3 weeks old today!!

Yes, we have been in this joint for 21 days! But, well on our way of recovering. We were moved to the 15th floor yesterday. We now have our own private room with a pull out bed, bathroom/ shower, tv. We now can stay the night. Daddy was the first one to stay night with her last night. We also started bottle feeding again yesterday, a little at a time to get her belly used to eating again. Increasing the amount every couple of feeds. Whatever she doesn't take by mouth they give through her NG tube. But, she is doing well so far. No specific plans on how much longer we will be here. Think the goal is to teach us how to care for her so we will be prepared for home. She also must be feeding well.

Arm Bands/ Blood Clot Update

Day 19

Sweet Baby Girl

Looking like a normal baby again... Yeah!! Yesterday 4/27/09 we were diagnosed with a blood clot in our left leg. We have been telling people over and over again that her left leg was bigger than her right leg. No one listened of course. Been taking her blood pressure (BP) on L leg 116/58 (high for a baby). The docs were going to put her on some meds to decrease her BP, when I suggested taking BP on R leg (86/51). Good thing I spoke up. This led to an ultrasound, which led to diagnosing a blood clot... probably from cardiac cath 12 days before!! This will keep her on blood thinners ( Heparin, Asprin, or Lovenox) for probably 3 months to be followed by a Hematologist. One step forward, two steps back.

Today she was able to start feeding again!!! Yeah, it's been 10 days!! Unfortunately the docs felt starting off with feeding by NG tube was best option at first. Hopefully tomorrow we will be back on the bottle! We were supposed to move to 15th floor today, kinda like a stepdown unit... on our way out of this joint!! But, there were no rooms to go to today. Maybe tomorrow. Overall doing great though, I'm sure thanks to all those prayers out there. We are back to being able to hold her again, which she is loving (and we are too of course).

As you can see in the picture above the red arm band. These are specially made for support of Abigail. They are awesome!! Created by my wonderful friends at Women's Hospital Labor and Delivery. They say "Have a Heart for Baby Abigail" . They asked me to mention them in my blog. If anyone interested you can contact Megan Johnson via email and she can get them to you. megjohnsonrn@hotmail.com

Will keep the updates coming...

Once again I say thanks to you all!! I will never be able to thank you all enough... So many IOU's to fulfill.

Love ya all- Holly, the rest of the Roricks, and extended family

Update

Abigail is doing GREAT! Thanks to all the prayers, visitors, and support she is getting!! Thank You to you all... You have been a blessing to our family!! She is still in CVICU, hoping to get moved in next 1-2 days. She looks better everyday. Our breathing tube GONE! NG tube GONE! Femoral arterial line GONE! Chest tube GONE! She is on day 9 of her 10 day antibiotics and NPO (nothing to eat) NEC treatment... poor girl is starving. We can only soothe her with the paci. Was getting a little sugar water, but the mean nurse today said no. You can see in the picture a little of her incision under her arm. It extends about 2 more inches around the back. Apparently it is a painful incision because they go through the muscle. They give her morphine for pain, but makes her very sleepy. Her oxygen saturations are 81%-88%, who would have ever thought thats what they want it to be? Normal for any of us without a heart problem is in high 90's.

But, overall she is recovering well. She has so much love and support. Can't wait for you all to meet her. Thanks again to you all for your support!

My wonderful friends at Women's have created arm bands especially for Abigail's supporters. They are red and say "Have a heart for Baby Abigail". They are awesome. I will wear it proudly everyday!!

CVICU

Abigail has done well all day, remains very stable so far. She is still very sedated, but doing great the docs say. I thought she had too many things connected to her before. But as you can see we have many more, 14 things either in her or monitoring her. I thought I would list them below.
1. Cerebral Oximeter (in her forehead, monitoring brain oxygenation/cardiac output)
2. Nasogastric Tube (in her nose, to empty any contents out of her belly)
3. Endotraceal Tube (in her mouth, to breath for her while sedated)
4. Left arm PICC line ( to administer all her medications)
*Vasopressin ( to increase her blood pressure)
*Heparin ( a blood thinner)
*Calcium Gluconate ( not really sure what for)
5. Right arm PICC line (to draw labs and monitor CVP-central venous pressure)
6. Chest Tube on right side ( to drain any fluid or air in chest)
7. Foley catheter ( to drain and measure urine)
8. Femoral aterial line in right leg (to monitor blood pressure continuously, draw blood gases)
9. Pulse Oximeter on foot ( to monitor oxygenation in blood)
10. 5 Lead on chest ( to monitor heart rhythm continuously)
11. Temperature probe on abdomen (to regulate body temperature with warmer)
12. Temperature probe on sole of foot ( to monitor cardiac output)
13. Rectal temperature probe (for body temp)
14. Restraints on arms (guess in case we wake up and want to pull out our tubes)

And the incision is right under her right arm, covered with a dressing. Appears to be 1-2 in wide.

Crazy right!! Do some of you people out there who aren't in the medical field feel like you have just taken a cardiovascular course?

Well, I am glad to report that things are well at this time. We were unable to get a room at the Ronald McDonald House tonight, so Daddy is up with Abigail now watching her rest. I am home with Jackson who is going through quite a transition right now, not so easy for a two year old!!

I wanted to congratulate my sister,Haley (Aunt LeLe), who has been at Abigail and my side through this all. She will be graduating tomorrow from UTMB Nursing School!! Yeah!! Plans to pursue her career in Pediatrics, hopefully at TCH.

Sorry , I know this was a long one, but its good for me to get it all out. Going to try and get some rest and do it all over again tomorrow!!

Surgery Completed Successfully!

1115 am : Spoke with Doctor, Jeffery Heinle, surgery is done now. Everything went as planned. YEAH, Success! She is now in CVICU. They say that we will be able to see her in about 1 hour after they get her settled. They have stopped her Prostaglandins now and expect her PDA to close in next 24-48 hours, allowing shunt to work and somewhat regulate blood flow to lungs. Expect her to be intubated next 24-48 hours and to have many more tubes and wires. But glad to be able to report good news so far to you all.. Please don't stop the prayers!!

Holly

Surgery Update 04/23 1000 AM

They took our sweet baby Abigail to surgery about 0700 AM. They expected anesthesia preparation to take 1- 1/2 hours to put in tubes and lines in prior to the surgeons starting their procedure. Just got update from CV Surgery Charge Nurse at 10 am. They did incision under right arm (thoracotomy). Everything going well so far. They have made 1st connection of shunt and will start the second connection now. Plan for 1 1/2 hours more. When Surgery completed she will be transferred to CVICU (cardiovascular ICU) where she will be for a couple of days to a week or so before being transferred to another floor.
I just met another mother, Jessica, of a heart baby here in the waiting room. She is here with her 6 month old daughter, Autumn, who is here for her 2nd heart surgery (the Glenn Shunt, which is hopefully Abigail's next surgery). Her daughter has already had the BT Shunt, was here for about two weeks after that procedure and has been home since, growing well and strong. So what a great motivational story for us to hear while waiting through this first surgery. We will keep her in our prayers too and thank her for her inspiring words. She gave us a website to check out:
http://www.littlehearts.org/
http://www.itsmyheart.org/ is another website we have found based in Houston that has been helpful to us.

Will keep everyone updated as I can.. WE thank you all for your prayers and thoughts sent our way!!

Thanks Holly

Surgery Tomorrow

As of today the plan is that she will have surgery tomorrow morning (thursday) at 7am. Everyone please keep her in your thoughts that she stays strong and has a fast recovery.