ROP Surgery - Update

So the past few days, Lauren was beginning to vomit frequently after each feeding. Reflux is a very common issue with preemies. Wednesday, when I took her to get her Synagis shot at her pediatrician's office, she seemed okay. But later that night, she had a bad episode of deep gagging and barfing and then would choke a little and hold her breath. We decided to take her temperature and it was at 99.5. She kept sneezing. And her sinus and throat sounded really gurgle-y. We were worried that she might be coming down with RSV (Christian was recently diagnosed with RSV and we were crazy germaphobes for a couple of weeks) and called the doctor. She called us back and recommended against going through with the ROP surgery until Lauren was better. So we left a message at the opthalmologist's office saying that we had to cancel the procedure. Yesterday morning, Lauren seemed much better. Her barely there temperature had gone down and she didn't sound very gurgle-y at all.

We took her to the pediatrician's office and were advised that the surgeon was very adamant about getting Lauren in for her surgery today. She was checked out and the doctor thought that she may be coming down with some sort of bug but that it's still in the early stages and that we'd be able to get the surgery done before it got worse. So immediately after leaving the doctor's office, we went to the hospital and got admitted. I called Ben to come to the hospital as soon as possible.

They began prepping Lauren for the surgery and one of the nurses was trying to put a pulse oximeter on Lauren's foot and instantly Lauren began wailing. During the time when Lauren was in the NICU, she was pricked almost daily for blood samples on her feet. She's traumatized by that so when someone touches her foot the wrong way she'll start crying this deep, sad, i-know-that-pain-is-coming cry and it just breaks my heart.

I changed her into a hospital gown that was about 10 sizes too big. Just the arm hole alone could've fit her entire body. We just sat around and waited. She began crying for food and I just had to told her and have her suck on her pacifier. At first, she wouldn't even take the pacifier because she knew she wasn't going to get any food out of it. But after a while, she finally gave up and took the pacifier and sucked on it vigorously. It was so sad to watch. Seriously, seeing a hungry baby is so sad because you know that if you just give them some food, they'd feel better. I was so tempted to just whip out my boob and let her eat but I kept telling myself that she needed to go through with this surgery. Finally, Ben came.

A nurse came and put in like 4 different kind of drops into Lauren's eyes and left. The surgical nurse came to talk with me to explain the procedure and told me about her 12 year old daughter's friend who was a former 24-weeker and is now completely healthy with the exception of having to wear glasses and to stay hopeful. Then the anesthesiologist came to talk with me. He explained that Lauren would first be given a gas through a little mask to help her sleep. Once she fell asleep, they would run an IV on her and give her general anesthesia through that. He explained the risks and that since she may be coming down with a little cold that there would be some risk and that she may have to get intubated (breathing tube down her throat).

The nurse came back to put another set of drops into Lauren's eyes. Then, before I knew it, the surgical nurse came back with a warmed blanket, wrapped it around Lauren and started taking her away. Ben was able to sneak a little kiss on Lauren's forehead before she was gone.

Then, Ben left to go pick up Christian from school and I hadn't pumped all day so I pumped. A few minutes later, Ben called and said that Pastor Sam was in the waiting room so as soon as I was finished the nurse went to go get him. Then the next thing I knew, the anesthesiologist was holding Lauren and walking towards me. I couldn't believe it was done so quickly.

Her eyes were red and swollen. They had applied some sort of antibiotic ointment on her eyes so they were sealed shut. I asked the anesthesiologist how it went and he said it went really well. That she didn't need anesthesia after all (what?!). They used local (which were the drops they put into her eyes) and they just used some sugar water and she responded really well to that. Apparently, she was so hungry that the sugar water helped to calm her and the surgeon was able to inject her with the dye, take pictures of her blood vessels and then laser all the blood vessels that were growing abnormally - all without her being under. Isn't that great?

Pastor Sam came in and sat with us for a while and then said a nice prayer and was on his way. Because Lauren wasn't put under general anesthesia, I got the ok from the doctor to feed her and she ate. Her suction was a bit weak but she took her time and almost drank a whole bottle. Then, Christian and Ben walked in and Christian was so happy to see Lauren. He kept saying, "Hi Rauren! Hi!!" It was cute. One of the nurses brought Christian some graham crackers and an apple juice so he happily drank and ate. After a while, Ben and Christian left to pick up some dinner and go home.

Shortly thereafter, I got Lauren dressed and we were discharged. At that moment, I was able to let my guard down a bit and I realized how tired I was. It was now close to 6pm and I hadn't eaten anything all day and my first cup of water was when I was pumping so I was famished.

When we got home, I put Lauren down on my bed and let her rest while Ben, Christian and I ate In-N-Out. It felt so good to be back in our comfortable home and back to our normal routine.

Today, Lauren was pretty alert and ate well. She is definitely coming down with something though. She continues to sneeze, throw up and she's somewhat congested. Poor thing. She's gone through so much from the moment she was born.

Thank you all so much for praying for Lauren. Your prayers worked so well that she was able to go through the procedure without getting general anesthesia so eliminated a lot of potential complications. Thanks again, everyone. =)