Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 10: Wednesday, October 12th.

8:45 am - We're coming home! The hospital just called our apartment and confirmed that Emma is being discharged this morning.

Day 9: Tuesday, October 11th.

11:30 am - Emma's eating well. She went from 3.5 kg yesterday to 3.6 kg today (~3.5 oz gain, really good). She still had her oxygen tubes in her nose when we arrived, but the nurse told us she's been off oxygen

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 8: Monday, October 10th.

Everything is going well. Nothing else to report really.

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 7: Sunday, October 9th.

1:00 pm - Emma is still doing good! The nurse told us that she's ready to be moved out of her ICU room, but there isn't enough room in the stepdown area, so she's staying where she is at the moment. They'

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 6: Saturday, October 8th.

9:30 am - The hospital called this morning while we were still at the apartment. They're removing her chest tubes! She had several tubes put in during the surgery to drain excess fluids from the heart, lungs and stomach, but they have fulfilled their purpose now. I

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 5: Friday, October 7th.

Miriam went to the hospital this morning while I stayed at the apartment to get some work done. At 10:30 this morning, Emma's ventilator tube was removed. She apparently didn't feel like breathing directly afterwards, so they gave her some medicine, and she's

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 4: Thursday, October 6th.

Emma is still doing well and not awake, so Dad and I decide to take advantage of the free golf pass that comes with the apartment, and head out there at 8:00 am. Miriam goes back to the hospital for the morning. The nurse says that Emma actually started

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 3: Wednesday, October 5th.

Emma sleeps well, and we give her steroids from the hospital at 2:00 am, and the last bottle at 4:00 am. And now it is time to go! We arrive at the hospital at 6:30 am . . . . . . and it turns out we are supposed to come this early

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 2: Tuesday, October 4th

Tuesday's appointment is a general checkup-to make sure Emma is a good candidate for surgery at this time. After a series of basic tests and questions, she is declared ready to go. Fortunately, in the last couple of weeks she has gained a good amount of weight. She

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Day 1: Monday, October 3rd.

On Monday, we leave the house around 5:00 pm, heading for Little Rock, Arkansas-a 3.5 hour drive. We have to be at the hospital around 8:00 in the morning Tuesday, so we decided to get settled into the hotel the night before. Emma had a good ride

Trip 1-Heart Surgery

Background.

Background: Emma Anne Lein was born July 14, 2005. She started out light and long, at 6 lbs 11oz and 20". A healthy little baby, things went very well for the first few weeks. She was very content and cried very little. Didn't wake up during the