A Battle of Inches

A battle of inches

Written Oct 28, 2011 8:12am by Amber Gannon Medina

John keeps telling (reminding me?) me this is a battle of inches. Not miles or feet or yards. Inches. Yesterday was just that-and I am grateful it was at least in the right direction inch wise!

After a rough day Wednesday, yesterday was better. They were able to keep Mira's vitals stable and in good range by medication, fluids and some massage! I have to admit, I was pretty jealous of your massage Mira, but if anyone deserves it, you do Sweetie! She is still so swollen and puffy-mainly because she keeps needing fluids to keep her blood pressure high enough. I know its not good to compare-it gets dangerous to do so. But one of her nurses admitted this has been a bit longer than usual to get her chest closed. Is Mira like me-a procrastinator? Or is she like John-she just wants to do this right the first time? I am betting on the more like John theory.

The edgy part right now is that Mira is waiting for her surgeon, Doctor Mitchell to come back to work so that he can check her heart and evaluate whether she needs to go back into surgery to correct the stent issue. I am not sure whether they will also evaluate her aortic arch being a bit narrow as well-this was mentioned to us at one point. So we are waiting. And I feel a little nervous about what they may have to do. However, we know they will do what is needed to make sure this surgery is a success!

Mira has been getting so many visitors! Yesterday her Nana, grandpa, Aunt Katie, Uncle Phil and Memaw all came to visit. We noticed in the NICU she loved visitors, and even with all the sedation and meds, when people come to visit she tries to open her eyes and take everyone in. She is definitely going to be social! (or already is:) 

We brought her Halloween costume in-the one I bought not knowing if she would even be "here" yet or not. It feels bittersweet. When I bought her little pumpkin tutu, I had imagined being holed up in our apartment with Mira, taking breaks to give the trick or treaters candy and then going back to hanging out with our lady. 

Managing my expectations is one of the hardest parts of this. Comparing all the things I was looking forward to-and then not being able to do any of them-is rough. Yet, I feel so blessed that I am bringing Mira's outfit to her in a hospital that made it so that she is ALIVE and just biding her time until she can come home healthy and ready to do all those things with us I imagined. That is such a blessing, and I keep trying to remember that when I see other parents taking their children home from that same hospital.