Post-Op Day 1

Overall, Kimble had a really good day yesterday.   Esther came back to check up on him (pictured above) and he pretty much spent the entire day in my arms.  It was a bit of a struggle to get him in my arms.  Tubes and wires had to be carefully adjusted, and once he was in my arms, I couldn't move him around too much or he would cry in pain.  The three drainage tubes are the most painful things for him.  However, once he was in my lap, I held him for as long as I could.  I also was able to breastfeed him again.  Although his appetite isn't yet what it should be, we are making progress.

When he wasn't sleeping in my arms, he was sleeping comfortably in his crib.  In fact, he spent most of yesterday sleeping, and he even slept most of the night.  We keep a blanket over his body, so he won't grab at his tubes and wires.  It also just keeps everything looking clean and tidy.  He ended up pulling out his IV last night, and then gave us a look like "What IV?  I didn't do it!"

I sat like this, with Kimble, most of the day.  Kimble slept and slept, in my arms, completely content.

Later in the day, Kimble had his first visitor.  Julie came to visit him, and brought us a yummy dinner too.  As I've mentioned before, Julie was in the CICU with us, back in November, with her baby Adam who was born the same day as Kimble.

So overall, it was a productive day for Kimble.  He slept and ate and slept and slept.  He also got to wear his sweet knitted hat that his Aunt Shavonne made him.

Kimble slept through the night, and this morning, he is still sleeping.  He only wakes up for moments at a time, and although I know the sleep is doing him some good, in other ways, it's telling us that Kimble's body is still struggling a bit.  First off, if you notice in the above picture, he is pretty puffy.  He is retaining fluids.  He's on medicine to help him eliminate that, but as of right now, it's not working too well.  They just increased the amount, as well as prescribed something else to piggy-back that, to help him lose this fluid retention.

Kimble also isn't eating as much as he should be, or as much as I want him to.  I think he should be hungry, but Kimble isn't.   When Kimble is awake, he is pretty lethargic.  He just gazes up at you with questions in his eyes, a sad expression on his face.  Poor baby.  I just want to make it all better.

The plan for Kimble today was to get his chest tubes out, however, with his extreme puffiness this morning, combined with his lack of desire to eat, suggests to his doctors that his liver has some effusion around it, which is pressing on his stomach, which makes him feel like he is full.  So today should be pretty quiet around here, with the only two goals for Kimble:  eat and pee.  His blood isn't up to "clotting standard" either, so that's another reason why the chest tubes are staying put for now.

Let's pray that he makes great progress today.