Last night and today were better than the previous 24 hours, but still not great. The good news is Evie has been wetting diapers consistently since last night, so we’re not concerned about dehydration any longer, which is a huge relief. However, she is still struggling to eat. We had one fairly good nursing session (the best one in 48 hours), in which she probably took about 2-2.5 ounces, but for the other five or six attempts, she either took very little or refused entirely. Fortunately, she’s willing to eat via syringe, and has been taking about 2 ounces every few hours.
Sean and I are a good team and have established a good system together. After working together to encourage her to nurse, I pump while Sean syringe feeds her. I am so thankful to have such an amazing husband who is so involved and helpful. I can’t imagine doing this alone or with anyone else. He’s incredible!
Throughout the day, we increasingly spread out administering the medicine, and are now rotating every 4 hours between Ibuprofen and the Tylenol w/codeine. About midday, we also began halving the Tylenol w/codeine dose and adding regular Tylenol instead. This schedule seems to be working ok – her pain seems to be well-managed, although she is apparently still in too much pain to nurse. I mean, shoot, she has stitches that extend from the inside of her nose and wrap all the way around to the inside of her lip…I wouldn’t want to eat either. I have no idea what the ER doctor was thinking…telling us to stop the codeine cold turkey. What terrible advice!! I guess I’ll know better next time.
The especially difficult thing about all of this, is that she can’t talk to us and communicate what her pain level is. Like I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it’s a catch-22 with the pain meds. We want to wean her off the medicine (especially the codeine), as soon as possible so she can begin nursing better, but not at the expense of her comfort…which also results in her refusing to nurse. It’s been a lot of guess-work and trial-and-error to find the perfect balance between pain control and alertness.
I am thankful today was calmer and less eventful than yesterday. I am still experiencing the “peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,” and have not felt anxious today. Tired is another story, though 🙂 It’s been a demanding schedule with the meds/feedings every few hours around the clock, and it is definitely wearing us down. Syringe feeding is extremely tedious and takes 45 minutes to an hour to complete…and she spits a lot of milk back up. Thankfully, we have amazing friends bringing us meals every night this week, which we are SO grateful for…one less thing to worry about and fit into the schedule. For the last four days, Sean’s parents have been taking care of Caleb almost exclusively and we are very grateful for that as well…there is no way we would be able to take care of him, too, since Evie’s feedings require two people. And if you know Caleb, you know he requires a high level of supervision or our house would burn down! 😉 Please pray for an improvement in nursing in the next 24 hours, and for stamina for us!
Here are some photos from today:
Next post:
Fourth Day Post-Surgery Update
Pre-Surgery:
What a great improvement from 24 hrs ago!
She’s going to be just fine. Hang in there and keep up the good work. You two are a great team. That’s why God chose you to be her guardians.
Evie is so beautiful!!! Your doing a fantastic job of caring for her. It was 1975 at Stanford Hospital on June 3rd and my baby girl of 8 pounds 11 ounces was born with a clef lip. I was able to nurse her very well BEFORE her surgery was done at 4 days old. After was very difficult but just kept trying. We went home together on day 5 and was told to just give her baby liquid aspirin if needed. No bandage so the stitches could get air, I guess. I know how hard all of this can be but she will be just fine in time, and you will both recover also. I am glad you have a wonderful husband. I was divorced by my husband at 8 months pregnant when I was 23 years old. You can ask my dear friend Terry Knight. My only daughter Robin was the smartest baby and now a beautiful woman with very handsome boy’s 17 years old and 15. I like the new arm thing’s to keep her from touching her face, I had a special jacket to have her hands tied to her waist. I did not like that at all and took it off as much as possible when ever I could which was a lot!!! I hope everything get’s better for all of you as soon as possible. Sincerely Laura Ingels hug’s & <3