Karsie's Blog Helping Medical Issues

We have found another reason why we keep this blog going.  Today one of the doctors came by and basically said that they learned from this experience that they will want to keep the parents from holding their babies after the Gore-Tex patch is put on as it was the reason Karsie's patch ripped.  We felt like we were kind of blamed, even if that wasn't the intention, for Karsie's patch ripping.  

While at the time this comment stunned us and made us feel bad, we looked up on the blog at the times we held her versus when her patch ripped a stitch.  You can even check.  July 31 was our first time getting to hold Karsie.  August 2nd (during the morning) Michelle held her while she was being extremely fussy just for a little bit until we finally decided that she needed to be back.  It was on August 3rd, more than 24 hours after Michelle briefly held her the second time and almost four days after we held her the first time that our nurse informed us of two stitches ripping.  So either they missed the ripped stitch at least 4 times (as they are supposed to change the dressing every 6 hours), which is doubtful, or holding our daughter didn't cause the ripping of the stitch.  We're pretty sure it's the latter.  

We plan on nicely explaining this to the doctors, but we're also sure it's in their chart, so there should be no miscommunication there.  Either way, it's not a nice thing to hear, but we are put at ease as we were able to look it up.  Hooray blog!

Same ol' Same ol'

Not a whole lot of change since yesterday.  She was as alert as we've seen her, so that was a nice treat.  She hasn't had any more of her apnea episodes and she is continuing to eat well and digest.  Patch still looks good, so we're happy campers.  

Burrito Girl

Karsie likes being wrapped up like a burrito as many babies do.  Since we have figured this out she has been much less fussy.
Patch's new support.  There's wet dressing on the incision, foam right over that, a shield barrier over that tied by the ties you see.  Since this picture they have added lots of gauze to cover everything.  
And when all is said and done, Karsie gets a big blanket over her.  We really hope she is not afraid of birds because we've really outdone ourselves with the bird theme.

Pre-Delivery Pic of the Day

This was our nemesis during the month or so before Karsie was born.  Michelle was hooked up to this monitor (as many women are familiar with we're sure) that read Karsie's heart rate on the left and Michelle's contractions on the right.  This was taken the day before we delivered.  The scroll on the right reads the same thing only it draws it out for the doctors and nurses.  On the left side of the scroll reads the heart rate which they like to see fluctuate and keep up especially during a contraction.  The right side of the scroll are the contractions.  You can see one big one as it looks like a big hump and according to the numbers Michelle was having one while we took the picture.