Second Day Post-Surgery Update

It was quite the eventful day. I posted a lot of updates on facebook, but I can’t fall asleep and decided to write a detailed summary of the entire day on the blog. Evie continued to refuse to eat (except for a couple of ounces via syringe) throughout the night, and by 7 am she still had not peed, making it 11 hours since she had a wet diaper. We called the Kaiser nurse advice hotline, who said they would get in touch with a local doctor to see what we should do. Kaiser called back a couple of hours later, and told us we needed to go in to urgent care in Pleasanton at noon. Then they called back a half an hour later, and said we should instead go to the nearest hospital’s ER, since they did not have the capability to give her fluids if she needed them at urgent care.

So we packed up our things, and headed out to Kaiser Antioch Medical Center. She still hadn’t peed by the time we got there, making it 17 hours since her last wet diaper. She was checked out right away, but there was a long line of people waiting and no rooms available, so we were sent back to the waiting room. While we were in the waiting room, she finally peed (I don’t know if I’ve ever been more excited about pee in my life…well, except for the time when we went through a similar dehydration scare with Caleb as a newborn, ha!). We gave her more ibuprofen and it was time to try and nurse her again, so the hospital staff kindly set us up in an empty room. She ate a tiny bit before she couldn’t stay awake any longer. Soon after that, we were transferred to a room. I thought it was going to take several hours due to the long line of people waiting, but I guess they bumped us up in priority because we only waited for about half an hour, which was a blessing.

The doctor soon came in to see her and said she was dehydrated, but not severely, so he didn’t think it was necessary to hook her up to an IV. He also checked her stitches and said everything looked fine there, so that was reassuring to hear as well. He said there’s really no clear rule when it comes to dehydration, so he instructed us to continue to keep an eye out for signs of severe dehydration, and to take her in to her regular doctor on Monday to be checked on. We also talked about her meds, and he thought we should discontinue giving her the Tylenol w/codeine, since it was making her so lethargic and unable to eat. He also said the codeine was probably making her retain more water, which is why she was not peeing, and could also be making her feel nauseated. He said we should continue the ibuprofen every six hours, and give the Tylenol w/codeine on an as-needed basis.

We left the hospital feeling encouraged that discontinuing the Tylenol would help her begin eating better. When we got home, we were able to get her to eat a couple of ounces via syringe, and then we let her sleep. I took a nap too, and then woke her up at 6 pm to see if she would nurse. Turns out, stopping the Tylenol was a huge fail. She started screaming from the moment I woke her up and adamantly refused to eat, because she was obviously in a lot of pain. It’s a catch-22…give her codeine and she can’t eat because she’s too lethargic, but don’t give her the codeine and she doesn’t want to eat because she’s in too much pain. We decided to give her more codeine, because we figure it’s better for her to not be in pain and not eating much, than to be in pain and not eating anything. After discussing various options with Sean, we’re putting her back on an alternating meds every 3 hours schedule, which is what we were doing until yesterday evening when we were told to up the codeine dosage by a Kaiser nurse. Hopefully this schedule helps her to stay relatively pain-free, but slightly less lethargic. Every time we wake her to give a medication, I will continue attempting to nurse her first, then we’ll move to pumping and feeding by syringe (which is mostly what we’ve been doing).

Today was another difficult one, but aside from bouts of frustration here and there, I feel better than yesterday and less anxious and upset. I know this is due to all the prayers and God at work in my spirit. My mind keeps meditating on Philippians 4:6-7 – “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” I truly have felt His peace today.

This experience has been harder than I ever imagined it would be, but I know “this too shall pass” and all will be ok, because we are in the hands of our Father who loves us so deeply. It still sucks and is no fun (and it’s still really sad to see her struggling and so miserable), but there is a calm in my soul and it was a tear-less day (which I seriously thank Jesus for, because I hate crying…it always gives me a massive headache).

In the spirit of November and Thanksgiving, I have lots to be thankful for today: her congestion went away, no severe dehydration, no IV, no hospital stay, quick admission, electric pumps that are efficient (and the only way I will be able to continue breastfeeding Evie after all this is over by maintaining my supply), nana and pop pop taking care of Caleb for us, and an amazing husband by my side every moment, who is now a master at syringe feeding 🙂 I am sure there are plenty of others, but I am still exhausted and those came to my mind first. We would be so grateful for continued prayers for Evie to stay hydrated, heal quickly, and return to eating well soon.

Here are a couple of photos from today:

Evie's "is this real life?" codeine face :)
Evie’s “is this real life?” codeine face 🙂
20131123_201206
Swelling is down today

Next post:

Third Day Post-Surgery Update

Pre-Surgery:

Out of Cleft Field: Evie’s Cleft Adventures

Published by

Melissa Felker

I blog to share my life, entertain, inspire, inform, encourage, challenge (both myself and others), and of course, for personal therapy - haha! I love to write about meaningful experiences and a wide range of topics I find interesting. I particularly enjoy sharing life in a raw and barely censored fashion because I highly value authenticity.

One thought on “Second Day Post-Surgery Update”

  1. I would try to space out the codeine as much as possible as it will make her constipated. Wean her off it gradually. Like space it an hour more than where you are now. Also, are you freezing your breast milk? You can, you know. Just date the bottles in the freezer and use the oldest one first. I did this when nursing Jake and it worked very well. I worked 40 hrs a week and still managed to nurse him nothing but breast milk up till 7 mos. Know that we are thinking of you and praying for your family, as if you were our own daughter. ♥♥♥

Leave a Reply