A Bit of Drama

Last night McKay assured our hospital stay would not be as relatively uneventful as we had hoped. His heart rate continued to drop during the night, concerning the nurses, docs, and, most of all, me. After several texts and calls between the nurses and the cardiothoracic NP, she decided to come in and assess McKay herself. She felt his rhythm was a bit off and after some discussion decided to hook up the precautionary pacemaker wires McKay has in place to the pacemaker for the night. I hated watching his tiny chest be made to pump. I was devastated. In my exhausted mind I worried all night if one trip on the pacemaker translated to the permanent need for one.

Fortunately, it does not. They took him off the pacemaker this morning and sent us for another echo to make sure all went well with the surgery. McKay has developed such a reputation as the best baby in the hospital that they even sent him down for the echo unsedated--very rare. McKay did not disappoint, sleeping through the entire thing. My angel. The echo showed McKay's heart is communicating and conducting impulses as it should, so no more pacemaker talk. Whew.

After the echo McKay was hooked up to a holter machine for a 24-hour EKG study of his heart rhythms. I didn't think there was room for anything else on his crowded chest, but they found the space and filled it with wires McKay will wear until 2pm tomorrow. This study is just for McKay's ever-growing archive of medical records. It will give the docs a solid baseline of tiny Mac's electrical activity to help determine any future problems or needs. They tell me unless his low heartrate when sleeping is accompanied by other symptoms--fainting, change in color, etc.--not to worry about it. Sure...no worries. And I thought I would be able to sleep after this one!

Aside from all the doctor drama the most important thing McKay did today was to get a much needed sponge bath. I must say the child was getting a bit ripe! He was happy as a clam to get sudsed up and smelling sweet again.

We're looking forward to a far more boring night. If things stay on track, we may be discharged as early as tomorrow. Is that unbelievable or what? Just five days door to door for open heart surgery. Just five days from scary blue to crazy pink. Just five days to pack in so many miracles. We are blessed.