The Big Day

Yesterday I took Bridger to his pre-op at CMH. They checked all his stats and did a blood draw. To get a good vein they put a rubber band on his head and told me I probably wouldn't want to watch because they were putting needles in his head. I can't even watch them take my blood so I put my head down and cringed as I listened to him cry and fought every instinct in me that wanted to hold him close and comfort him and make it better. He didn't even cry on the first stick - he's such an easy going non-demanding guy - but the second time he had had enough. They had him wrapped up like a little taquito with his arms at his sides so he wouldn't move and he wasn't thrilled about that either.

Once he calmed down from the blood draw it was onto another room for a chest x-ray. Once again we had to strip him down and two nurses dangled him in front of the x-ray machine - another thing he wasn't too happy about. Finally, after 2 1/2 hours we could go home. But after I'd been gone 10 minutes they called me to tell me that one of his blood samples had clotted and they couldn't spin it so I needed to come back to the hospital to have it re-drawn. Huge bummer. The minute I layed little B on the butcher paper he started to wail knowing what came next. We were so happy to leave almost an hour later and head home. I was already sick of the hospital and we hadn't even gotten to the surgery day yet.

Todd arrived in KC from Chicago on time. Sadly his mom got stuck in Denver waiting for her plane which was stuck in the freak snow storm in Las Vegas. The ironic thing is we almost opted to connect her through Vegas because we were worried it would be bad weather in Denver. Instead Denver was clear and Vegas was the issue. You just never know with flying this time of year. But luckily Trudi and Todd arrived home at 1:30 a.m. and we were glad that all worked out.

We arrived at Children's Mercy Hospital at 7:15 this morning and checked Bridger in. Because of limited space they cut off the last letter in his middle name and had his name listed as Bridger Eva and people kept asking us if he was a girl! The nurse checked his blood pressure, weight, length, temperature, oxygen saturation and listened to his lungs. He was happy and wiggly through most of it and sucking on his hands because he couldn't eat past 3 a.m. and was probably starving. They brought in a sassy peach colored mini hospital gown and we got him ready for surgery. We met with 2 of the nurses assisting doctor Lofland and with the anesthesiologist. She thought Bridger seemed slightly dehydrated because they had a hard time getting his blood pressure and accurate pulse, so they will be extra careful with the anesthesia. We got to hold him and play with him a little longer and then gave him to the nurse and watched with teary eyes as they carried him down the hall to surgery. Now we're in the surgery waiting room hanging out until it's over.

****************************

9:00 a.m. The nurse just came out to tell us that Bridger was sleeping and intubated and they were hooking up the IV's and all the other necessary lines and machines. He's doing well so far.

****************************

9:30 a.m. Nurse checked in again and they are starting surgery and putting him on the heart/lung machine.

****************************

10:30 a.m. She told us the actual surgical repair of Bridger's heart is complete and they are in the process of getting him closed up and ready for ICU. So far, so good.

****************************

11:40 a.m. The nurse informed us that the surgery was complete and that he would be moving to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) in about 20 minutes. She said it would be about an hour before we could see him, so we went to the cafeteria. Fortunately, the only disappointment of the day has been the dry chicken and cold pizza.

****************************

1:00 p.m. We got to see our baby! It's amazing the technology that goes into this process. Bridger has no fewer than seven lines feeding into a jugular catheter. He also has a line entering in through both his ankles and wrists. One was to provide extra blood (a transfusion) during and immediately after the surgery. The most dramatic part of his appearance is the blood-soaked bandage on his chest and the tube that allows his chest to drain. It should gradually become more pink and then clear as he heals. He will remain intubated today and the doctors will begin waking him up tomorrow morning. Then they can remove the ventilator as he begins breathing on his own. The staff, so far, has been very attentive and informative. We're grateful to be past this, the greatest hurdle. Because everything went well and there wasn't any excessive swelling, they were able to close his chest right after the surgery - Yay!

Jana saw Bridger for a total of about 10 seconds, then sat down and put her head between her knees. The sight of blood makes her quite queezy. So, here you have a picture of both my babies, down and out.

.

Bridger is already looking pink! We didn't realize how un-pink he was until they fixed his heart. The medical staff commented that they could finally feel his pulse, where before it was very weak or absent. You can even seen his little heart beating under the surface of his chest, more so than before.

We appreciate all the comments you have left and the phone calls/text messages of support! If we don't pick up the phone, it might be that we're in Bridger's room, where cell phones have been banished. We're more likely to get your comments quicker at this point. That's all for today. We'll likely post again tomorrow.