In God’s Hands

This morning we laid Jane in the hands of God and the surgical team. They took her to the OR about 7:45am. The procedure should last about 6 hours. We will get updates along the way. The surgeon, Dr. Retty, will be repairing 3 parts of the heart: 1) closing off the pulmonary valve, 2) placing a shunt to re-direct blood flow to the lungs, and 3) sewing up the right atrium to make it smaller to allow the lungs to develop a bit more. While he is in her chest if he sees anything else worth repairing he will do any additional work. Dr. Retty told us that this is the first of three surgeries that Jane will need. This first surgery is the most critical and high risk, BUT when she gets through it the next two will be pretty solid, according the Dr. Retty. One day at a time, though.

So, now we wait for our little girl…

Surgery Complete

Jane came out of surgery about 12:45pm today. The heart portion of her surgery went very well. In fact, the anesthesiologist said it was better than they expected. They ran several stress tests on her heart and all looked great! BUT, right after they closed her up they found bleeding in her right lung. They are working on stabilizing her and trying to stop the bleeding. They took a chest X-ray right after surgery and then another X-ray about an hour later and they already saw improvement. So, anyway…please continue to pray for us all. We still have a LONG road ahead, but we have gotten over a BIG hurdle.

A Few Steps Backwards

Rounds with the Drs this morning was NOT what we were hoping for. Jane’s Dr. has suggested that she is taking steps backwards instead of showing signs of improvement. She said that Jane may be having some other issues with her heart and, in turn, is affecting the function of her liver and other organs. She is having an echocardiogram this morning (heart ultrasound) that will tell the docs what is actually going in with her heart. This will hopefully rule out any further complications (at least that is what I am hoping for). In the meantime, it is urgent that they try to drain the fluids from her body. She has an overload of fluids in her body that can also be causing some of the current problems. They discontinued her pain meds and paralytic yesterday in hopes that she will begin to move a bit, which will also help to reduce the fluid in her body. No movement yet!

My poor baby- this cycle seems never-ending……

***On a better note, I cleaned her up a bit yesterday and gave her a sponge bath. At least while she lays there helpless she can look as cute and clean as possible 🙂

Praise the Lord for PEE!!!

After a HORRIBLE day, Daniel and I were finally able to have a tiny sigh of relief…..Jane finally peed. Her kidneys were showing great signs of failure, but it looks like they might be making a come back. The docs are not planning on changing any meds or treatments for the night. They want to keep her vitals stable and balanced and give her kidneys a chance to recover on their own. Like they keep saying…when Jane is ready to move forward then they will re-evaluate her treatment therapies and consider giving her medications that will help the kidneys.

Jane still hasn’t moved or opened her eyes, yet. Even though they have discontinued the paralytic and sedative she still has major fluid overload which suggests that the meds are hanging out in her body. Once she is able to excrete the extra fluid then the meds will flow out and hopefully she will wake up.

Praying for a restful and healing night for Jane and a better day for me and Daniel tomorrow.

A Calm After A Storm

After a very nice day roaming around San Francisco and taking a breather from hospital air we came back to the perfect ending… Jane has tripled her amount of urine, her swelling has decreased a tad bit more AND she opened her eyes!!!!! (so of course we stood by at her bedside and talked her ears off as if she was really listening to us)

 

Baby Steps

Today Jane is taking tiny baby steps in a positive direction and we are so grateful! It’s funny how God knows exactly what we can and cannot handle (and he knew we couldnt handle another bad day). The docs continue to focus on getting rid of her fluid volume in hopes that her heart will work more efficiently and then they can start to slowly wean her from her ventilator….little by little, day by day.

The BIG NEWS of today is that Jane gets to have her first few drops of colostrum- aka LIQUID GOLD! She only gets a few drops because she hasnt had to use her gut at all since being born so they start very small to make sure she is able to process and digest it. (You may all be thinking…why on earth am I sharing that she gets her first drops of food?? Well, its because this is major; she is 17 days old and finally gets some goodness!)

***For Michael and Jen- we wish you many, many blessings today as you come before the Lord and dedicate Anna to the One and Only, our Savior. May your day be filled with joy!

Ronald McDonald Address

Here is the address to our home at Ronald McDonald:
Daniel and Elisabeth Siapin

c/o Ronald McDonald House

520 Sand Hill Road

Palo Alto, CA 94304

Our room is great, we really got lucky! They gave us a room with a little kitchenette and dining area. They call it a suite and the suites are usually reserved for other patients, but it was the first available room so we scored big time!! The only downside is that I can see Sprinkles Cupcakes from my window, thats how close it is! Yikes!! 🙂