Tuesday, May 5, 2009 - I think I need to get out of this hospital. today was one of those days where I could not get my act together. Elle was up around 6:00am and we spent the morning together. She fell back asleep and at 8:00am, I started to suction her nose. I got her suctioned and changed and dressed for the day right as her nurse came in to begin her 9:00am feeding. I was trying to put a sock on Elle's left hand because she had already pulled the tape off of her feeding tube twice this morning. Gloves are way too big for her so we have resorted to using socks. The nurse was just about to start the machine to begin giving her th
e milk via the feeding tube when my wedding ring got caught on Elle's tube and I pulled her feeding tube out! I just sat there in shock! Thankfully the milk hadn't started yet so the nurse was able to stop the machine. Elle loved not having that tube down her throat. She didn't cry or anything when I pulled it out. I think she was kind of relieved! I asked the nurse to re-insert it down her throat and she told me she had never done that before. Great! I told her to find someone who had - so she went all over the floor seeing if any nurses had every put a feeding tube down the throat before. She finally found a guy nurse who had worked in the NICU so he came to help. He managed to put one tube down - but wasn't satisfied with how he taped it so he pulled that one out. Elle was screaming this whole time - I had to walk out of the room because I felt so bad for pulling out her tube and then listening to her cry. The guy nurse then put down a bigger tube and our nurse started Elle's feeding. As soon as the feeding started, Elle started gagging on the bigger tube. I asked the nurse to stop the feeding and to put in a smaller tube. Elle was obviously uncomfortable. I helped our nurse put another tube down Elle's throat and an hour and thirty minutes after me pulling out the tube, Elle was finally eating again. I then asked for an x-ray of the feeding tube to be sure it was in the correct position. About 30 minutes later, the x-ray team comes up with their huge portable x-ray and the first thing that happens was that the x-ray arm got caught on Elle's mobile. It was pretty funny to watch them try to untangle Elle's mobile from the x-ray machine. Elle was awake during this whole time so I was on pacifier duty. I couldn't leave her side because she would start crying as soon as the pacifier dropped. Of course, it had been 5 hours since I had last pumped so I was in dire pain and not to mention I had to use the restroom. Elle finally fell asleep at 11:00am and the only thing I could think of was "thank goodness!" I believe the term "sweet sweet relief" described the moment Elle fell asleep and I was able to take care of myself! My mom walked in the door just as I sat down to pump and she was then put on pacifier duty when Elle started to wake up! The cardiologist came in and told us that Elle is scheduled for surgery for tomorrow at 11:30am. I will believe it when we walk her down and actually hand her off to the anesthesiologist. She will be recovering in the CVICU - at least those were the plans as of this afternoon. Melissa, Elle's OT came by at noon and Elle took 6 cc by bottle. She told me that we could start giving Elle another bottle in the evening - so that was exciting to hear. My mom and I spent the rest of the day playing with Elle and taking care of her. At 6:00pm, I went to go and get her bottle ready for dinner. This was my first time to take the milk from the syringe and put it into the bottle. Elle has a special bottle called a Haberman bottle. It is designed for children with cleft palates and cleft lips. Let's just put it this way - I had to read the instructions on how to put the milk in it! Elle had no interest in her bottle at 6:00pm and only took about 5 cc. I went to go and put the milk back in the syringe so we could start the rest of her feed. I managed to get the milk into the syringe - only after I realized that I hadn't put the cap on the syringe so the milk was pouring out as I was pouring it in. I got that taken care of without losing too much milk. I started to put the syringe back together and before I knew it, the cap had blown off and all the milk shot out of the syringe! The cap to the syringe was in the middle of the hallway - at least 15 feet away. I managed to spray milk everywhere! It was on the door, on the floor, on the window - everywhere! Thankfully no one was looking..and I have about 30 syringes in the fridge so we were able to get Elle her dinner! What a day! I just couldn't get it together today! Please pray for our little Elle tomorrow and her surgery. I'm asking for the Lord to hold her in the palm of his hands and guide the surgeons as they work. I pray for her strength in recovery and our strength during and after her surgery. I pray that our wonderful Lord just protect our precious baby as she undergoes surgery. I pray that those stints come out of her nose and her nose had healed like it was supposed to. I pray that the feeding tube is put into place and without incident. I pray for our little baby's safety under the anesthesia and that her recovery is smooth and without incident. 
e milk via the feeding tube when my wedding ring got caught on Elle's tube and I pulled her feeding tube out! I just sat there in shock! Thankfully the milk hadn't started yet so the nurse was able to stop the machine. Elle loved not having that tube down her throat. She didn't cry or anything when I pulled it out. I think she was kind of relieved! I asked the nurse to re-insert it down her throat and she told me she had never done that before. Great! I told her to find someone who had - so she went all over the floor seeing if any nurses had every put a feeding tube down the throat before. She finally found a guy nurse who had worked in the NICU so he came to help. He managed to put one tube down - but wasn't satisfied with how he taped it so he pulled that one out. Elle was screaming this whole time - I had to walk out of the room because I felt so bad for pulling out her tube and then listening to her cry. The guy nurse then put down a bigger tube and our nurse started Elle's feeding. As soon as the feeding started, Elle started gagging on the bigger tube. I asked the nurse to stop the feeding and to put in a smaller tube. Elle was obviously uncomfortable. I helped our nurse put another tube down Elle's throat and an hour and thirty minutes after me pulling out the tube, Elle was finally eating again. I then asked for an x-ray of the feeding tube to be sure it was in the correct position. About 30 minutes later, the x-ray team comes up with their huge portable x-ray and the first thing that happens was that the x-ray arm got caught on Elle's mobile. It was pretty funny to watch them try to untangle Elle's mobile from the x-ray machine. Elle was awake during this whole time so I was on pacifier duty. I couldn't leave her side because she would start crying as soon as the pacifier dropped. Of course, it had been 5 hours since I had last pumped so I was in dire pain and not to mention I had to use the restroom. Elle finally fell asleep at 11:00am and the only thing I could think of was "thank goodness!" I believe the term "sweet sweet relief" described the moment Elle fell asleep and I was able to take care of myself! My mom walked in the door just as I sat down to pump and she was then put on pacifier duty when Elle started to wake up! The cardiologist came in and told us that Elle is scheduled for surgery for tomorrow at 11:30am. I will believe it when we walk her down and actually hand her off to the anesthesiologist. She will be recovering in the CVICU - at least those were the plans as of this afternoon. Melissa, Elle's OT came by at noon and Elle took 6 cc by bottle. She told me that we could start giving Elle another bottle in the evening - so that was exciting to hear. My mom and I spent the rest of the day playing with Elle and taking care of her. At 6:00pm, I went to go and get her bottle ready for dinner. This was my first time to take the milk from the syringe and put it into the bottle. Elle has a special bottle called a Haberman bottle. It is designed for children with cleft palates and cleft lips. Let's just put it this way - I had to read the instructions on how to put the milk in it! Elle had no interest in her bottle at 6:00pm and only took about 5 cc. I went to go and put the milk back in the syringe so we could start the rest of her feed. I managed to get the milk into the syringe - only after I realized that I hadn't put the cap on the syringe so the milk was pouring out as I was pouring it in. I got that taken care of without losing too much milk. I started to put the syringe back together and before I knew it, the cap had blown off and all the milk shot out of the syringe! The cap to the syringe was in the middle of the hallway - at least 15 feet away. I managed to spray milk everywhere! It was on the door, on the floor, on the window - everywhere! Thankfully no one was looking..and I have about 30 syringes in the fridge so we were able to get Elle her dinner! What a day! I just couldn't get it together today! Please pray for our little Elle tomorrow and her surgery. I'm asking for the Lord to hold her in the palm of his hands and guide the surgeons as they work. I pray for her strength in recovery and our strength during and after her surgery. I pray that our wonderful Lord just protect our precious baby as she undergoes surgery. I pray that those stints come out of her nose and her nose had healed like it was supposed to. I pray that the feeding tube is put into place and without incident. I pray for our little baby's safety under the anesthesia and that her recovery is smooth and without incident. Elle's bedhead - check out that spike!
2 comments:
She is just so darn cute, Lisha!
Little Elle is just too precious for words! You are so blessed! Love you all!
Katie
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