Day 31 - One month old!

Ok, if you are medically trained please excuse my broken medical explanations. If you are not medically trained like me, you will hopefully not notice. To correct some mistakes of yesterday - it is a VP shunt, not IV shunt, with a tube, rather than a cord, terminating in the general tummy area, rather than the stomach itself.

Today is the 7th of September, exactly a month after Tabitha was born. Happy birthday my Ribbokkie! Happy birthday also to my mother in law! Tabitha can't wait to have a double party with ouma next year. I can't believe its that long already. Then again I can't really remember my normal life before that. 

Last night we got the results back from the lab, and it seems like neither the tummy specimen nor the spinal fluid has any sign or trace of infection. Good news. BUT they suspect the fluid from the tummy to be some lymph that must have drained into the tummy when another surgeon inserted a drip into a vein in her chest about 2 weeks ago. You'll see in the pictures that there is a prominent white tube going into her chest. They need veins all the time to draw blood, give blood, for IV feeding or any medicine or antibiotics she might be on. Normally when this happens the lymph will go into the chest area, which can be picked up on a normal x-ray of the lungs. But now it seems like it somehow ended up in the tummy and there is no way for them to see if and when it has cleared up. The only way to see is to cut open the tummy again. And they can't put in the shunt if there are any funny fluids in the tummy area because then it will go directly to the brain. So now she has to be put on a fat free diet in order to attempt clearing up the lymph in her tummy. That means no breast milk for probably a week or two. And no IV feeding either. She can only get a 'bicarb cocktail' containing enough fluids and some other stuff like glucose and potassium and I don't know what else.

Her head circumference was also measured again this morning and it seems to still be growing. I don't understand why and the neurologist can't explain it either. Hopefully the neurosurgeon will have some explanation. It just doesn't make sense to me if they took out some fluids yesterday. Maybe its just swelling from the operation.

Guess what. This afternoon my best friend, the double-electric-hands-free-breast-pump-system decided to pack up after giving 2 last half hearted pumps. And I couldn't find the slip. We bought it at a baby expo in May already. I found the distributors for Lansinoh on the internet and the very friendly distributor guy, Johan, offered to come and drop off a new machine at my house the same afternoon. Ok he did only show up at like 18h30 but no questions asked, and now I have a brand spanking new machine again. Excellent service, I thought he deserved some free advertising!

When I went to hospital this afternoon they had taken her off the big oscillator and moved her back onto the conventional ventilator (around 12h00). This is the third time they've tried. The first time was last Wednesday when she went for the MRI scan, and she only lasted 20 hours before they had to move her back onto the oscillator because she couldn't manage to maintain her pH levels. The second time was yesterday before the operation. Third time lucky it seems! Her blood gas results at 14h30 were looking excellent, and later when Wessel went to visit after work both the pH and CO2 levels were looking even better! What a good day! (drumrol) WHAT A GOOD DAY INDEED. They now even consider moving her onto the smaller machine in a day or two, because the pH keeps climbing and might now even become too alkaline!  Yes her lungs are looking so well now. This is very exciting news for me because I am dying to pick her up again, and even though I was given the chance to briefly pick her up yesterday with the ventilator attached, it is not really ideal. But with this next breathing system I will be able to pick her up a lot more often!!! Brilliant!

It's amazing how you fall in love with your own baby. The more time we spend together, the more I miss her when I'm not there. I can sit and stare at her in the uncomfortable chair next to her bed for hours. I remember right in the beginning I was so amazed at how perfectly she was formed. Even though she was born 10 weeks early, every little detail was already there, and absolutely perfect. From her neatly shaped eyebrows to the little lines on her knuckles and toes. Her nails have also grown long this month. They look ready for a french manicure. Cutting them, even with baby scissors or nail clippers seems a bit risky, but luckily they're so soft she doesn't really scratch herself. Her little mouth and lips are my favourite. Especially when she pouts! So tiny and beautiful. Almost like mini me. 

We went to celebrate the good news at Pizza Luna with Oupa and Ouma and aunty Minnette. Chantelle, it was good to have you there too! Afterwards Wessel and I went for our evening visit again as usual. They took out the drip in her head this afternoon and added two new ones, one in each foot. I always just pray that they find a good vein the first time because I don't like being pricked so I'm sure she doesn't either. They have to take out old drips if they don't work well anymore and find new veins on a continuous basis. That's part of the NICU experience, unfortunately.

Thanks to the huge response I've had so far on the blog and thank you also for all the prayers and support. Keep praying for us! ;)

Psalm 139:16
'You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.'

Apparently if you want to become a member/follower of this blog you have to access tinytabitha.blogspot.com on your pc/laptop and not from your phone. Hope that helps! If you are more tech savvy and can offer advice to those struggling to join/post comments, please post some advice in the comments section. 

Dad and his princess

Us three - what a team!

Grace and Beauty

Love the hat tannie Luzaan! Who gave me this bunny again?

Look at those lips...

Best moment so far!