A Heart Complete

Well today is the big day. We were at Children's Mercy all day yesterday for pre-op. She had an EKG, an Echo, blood work, weighed and measured twice, and then poked again! The great news from yesterday is the fact that she hit her 11lb mark that they wanted her at before surgery! Little Gabi was a little trooper and slept all evening and night. Mommy was pretty impressive she held her composure all day.

8:00 AM -
We left Mimi's and Papi's house at 5:30AM to head to the hospital. We got here to find Micah's Dad and Brother waiting to see us. Mimi and Papi weren't far behind before we took Gabi back. When she first went back they checked vitals and asked a bunch of routine questions. One of the doctors came in then we took her out to give final kisses before going back to the OR. That was tough but we said a little prayer and smiled at her sweet little face. And now the waiting begins....
We will continue to post as we get updates....Thanks to all for the many prayers!

8:30 AM -
Kasey our Nurse Parctitioner came down and gave us our first update on how the little one is doing. Gabi is taking to the anesthesia very well and they inserted her IVs into her neck, groin, and two into her feet for her to receive her mediciene and blood...Stay tuned!

9:30 AM -
Kasey just gave us another update that she is doing well. They have made the incision and she is currently on the machines for her heart and lungs while the surgeon is operating. He will continue to operate on her heart for about another hour or hour and a half. Once they are done they will do another Ecco to make sure the blood is flowing properly.

10:50 AM -
Kasey just informed us that the repair on Gabi's heart is done. They are getting ready to take her off of the heart and lung machines for her to be able to do it on her own. They will be using a machine through her esophogus to directly monitor the flow of the blood through her heart. They will be draining the surgical fluid and blood now. They will be cleaning her up and closing the incision in the next hour to hour and a half...We are almost out of the woods...please continue to pray. We know that all your prayers are helping her get through the surgical part so smoothly at this point.

12:05 PM -
They finished the testing of Gabi's heart after the repair and there is only a little bit of backflow of blood through the left ventricle. She said this is very common right after surgery and may be something that fixes itself by the time she leaves. She said at this point it wasn't even bad enough to where they would perscribe mediciene to regulate. They will obviously monitor her after such a major surgery and continue to always keep an eye on that ventrical. She had a little bit of bleeding but less than they expected, so she still has the drainage tubes under her ribs. They will be moving her to the PICU in the next 10 to 15 minutes and we should finally be able to see our beautiful angel in about an hour to hour and half in the PICU. She won't be awake but mommy and I are so excited just to be able to see and touch our baby girl after such a long morning. They said she did incredible on her own once they took her off of the lung and heart machines too. We've all said it all along but didn't realize how much of a true fighter that little girl was up until today. She still has a fight in front of her but we believe the hardest fight in this chapter of her life is over! Continue to pray for a quick recovery so we can get our baby home in the next 5 to 10 days where she belongs!

1:30 PM -
Wooohooo! We finally got to see Gabi after surgery. They say she is doing well, they have to continue to give her medication to get her body back to the chemical balance it was before surgery. She has a tube in her nose to her stomach to remove any fluid. She has a breathing tube in her mouth, she is not breathing on her own at this point, they don't want her body to work that hard. They want her to rest and let her body start to repair itself with the help of the mediciene. She has two tubes coming out of her chest to drain the excess blood and surgical fluid. She also has 4 orange wires coming form her chest as she has a temporary pacemaker in case something happens and they need to use it. She has an IV in her neck and her groin to administer mediciene. She also has a tube in her bladder to make sure and drain any excess that she is not able to do on her own. I know that is probably more graphical than most of you wanted but it just goes to show how tough of a little girl she is. Mema and Papa Acker are here a long with Mimi and Papi Crawford...Papi Nastasio stayed for as long as he could along with Uncle Michael. We appreciate all the prayers and well wishes...again...she is not completely out of the woods so please don't stop saying prayers for little Gabi's fast recovery. Micah and I will probably stay the night in the hospital so we can make sure that we are here when she wakes up in the morning. They will keep her asleep and on the breathing machine all night to make sure she gets her rest. We can't wait to see our baby's eyes and make sure she knows we are here with her.