Enjoying the Other Side

Yesterday was Kennedy's first post-op appointment with her Cardiologist.  I used to dread these appointments.  I was always expecting some bomb to drop, or for an argument about her weight.  Yesterday was different.  Of course, I was worried that something would be wrong, but over all I had a sense of relief going to the appointment.  The last several times that I've been to the office, there were lots of tears and anxiety.

The appointment went really well!  Kennedy is up to 12lbs 10oz.  She sucked down a six ounce bottle in about 15 minutes when we got there.  The nurse could not believe the way she was eating!  She fell asleep and the sonographer got her echo done in no time.  She took another 5 ounce bottle after her Echo!  Dr. Nardell couldn't believe how well she was eating!  Her echo looked even better than the one done at discharge.  There is still a slight amount of leakage around one of the valves, but it is even less than last week and to be expected at this point.  We are weaning her off of Lasix, and will be able to stop it completely in 2 weeks.  She'll remain on Enalapril until our next appointment in one month, then we will begin to wean her from that too.  Unfortunately for us, that's when Dr. Nardell goes on maternity leave, so we'll have to see one of her partners while she's out.  We have 3.5 weeks until we can resume tummy time and lifting her under her arm.  Her incision from the actualy surgery is healing beautifully.  We have a little more time on the healing from the chest tube though.  As she explained to us, they use a lot of care and precision for the main incision but when it comes to inserting the chest tube they aren't as precise, and they just leave it to heal on it's own.  So it takes longer and looks worse. Once that heals a little more, we can resume regular baths and SWIMMING!!!! 

We also got the okay to transition her back to exclusively breastfeeding!  This is going to be a huge task to take on, but I'm determined and I'll do whatever I can to make it work.  My postpartum doula and friend, Angie, is coming back to help Monday!  I've been making attempts, and while it hasn't been a complete disaster, it's also not going great.  She loves to use me as her personal teether, rather than eating...OUCH!

It feels so good to be on the other side of surgery.  The worry and anticipation are gone and we can truly enjoy life with our beautiful princess.  We are eagerly planning Kennedy's first big vacation, and are eager for her out of town family, and especially her Great Grandparents, to meet her for the first time.  If anyone knows of somewhere that we can rent an affordable 18 wheeler or motor home to pack with all of our stuff, please let me know.

I'll leave you with some of Kennedy's new favorite thing to do.  Blowing raspberries!  She does it all the time.  When she's happy, when she's mad, when she taking medicine and when she's eating her carrots!  Yesterday she did it to Dr. Nardell!  The video was this morning in bed.