4 Days old .. Lazybones

Today at breakfast we got a call from the NICU doctor.  He said Meagan had a slightly bumpy night.  He said they were going to try to take the ventilator off since it had been a day since her surgery and she had already been breathing on her own for 3 days before that.  He also said that she had stopped peeing the night before.  He said her pee output had been minimal but then went to nothing last night.  She had fluids going in, so they went ahead and emptied her bladder to make sure she had something in it - sure enough, the nurse emptied quite a bit of fluid.  So they let her go some more, and still no pee. They decided to put a catheter in to make sure her bladder was still emptying so she didn't get an infection on top of everything else.  The doctor said more than likely, it was just her body being lazy after surgery.  I asked then why would she pee fine for most of the day, and then just stop... he said she could have just been worn out or had some residual anesthetic that kicked in. 
They then tried to turn down her vent and change the mode to see how she'd do on her own. In the nurse's words... "She didn't even try" .. so they went ahead and turned it back up.  Again, probably her just being completely worn out from the surgery the day before.

Her body temperature is still fluctuating.. they have her under the lamp to stabilize it.  And  she is still on some morphine.  They havne't been able to take her off of it fully because she is too uncomfortable.  The nurse did ask me if it was ok that she have pain meds - I said yes, please. Whatever will make her more comfortable. The poor thing has been under enough stress and in enough pain for who knows how many weeks.  Once she can wean without showing signs of pain, she'll be completely off of it. But, for now, every time she is weaned, she grimaces her face and has rises in her BP and her heartrate.. all signs indicating discomfort or pain.  Again, the doctor said he's sure that will also start to subside in these next few days.  A big part of it is they keep having to shift her head to make sure she doesn't lay on the same part too long - but - she also has to stay off of her incision. So she gets moved and poked and prodded quite a bit and that may also be contributing to her discomfort.

The good news of today was that the shunt appears to be working well so far! She has lost some of her head circumference. We are excited that she seems to be on her way to relief in her fluid pressure. 

We left earlier this evening to go meet our moms and the 4 girls for dinner.  They were excited to see us, as we were very excited to see them. We know this whole situation must be hard on them - not only does Meagan not come home, but, Brian and I are also absent from the house for the majority of the day.  We know we'll all adjust.. but it's much easier for two 31 year old adults to deal with their worlds being turned upside down than four kids 6 and under.  As long as everyone is healthy, Reilly and Kaitlin may at least be able to come on Friday morning to see Meagan. 

Brian and I are headed back to Meagan's bedside in the morning... we are going to try and go a little earlier since we'll have to drive all the way to the house tomorrow night.  A big thanks to the Moms for bringing our girls out tonight- we miss them and know they miss us, and it was really nice to have a family dinner with them all.  Also, a big thanks to Brian's sister and her hubby for getting us this hotel the last two nights. It's been great for my continuing recovery.. and also been really nice to only be a mile from Megs.