Happy Baby, Happy Life

Since her shunt surgery Abby has been much happier. We feel that the shunt was definitely the way to go and we're happy that she's healing well from that surgery. The swelling has gone down a bit and her head is looking less red and agitated. Her head circumference has decreased from over 38 cm before surgery to 37 today. She's off oxygen completely and is able to maintain her intake. She's also regulating her own temperature and is nice and cozy under a blanket instead of relying on her warming bed. She is back to her sweet personality and is such a mellow baby again. The contrast to how she was behaving just before surgery to her current behavior is huge. She's much a sweetheart and we're glad she's back to herself!

Snug as a bug in a rug, especially on her cute new blanket.

Yesterday we had an x-ray of her chest/abdomen and her head to be sure the shunt was intact. There was a lot of excess tubing in her abdomen to allow for her shunt to grow with her. Definitely cool to see! She also had another head ultrasound that confirmed that her ventricles are reduced in size from what they were. All is smooth sailing right now and we are hopeful that it will continue that way!

Our favorite nurse, Amber. She seriously is the greatest and understands Abby's needs better than anyone else who's worked with her. She's so good to her and we're glad that she's been her nurse on multiple days.

Orthopedics has decided to wait to cast her clubbed foot to correct it. They have suggested for us to go to Shriner's after we're discharged to allow their clubfoot clinic to do the work. I'm a little bummed we couldn't just do it while we were here, but it won't hinder their ability to correct the issue.

Sometimes you just need to practice stretching your fingers in new ways - Rhett tried to move it, but she was stubborn about it being in that particular position!

So, most everyone was on board with us staying here for 4 weeks - something we have come to terms with and are even excited about. The consistent monitoring has been really nice for us! However, our pediatrics team is being switched this weekend. We were warned by our pediatric doctor that the new team may not be as on board with that long of a stay. She said that they may confront the plastic surgeon. Anyway, we hope that the discharge date stays the same, but we may end up going home earlier. We'll just keep playing it by ear - one day at a time. Good thing we're flexible :)

Our med student, Sean.