Evie is Home!

Today was a great day, because little Evelyn Rose is finally home! After a long and trying 14 day hospital stay, Evie is sleeping snugly and soundly in her Boppy bouncer as I type this. I'm looking at her right now in the video monitor; snug as a bug! She seemed a lot more like herself, and was exceptionally calm for most of the day and evening. Sharon and I hope that this is because she feels more comfortable with more oxygenated blood running through her system. Here little hands and feet were a beautiful (normal) pink color for the first time!

Yesterday her PICC line was inserted, and I saw it today for the first time. It was much smaller than the pictures of ones I had seen online, but it's still longer than her arm. She didn't seem too bothered by it though. The good news with the PICC line is that she'll only have to have it in for 10 days, and not 4 weeks like we were originally told. Sharon also learned how to insert her her NG feeding tube, which she'll have to have in for a while (you can see it in the photos below).

Sharon and I were on the road home with Evie at 5:00PM and six prescriptions for various meds that needed to be filled. Around 7:00, we met the home-health care nurse from Advocate Hospital (Nurse Nancy), who was a wonderful woman and Evie smiled at her a lot. She showed us how to administer all of the medications Evie needs through her PIC line, and gave her a short check up. Nurse Nancy will be coming by every two days to lean the PIC line dressing and check on how Evie's doing.

Here's Evie right before she was unhooked from her monitors and IV lines. You can see the tip of the PIC line on her right arm there. The blue end cap is where we attach the meds to treat her blood infection.



This is Evie's scar from the surgery, 14 days later; it's about 6 inches long. It looks a lot better than it did when we first saw it just a few days after the surgery. The small scab below the scar is where the chest tube was inserted.



All dressed up and ready to head home! Nanna Cermak had bought a few new outfits last weekend for Evie this one was extra soft, with violets and little faux shoes.



Here I am feeding Evie though the NG tube. She was a little lethargic and not too interested in a bottle today, so we hit the tube. I have to hold it up fairly high so that gravity and physics take over. It takes about 30 minutes to feed her 3 ounces this way. I told Sharon that I felt a bit like the Statue of Liberty (substitute book and torch for baby and formula; you get the idea). Evie needs to gain a little weight, so the nice thing about the NG tube is that we can feed her at night without waking her up!



A HUGE thank you to everyone who has been keeping little Evie and our family in your thoughts and prayers, and who have been reading and posting comments! Sharon and I are truly to blessed to have so many supportive family, co-workers and friends. We sincerely appreciate all of your support. Only three more surgeries to go....