We are extremely thankful for another calm and uneventful day. Titus is going strong without the cannula and since he is stable and his SATS and labs are coming back great, they are even letting us begin to nuzzle twice a day after I pump. Even though I would still prefer to be fully breastfeeding, at least this way he is able to practice feeding. The more we are able to nuzzle, the more skin to skin time, the more breast milk I will make, the more he will be comforted and the more ingrained breastfeeding will be when he is ready. He of course gets a little bit of milk every time we nuzzle since it is nearly impossible to empty the breast completely but its headed the right direction and I am more than happy that the staff is trusting me enough to grant us that time.
We also heard that it is possible we could be headed to surgery tomorrow...we are waiting anxiously for the call.
Praise the Lord for a peaceful day of snuggling with our big guy...
Friday 10/10:
We got word that will not be able to squeeze him in for surgery before the weekend BUT he did get the first case slot on Monday morning at 7:30 am. Hallelujah! While it seems strange to celebrate surgery being scheduled, we also know that it is a necessary step to get Titus home and to the next step of actually fixing his heart.
We met with the surgeon that will perform the shunt procedure, Dr. Manning, and went over the CT scan/3D images of his heart in more detail, along with the plan for Monday morning. He spent about an hour with us explaining the anatomy of his heart vs a normal heart and then went into any worries that he has based on all the info they have pre-surgery as well as the risks.
He mentioned:
1: They plan on doing a central shunt (still a BT shunt but placed a bit different based on his unique anatomy). The shunt is an artificial tube that will attach his aorta to his pulmonary artery and allow blood flow to his lungs.
2. His CT scan revealed what they think is a bit of narrowing in his pulmonary arteries so he will possibly widen and patch those based on how they look once they have him open. The concern is that the narrowing may cause insufficient blood flow to the lungs once the shunt is placed. They do not want to send us home and risk needing us back for surgery just to widen those so they are going to make sure they are sufficient size while he is open.
We signed the consent form allowing them to move forward and do any procedures deemed necessary at the time. It was quite the form but we were happy to be moving in the right direction. We plan on cuddling all weekend because once he is admitted to surgery we will not be able to hold him for several days.
The set up of Titus in the NICU...this is minimal believe it or not!
Sleepy sleepy sleepy....
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