August 25, 2008

This is Olivia's "Surgery Day" picture. Darling, I know.

I got a call around 11:00 this morning from a surgeon up at PCMC. He told me that since Olivia had such a great weekend and her numbers (glucose, bilireuben, etc.) were looking so great that he wanted to do her surgery today. Of course I was scared but so happy that they were finally going to get it over with. I gave him our consent then sped down to the hospital to spend some time with her before the surgery.

The nurses were already prepping her when I got there but they let me finish doing her cares with them and then let me hold her until they took her to surgery. I had about an hour and a half with her before we had to wheel her downstairs. She was so cute to watch as we walked down the hall. Her eyes were wide open and she loved to see the new scenery. I guess staring at the other babies in the NICU was getting old for her.

They took her into surgery around 2:00 and said it would take about an hour. Joel and I waited in the waiting room and around 3:15 I was starting to get nervous. Right then we got a call from the nurse in the OR. She said they hadn't even started the surgery yet and that they had spent the last hour trying to get an IV in Olivia but weren't able to find a good vein so they would have to do another central line and then they would start. Joel and I went to get some food and when we came back they said they had started the surgery about 10 minutes before. So we waited for what seemed like a million years before they called again to say that the surgery was successful and that they were just closing her up. Huge sigh of relief!!

It was about another hour before the surgeon came to talk to us. Of course I had started to worry again but it turns out he was just trying extra hard to make her a cute belly button. What a thoughtful guy! He said the surgery went really well and that he didn't have any problems. There was some intestine and a small part of her liver in the omphalocele. He had to leave a small part of the cord attached to her liver because apparently it's better to have a little extra skin inside her rather than run the risk of making the liver bleed. He felt that it shouldn't be a problem and that she would have a great recovery.

Now we're just looking at the recovery. Olivia will be on antibiotics for about a week to make sure she doesn't get any type of infection. They will keep her stomach empty for a couple of days and then once she starts having bowel movements she will get to start eating food. I have a feeling that is going to be her favorite thing in the world. She's such a chunk already I can't wait to see what she'll be like once she can actually start eating.

We want to thank our family and friends who have offered up so much support, love, and prayers for our little Olivia. We know the Lord is watching over her and that our prayers are continually being answered. I am so proud of how strong Olivia is and what a trooper she is being through this whole process. We are so blessed to have her in our family now and can't wait to watch her grow. We love her so much.