Victoria Is Behaving

Those were the words of the cardiologist, Dr. Romp, yesterday when we saw him in Victoria’s unit. He and Dr. Toms agreed that she is doing well and has remained stable since her little episode upon her arrival.

The nurses do try to keep her calm when she might seem to get worked up. Her “worked-up” state looks like she is squirming and cannot get comfortable. If I look closer at her while she is squirming around, sometimes she looks like she is trying to get her medicine tube out of her mouth with her tongue, and of course, this movement causes concern for her ventilator remaining in place. When she continues this “squirming,” that is usually when they give her a little something to calm her back down. Her moving around and getting upset also causes her heart rate to usually change. Her heart might start to work harder and that is what they are trying to avoid right now. To have her comfortable and relaxed before surgery is the main goal.

We’ve been told that Victoria’s surgery is scheduled for Tuesday unless some other baby comes in, in need of emergency surgery. So far, Victoria is the only baby scheduled for surgery on surgery. She would, most likely, have a surgery time of 7am or 8am. It’s was encouraging to know that all of the doctors and surgeons involved in her case met yesterday morning to talk over every detail of her heart. They are educating themselves on her and getting prepared for her repair. This is very comforting to us.

At this point, they are not giving her any extra oxygen, which is great. She is just breathing the same amount of oxygen that we all breathe. They have also been trying to wean her off of the ventilator a little at the time. She has been tolerating this just fine.

Our parents are contemplating driving up for the surgery on Tuesday. We let them know that they didn’t have to come, but I know they all want to, if possible. Mrs. Syble Parten has offered to keep the girls so my parents can come up if they like, so it’s wonderful to know that Elyssa and Natalie will be in great hands. Mrs. Syble is like a grandmother to them, so they would feel very comfortable with her.

We sure miss our other two little girls, but God has given us incredible strength to be here and remain focused on why we are here. He has given us peace in knowing that our family is taking great care of our two precious ones while we are away. As we have seen in the past few days especially, He is so faithful to give us exactly what we need when we need it! God is good!