Day Five (1/30) & Six (1/31)

Day five was pretty quiet during the day.  Sloan did start to show her hunger by rooting.  It makes us feel so bad that she has gone five days with no food and she won't get food anytime soon.  I've been making sure to pump often for her so when she can eat she has lots stocked up!

Sloan hung in there during the day but then at night things turned a bit rough.  Around 5am she started having episodes where her heart rate would get up to 260, one time for around five minutes.  When Kyle and I got into the room she continued to have these episodes but they became more frequent.  She probably have five within a two hour period.  The way in which they would help lower her heart rate was by either place a tube down her throat or nose to gag her/make her cough or by placing a bag of ice on her face to make her clamp down on her heart.  It was the worst thing to see them have to do this to her.  My heart just broke watching it.  The doctors decided to start giving her a beta blocker to slow her heart.  Once they did this her episodes went away and she started to do much better.  The doctors did warn us that now that she has done this prior to surgery she is more likely to do it after surgery, which if she does it is more concerning to them.  It could be a long term problem that we would need to manage with medication as well.  It's hard for them to tell if they will happen again after surgery at all, but they wanted to give us all the information.  Dr. Bove also stopped by to see us today.  He felt that she is still ready for surgery and that these episodes wouldn't delay it.

So tonight Kyle and I are going to spend as much time with Sloan as possible.  Mimi & Poppy (my parents) came up tonight with Drake and are staying over for her surgery.  It was so nice to see Drake and give him hugs & kisses.  I miss that little boy so much.  It'll be nice to have him around tomorrow as well to hopefully take our mind off of things.   My mom & dad also brought some wonderful gifts for Sloan, one of them being a blanket that my mom made for her.  I can't wait to be able to use it and wrap her in it when she gets better.

Tomorrow is the big day we've been waiting for since September.  It's bittersweet as we know this is her best chance but yet it's so hard to know we will be sending her away for such a major surgery.  She's in the best hands here and we have full faith in them, but can't help but be nervous.

We know we have so many people praying for us and Sloan.  We thank you so much for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.  Keep those positive thoughts & prayers going for Sloan tomorrow.  We'll try to post as many updates through the day as we can.  

Day Four (1/29)

bath & a new hair band

Day four was another stable day.  Sloan had a head ultrasound done, which they told us is protocol before surgery, and everything came back normal.  They explained to us that after surgery they will do another one to make sure all still looks the same.

They removed one of her medications as they felt it may have been giving her the higher heart rate.  They explained to us it's like giving caffeine to a baby.  The reason they give this medication is because one of the other meds can cause apnea.  As a follow up to this, they did an EKG to make sure her heart rhythm looked good, and that came back fine as well.  So, they feel good that so far she's been doing well being off this med and that her heart rate and oxygen levels have come down slightly.

Kyle and I were extended another two nights at the RMH in the hospital.  The big RMH didn't have any open rooms yet so we are still on the waiting list.  We were happy to be able to have a room for longer, and to still be so close to Sloan.

Sloan had a few more visitors - Kelly and Alex Clay.  It was nice to see them, catch up and have some visitors.  Kelly and Alex have opened their home to us when we had our many trips to UofM before Sloan's birth.  We are so thankful to them for that.  We are lucky to have such wonderful friends!  Our Pastor also made a trip up to see Sloan.  He did a nice blessing and let us know the he and the church are praying for all of us.

We also were able to hold Sloan again last night.  I held her for about an hour again and Kyle held her for 15-20 minutes.  It was so nice to have some cuddle time!

Kyle's highlight of the day was that Greg Olsen, football player for the Carolina Panthers, re tweeted him on twitter.   He recently had a son with Hypoplastic Left Heart.  His son went through the same surgery that Sloan will on Friday.

Day Three (1/28)

Sloan had another uneventful day and night.  Her heart rate has been a bit higher (175 - 225) but some of this is due to the medications she is on. The doctors have let us know that right now they are going to continue to monitor her and make sure that her body is not having to work too hard.  If they feel that it is having to work harder than it should be, they will intubate her to relieve some of the work from her heart.

We also received confirmation that her surgery will take place on Friday.  Kyle and I were disappointed to hear they were going to wait so long.  I think we are both just eager to get it over with and knowing that she is doing well right now we'd rather have her go in that way.  We also worry that if they do have to intubate her before Friday that she'll be on the breathing tube for a longer period of time.  We'd like to see her on it as short as possible, but of course that's nothing we can control.

Other than that, no other huge updates - which, like I said before, we are happy about!  Uneventful is what we like.  We have started to notice some quirks about Sloan that I thought I'd share.....

Daddy reading to Sloan

• She hates, absolutely HATES having her diaper changed.  Just like her big brother, she puts up quite a fit when they unwrap her to clean her up.  Her heart rate will jump to the 200's whenever they start to unwrap her.  So we try to do things to help calm her - stroking her hair, talking softly to her, reading her books, etc

 

• Unlike her big brother, she does like her pacifier.  That is another soothing mechanism for her

• Sloan loves to be swaddled nice and tight.  She likes to stay cozy in her blanket without being disturbed

Kyle and I have been doing well too.  We are relying on each other for support and to keep our minds busy.  So far we are keeping it together pretty good.  I know I couldn't do this without him, he's definitely been my support system.  We are getting as much rest as we can and have been trying to eat well.  Overall, we are feeling pretty good.

Sloan's room in PCTU

Day One (1/26) & Day Two (1/27)

Rest of Day One


The remainder of our first day with Sloan went well.  She's stable and breathing on her own.  The nurses and staff in PTCU have been great.  They keep us posted on whats going on with her and to ask questions whenever we have them.  They are more than happy to sit and explain everything in detail so we understand it all.

Big brother Drake also enjoyed spending time with his little sister.  He has been pretty interested in her and everything that's going on around her.

We spent most of the afternoon back in my room so they could continue to tend to Sloan. They had to do a kidney ultrasound to check on the fluid seen while in utero.  Drake was also in major need of a nap.  He had been going since we woke him up that morning to head to the hospital....he was tuckered out!

The rest of Sloan's night was pretty uneventful...just as we wanted it!  Kyle's parents took Drake back with them to the hotel for the night and Kyle and I stayed with Sloan for a bit longer before we headed back to our room to get some much needed rest ourselves.

Day Two

Today I was formally discharged from the hospital.  We were a bit nervous at first as we didn't have anywhere to go and didn't want to leave the hospital but the nurses and social workers were very helpful and ended up being able to get us a room in the Ronald McDonald House located inside the hospital.  It was a huge relief!  Now we'll be on the same floor as Sloan which will make things very convenient.  Here's a photo of our new digs for the next two days...

Sloan's been doing well today.  She's remaining stable and doing "as expected".  Her echo results came back exactly as they originally diagnosed/no changes.  They also received results from her kidney ultrasound and everything was clear.  Yipee!  Either the fluid on her kidney fixed itself or the diagnosis when in utero was off since it's harder to see things when looking through mom.  Either way we didn't care, we were just thrilled to get a good report!

That afternoon Kyle's parents headed back home with Drake.  It was so hard to say goodbye to him since we know we won't be able to see him as much as we like.  I knew it would be hard, but it was even harder than I thought...my heart ached to see him leave.  But we know he's in amazing hands with the grandparents.  We couldn't be luckier to have my parents and Kyle's parents around to take care of him.

We also had a lot of visitors on day two.  Uncle Mike & Aunt Lori came up in the afternoon and Anna and John came up that evening.  It was nice timing since we just had visitors leave and then had more come.  We never had to feel alone.

Uncle Mike & Aunt Lori

We, unfortunately, forgot to get a picture of Anna & John
with Sloan so instead we've added a picture of the
beautiful flowers they brought for her!  Her first flowers.

Kyle and I were also able to hold Sloan again today.  It was so nice to be able to snuggle with her again.  I held her for probably about an hour then passed her to Kyle.  Kyle only got to hold her about 15 minutes as she became pretty fussy from some of the meds that she is on.  But we were excited for the time we did get with her.

So all in all day two has been a good day as well.  Sloan is currently on 4 medications which helps with her fluid levels, keeping the ductus open and helping her heart not have to work so hard.  There are side effects of these medications - a few which Sloan is feeling....irritability (they compared one of them which is a hormone to be like giving her the feelings a woman has when she has PMS), and puffiness (she's pretty swollen which we can really see in her face).  But again, all in all it was another uneventful night which makes for a happy set of parents!

Fifth Anniversary Surprise

Well my body has proven to show it doesn't like to carry babies longer than 38 weeks!  On Saturday, January 26th, Kyle and my fifth wedding anniversary, we unexpectedly welcomed Sloan Susanne Henrickson to the world at 10:43am.  She weighed 8 lbs on the dot (nice big girl - yay!) and is exactly 21 in.  She's amazing and we are loving every minute we get to spend with her.

The Birth Story

As planned, I headed up to Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan 25th for two appointments and to make myself comfortable in my new home away from home.  My appointments went well - Sloan did great with her non stress test and the tech said even though she only has a three chamber heart, it beats very strong.  The doctor also was very pleased with the report and mentioned that she wished all the babies reports that day were that good.  It's those little things that make you happy, and that is one that put a smile on my face for the day.  

After my appointments I headed out to my cousins house where I'd be staying for a few days.  Kyle and Drake arrived there a few hours after.  We visited for awhile and then headed to bed around 10:30/11:00pm.  Around 4:00am I woke up as I was having some contractions.  I started timing them and they were around 15 minutes apart and lasted under a minute.  By 5:30/6:00am I ended up waking Kyle as they hadn't gone away and at some points were getting to be 10 minutes apart.  We packed everything up, including Drake, and headed to UofM.  

Once we got there and were settled they checked my cervix and I was at 5cm and in labor.  So they wheeled me back to my room.  From there things ended up moving very fast.  Within an hour I was 10cm and fully effaced and ready for delivery.  Only problem was we had Drake and no one to watch him.  He was being such a trooper!  Sitting like a good little boy playing with mommies phone as she wailed in the corner due to contractions, ha!  I couldn't have been more proud of my little man being such a good big brother.  We ended up being able to delay delivery for a bit (since my water hadn't broke) while my cousin headed up to the hospital to watch Drake so Kyle could go back to the operating room with me.  Once in the operating room, which they have all babies with these types of heart defects born in an OR as the team waiting for the baby is right next door, the nurses put on pandora radio for us and we waited for the doctor to finish up with two other women before she came to my room.  Once she did arrive, she said she can easily see her head, broke my water and within 4 good pushes little Miss Sloan arrived!  

She came out crying which was such a relief as I had been praying to hear her cry so I knew she was breathing and her lungs were strong.  They placed her right on my chest after delivery so I could hold her for a minute.  She looked just perfect....lots of dark hair!  After that they took her away to another room so she could be looked at and started on any necessary medications.  Kyle headed back with Sloan and after they finished up with me I was wheeled back as well.  We both were able to hold her and talk to her for a good 15 - 20 minutes until they needed to get her lines in and sent up to PCTU (pediatric cardiothoracic intensive care unit).

When we got back to our room both sets of grandparents were already there.  We had to wait about 2 hours or so before we could go up and let them meet Sloan as she was getting her echo done which they warned us takes quite a bit of time since they want to make sure they get good pictures of everything.  But after a few hours she was back and Kyle went up with the grandparents, and Drake, to meet the little lady. I unfortunately had to stay back as I had a little fainting episode (oops).  They attributed it to just a lack of fluids, loss of blood and the whole experience I had been though.  Not a huge worry at all.   Unfortunately we forgot to get any photos of the grandparents with Sloan - but they will be back soon!

Through all the heart moms I've spoken to before this experience, they all told me how you'd never guess there is anything wrong with the baby by looking at them.  It couldn't be more true.  Kyle and I say all the time how perfect she looks and that you'd never know by looking at her.  Lots of emotions today...such a high of being able to finally meet her and then a lot of nervousness for what's to come and the unknowns.  But for now we are just trying to take things one day at a time and enjoy each minute we get to spend with Sloan.

  

Staying Put....For Awhile Anyway

Good news at the doctor, I am still at 2cm so no need to head to Ann Arbor....yet.  Hopefully we stay this way until I have to be up there on Jan 25th.  Non stress test went well...so all in all I was a very happy momma leaving the doctor today! :)

36 Weeks & Nursery Completion!

Today we are 36 weeks and 2 days - so we have hit the first major milestone of when the cardiologist had told us they would be comfortable operating on Sloan.  Not that we want her to come early by any means, but it's a relief to know we've crossed that line.  Since my last post, things have been going pretty well.  We have non stress tests twice a week which Sloan has been doing great at!  I have started to dilate, last week (35 weeks) I was just under 1 cm and then at 36 weeks I am now 2 cm.  I head back in tomorrow for another non stress test and to see if I have progressed further.  My local OB has told me that if I move to 3 cm she is going to request that I relocate up to Ann Arbor earlier than planned (seeing as I went into labor with Drake 2 days after I measured 3 cm).  They just want to be extra careful.  So I have been hoping/praying and telling my body, and Sloan, to SLOW DOWN!  While I am beyond excited to meet her, I really would like for us to wait a few more weeks till I am induced so she can continue to grow big and strong.

We've also been spending a lot of time getting her room ready and we finally completed it this weekend!  It's a relief that it's done and we can relax that when we do head home it's ready  for her.  Kyle has been amazing by helping to hang everything and my parents have been so helpful with helping me complete my DIY projects.  I've included a few pictures so you can see the finished product!

I will keep you posted on how the doctor appointment goes tomorrow.  Let's keep our fingers crossed that I have remained at 2cm not only so I can stay at home with Kyle and Drake longer, but also so I feel a bit more assured that Sloan's not trying to make an early arrival!

Robyn