The End of the Day...

Elaina on Saturday before the surgery. What a happy little girl!

Holding hands with Aunt Becky after surgery. She kept rolling herself onto her side.

Sleeping with her no-no's on. She has an NG tube in her nose to help drain some of her stomach acids and to keep air from building up in her stomach post op. They are using it to give meds and "burp" her. Since it's going through the new Nissen, it would be EXTREMELY painful if she pulled it out and it had to be put back in. Poor baby, we have to save her from herself!

She got some bigger no-no's. She quickly demonstrated her Houdini skills for the PICU staff. Her poor little tummy is all bandaged up.

Poor tummy. They put the g-tube up a little higher than I've seen them on other kiddo's. It's in the same area as the Nissen incision. I got to see it today during a dressing change. It looks pretty good, it isn't too swollen.

She was pretty upset that I wanted to "play" and take pictures when she didn't feel good. She refused to give a sad face to the camera and kept turning away. I didn't take very many pictures.

Finally sleeping after a rough day!

So here's the "plan". :) (You know how quickly that changes!)
We're supposed to start feedings tomorrow and then we'll move out of the PICU to the floor (Children's Surgical Unit). They will continue to work on feedings for a couple of days, with the goal of being discharged by Friday. She will go back to South Davis and we will then discuss the timeline for her to transition home!
It is going to take some time to work up to full feedings for Elaina. She has not been fed into her tummy since May of last year. This means that her stomach is very small and won't hold very much. She's alreay getting her oral meds into her stomach, but it seems to be slightly uncomfortable for her. I'm hoping that feeds will help that as well. They are going to have to start her out on formula very slowly, 2 - 5 cc's per hour on continuous feeding and slowly work her up to her full feed. It's going to take several days to stretch out her stomach. Hopefully she'll be feeling better tomorrow. She's still very sore and uncomfortable. I held her for a little while. I piled pillows all over myself and had the nurse gently lay her on the pillows. I was so worried that it would hurt her that I didn't hold her for very long. She took a nice little nap in my arms and then went back to her bed. I hope I can get in some better snuggles in the morning. Well, I'm off to bed. I just wanted to post some pictures!