Surgery Update 17

8:30 a.m. - Emma had a great night!  She slept soundly most of the night, waking only occasionally for a bottle or binky, or to have her diaper changed.  She is holding down food, and her urine output has increased (these are two of the main things they wanted to see before letting her leave the PICU).  Although she's sleeping most of the time, she seems to be increasingly alert while she's awake.  

The great news of the day is that the doctor tells us we'll be leaving the PICU today.  But before they let us graduate to the regular floor, they are going to remove the arterial lines from the neck and groin, as well as the heart pacing wires.  These are wires that were sewn to her heart during the surgery in case her own rhythm failed and she needed a pacemaker (which, thankfully, she didn't end up needing).  They were attached to her heart in a way that will allow them to just pull right out.  They are also going to remove one of her two remaining chest tubes.  All of this means MAJOR progress.

Emma, at just 6 1/2 months old, is one of the strongest people I know.  We are so proud of her little fighting spirit.  She is doing some really cute things.  This morning she is "talking" a lot, doing this cute little cry/complain jabber.  You'd have to hear it to appreciate it.  It's not actually "crying," per se, but rather a "nya-nya-nya-nya" over and over in up-and-down phrasing that resembles speech patterns.  It's pretty funny.  I think we're going to have an early talker.  The other thing that's funny, is that she'll pull her binky out of her mouth to complain to us, and then pop it right back in.  She's really showing a lot of the cute personality we love so much.