovery area. We could hear her crying before we could see her. That was also a bit much for me. It's hard to see your kid disoriented and in pain and obviously wanting her momma. They just kept pushing pain medication until she chilled out and we were eventually wheeled into her room. They switched her over to loritab every four hours and it has worked like magic! She had a couple of rough moments last night with break-through pain as the loritab was wearing off between doses and neither of us got much sleep with all of the beeping monitirs and the 1:00am fire drill and the helipad on the roof RIGHT above us, but we catnapped together all night. Keith went home last night around 10:30 to take care of Ferris and to get some sleep so he could go to work today.

Finally, it was a new day and I could tell Etta's pain was being manged. She napped a lot today and her most vigorious crying fits happen when they have to force feed her the loritab. Apparently it DOES NOT taste good (plus she hasn't wanted to take much by mouth yet). I hope the pharmacy will be able to flavor our prescription when we go home.

In an attempt to get her to drink, they took her off of the IV fluids this morning and told us we could walk around and maybe she would work up a thirst. Well, of course, she LOVED this! We walked up and down the halls and she thought it would be great fun to race, but I was so afraid that she would fall that I kept stopping her, which kind of made it a game and she wanted to run even more! We came across a little green car and that kept her from running, but I had to bend over to push it which was no bueno.

Later in the afternoon, we went back out, but this time I hunted down another (pink!) cozy coupe so I could push it without bending WAY over. So, anyway, all of this activity worked (some)! As soon as we would get back to the room, Etta would take a few gulps of juice from her cup, but then she didn't want to drink any more after that. So, small steps, I guess....

Momma's belly = pillow. ;)

She went to sleep around 6:30, right after Dr. Wooten (Etta's ENT) rounded on her this evening. He was cautiously optimistic that we'd head home tomorrow... as long as she continues to drink. I also asked him to change the parameters of her pulse-ox machine. It beeped anytime her oxygen saturation dipped below 94 last night and he agreed to lower it to 87. (It's been hooked up for over two hours now, and I've only heard it beep once!) Keith got here around 7:30 and brought some dinner for us and then I got to take a shower (aaaah!). He's planning to stay here with us tonight. I hope it's a more restful night than last night!

Weekend Roundup

Thursday was my dad AND my mother-in-law's birthday and Friday was Keith's birthday!

My dad spent his birthday doing this: 

Yeah, he got to tear up the track at Daytona. I got to speak with him on Sunday and he excitedly told me about his experience and how he wants to do it again on a different track. He's an adrenaline junkie now, apparently. ;) I'm glad you found such a fun way to celebrate your birthday, Dad!

So, Friday was Keith's birthday AND it was Etta's 3-year-old well check with her pediatrician. The visit with the pediatrician went well. Etta weighs 24lbs and is 32 inches tall. The most exciting/noteworthy thing about the appointment was that the Dr had the report back from Vanderbilt's Diagnostic Imaging. We went up there Wednesday to have Etta's neck x-rayed as part of her pre-op work-up. It was also just time to do that with her. At the age of three, children with Down syndrome are checked for atlanto-axial instability (AAI). You can read more about that by clicking here, but basically, "it's an increased flexibility between the first and second bones of the neck and since the vertebrae surround and protect the spinal cord, instability of the joint could place the spinal cord at risk for injury." Her report showed NO SIGNS of AAI! YAY! It's something that will need to be checked again in the future, but for now, we can breathe a sigh of relief instead of holding our breath every time our little acrobat does a somersault! Also at her appointment, they drew blood (poor baby) to check her thyroid (came back normal) and her CBC (just keeping an eye on those white blood cells, also came back normal).

After her appointment, we met Keith for birthday lunch at Calypso. No celebrity sightings this time, but we had a yummy lunch! That afternoon, Keith came home early and Etta and I gave him his cards and a gift and we sang "Happy Birthday" with a chocolate Gigi's Cupcake. Etta got to have a special princess cupcake, which she ATE UP!

After cupcakes, I went up to Franklin for the big Encores and More Children's Consignment Pre-Sale! This sale happens twice a year and it's one of the biggest children's consignment sales in the area. I've been a couple of times, but this was the first year I have ever been a consignor. It was a lot of work tagging my items for the sale and taking it all up there the week before, but it will be so worth it when that check arrives in the mail in a few weeks, plus it meant that I got to shop early, before the general public (hope I sold enough stuff to cover the cost of the stuff I bought. lol.). So, the sale started at 5:00 and I didn't leave there until 9:00! I got Etta much of her winter wardrobe (hope our little mini doesn't hit a growth spurt!). I also snagged a cute wooden play kitchen (for $25! There was another one just like it and they wanted $50), Barbie car (with a barbie), another magnadoodle, a couple of hair bows, a step stool, and a couple of puzzles. It was also fun to watch a few of the items I had put into the sale walk out the door with their new owners! Hope I don't have much to pick up on Sunday.

tagging my stuff

some of the stuff I put in the sale

my golden ticket

my cart (about half-way through)

Friday wore me out and Saturday morning I was surprised to sleep in until nearly 11:00! Once I woke up, it occurred to me that I had not heard Etta playing out in the living room and that Keith must have taken her to the grocery store or maybe even over to the public pool. It turns out that he took her an hour away to the Piney River to play on the rocky beach by the water. From what I hear (and saw) they had a great time... too bad I wasn't invited (but still grateful for the rest).

After Keith and Etta got home and I got her fed and down for a nap, I ran out to take care of a few errands. Later, I spent the evening putting together little gifts for the next day's baby shower hostesses AND I baked/ decorated a cake for the next day's birthday party. I finally got to bed around 1:00.

Sunday was a big day! We got up that morning and went up to Keith's parents' house in Nashville to celebrate his and his mom's birthdays. We had a nice visit and a yummy lunch. Etta ate REALLY well at lunch. She especially loved her daddy's homemade fries!

We left there around 12:30 and Keith dropped me off at our other car in Franklin (that we had left on the way up) and he took E home for a nap while I went over to a little baby shower for me and my friend Amy. Remember when Amy and I threw a shower for our friends Suzy and Emily? Well, yesterday Emily and Suzy (and another friend, Jennifer) threw US a shower! :) It was a great shower and I love my Ds Momma friends! (Thanks again, ladies!)

Tiff- 28 weeks pregnant, Amy- 36 weeks pregnant

cutie John Andrew

The blanket I gave Amy. Made by my friend, Shalissa Rumley- http://roxiepoxie.com/

The diaper bag Amy gave me. You can't tell from this angle, but it's embroidered with "Daniel".

(how am I always the whitest person in a group!! Casper's got nothin' on me!) 

Also, a quick addition to say that today was Etta's last day of therapy at High Hopes (following her surgery/recovery, she will begin to receive therapy when she starts school on August 12th). We were especially sad to say goodbye to her occupational therapist, Mrs. Shelby. I know we'll keep in touch, but she's been seeing Etta twice a week (more recently once a week) for nearly two years and this pregnant lady got teary-eyed when we hugged goodbye. (and somehow I didn't get a picture! GAH!!)