Doctor or Foreman?

Caught a few cute photos this morning.  Hattie had a stethoscope around her neck and tools all around her.  Will she be a doctor?  A foreman?  Only time will tell!

Then a bit later, she went over to Owen's stuff that was waiting by the door and plopped down on his bag like it was a horsie.  Maybe he won't leave if I sit on his bag!

Have a great time camping brother!  We will miss you!

Owen's First Conference

We had Owen's first conference tonight and we couldn't be more proud of this kiddo!  His teachers had wonderful things to say about him academically and socially.  They are very happy with where he is at with reading and writing.  Apparently, he is one of about 4-5 kids that are reading, so they are going to assess the class next week and start giving that group of kids a little more of a challenge when doing their daily writing.

She said he is very comfortable in his own skin and is able to play by himself but is also good joining in with a group of peers.  She said he is also respectful to adults and is a good listener.

She showed us some drawings he had done and some exercises in following directions.  Again, she had all good things to say about his abilities. 

We love Owen to bits and are always proud of him, but man, tonight, we are just on cloud 9 to hear that his teachers are as proud of him as we are.  

Just another quick proud moment tonight happened when Paul was vacuuming under Hattie's high chair.  She got scared of the noise and Owen ran over to her, sat on the floor and let her lean into his chest.  He hugged her gently and said, "It's okay Hattie, don't be scared.  Brother is here for you."  I just love how gentle and caring he is.

Follow up Appointment

We had a follow-up appointment with our cardiologist today.  We were a little nervous about how it would go given that  Hattie is so over being poked, having stickers taken off of her chest, and having people listening to her heart.  Maybe it was that she is just sick of being cooped up with us at home and this was a way to get out of the house , but she did really well!  She was pretty patient while they took her bp, weighed and measured her, and while they did the EKG.  She wasn't as patient for the echo, but still did a fairly good job.  I think it helped that they let Paul lay next to her - oh and that we let her taste a sucker for the first time!

After all of that, we met with Dr. Shanthi and she kept saying how great Hattie looks and how good of a job that Dr. Overman did on her heart.  All wonderful things to hear as parents!  We go back at 3 months and 6 months and then if all is looking good, we'll see her yearly. When Hattie is about 20 years old, they'll transition her to a cardiologist for adults.

Apparently the cardioligist at Children's, Dr. Gremmels, liked Hattie a lot and told Dr. Shanthi that he was going to keep her as a patient.  We are so lucky and blessed to have such an amazing group of doctors and nurses that not only medically do a great job with Hattie, but that genuinely seem to like her and care about her. That goes a long way with parents!

Mmmm! A sucker!

Miss Hattie was too busy walking around our room and emptying the contents of my purse onto the floor to sit up on the table so Dr. Shanthi could examine her, so Dr. Shanthi got right down on the floor and did it there.

Hattie is Happy to be Home!

We got discharged at about 10 this morning and got home around 11.  It was a little bit bittersweet saying good-bye to what was our home for the last few days.  It was a little easier because the nurses we came to know and rely on weren't there today.  So, we gave Hattie a bath, packed up our stuff and headed home.  She was so excited to see her toys, the play kitchen, and her dollies.  She walked around and looked at all of them.  She is walking more today than she was yesterday, which is good.  She ate a pretty decent sized lunch - not quite back to normal, but still, better than a few days ago. Mmmm, Nana's meatlof is WAY better than hospital food!!

From here, we just have to be extremely careful to NOT pick her up under the arms, as the sternum could pull back apart.  We have to scoop her under the bottom and support her back. We also have to be careful to not to submerge her incision during bathtime.  We will go back in to see the cardiologist on Monday for an echo and EKG.  If all looks good there, we will go every 3 months  and then the hope is once a year into her adulthood.

We'll keep writing about her progress here, but I have a feeling she'll be keeping us pretty busy now that we are at home, so probably not quite as often.  

Thank you again for all of your prayers and support.  We are confident that those prayers are what made this go so smoothly for Hattie.

We are Heading Home in the Morning

It's been a crazy day, so I am just sitting down to update now.  After Hattie's echo this morning, the doctors doing rounds came in and asked us how we felt Hattie was doing and how we felt about her going home.  We talked about our concerns and they basically told us that medically, she is doing incredibly and could go home, but that they weren't pushing us out the door and we can stay an extra day if we would feel better about it.

We spent the day getting her up walking a bit, visiting with doctors and watching videos of how to care for her incision, etc.  Before we knew it, I had to get her prescriptions from the pharmacy (she'll just be on Advil, Tylenol and a diuretic for about a week) and leave to spend the night at home with Owen.  

Miss Hattie cracked us up today!  She kept going over to the stroller and trying to get in.  She loves going for walks around the hallways.  She would do a little beauty queen wave at all of the nurses sitting at their stations.  They loved her, so that just egged her on even more.  It was the best feeling to see her sparkle come back.

She is pretty unsteady on her feet after a few days of not walking and she reverted back to crawling a lot today.  They said that is pretty normal.  She learned how to stand up in the hospital crib, so we have to be right there at all times.  (One of the reasons I haven't posted until now!) In that respect, it will be easier to be at home.  

While Paul and I were in the waiting room during surgery, a volunteer knocked on the waiting room door to tell us that he had a gift for us.  It warmed our hearts to see a framed print of all the kids and teachers from St. Ambrose standing in a field in the shape of a giant heart.  They were holding big posters that said We Love Hattie and Hattie is our Heart Warrior.  They were all trying to make hearts with their hands. It is adorable. I can't even begin to tell you how much love we have felt from our St. A's family!  The cards, texts, emails...we knew they were right there with us loving and praying for our girl because she is their girl too.

Here are a few pictures from today.

Say What!?! Home?

Hattie's nurse said that during rounds today, the doctors mentioned the possibility of her going home today or tomorrow depending on how her echo looks this morning.  They originally said 4 days is on the short end and 10 days is on the long end, but to plan for 7 days.  Today is day 3.  I guess our girl is a rockstar!  It's all of those prayers coming her way!!  She hasn't been up walking yet, so that is today's task. Having a recovering baby at the hospital is one thing, but something completely different at home!  Not sure we are quite ready!

She just got some pain meds because she was a little uncomfortable today.  But she also had a blood draw and an x-ray before 7AM, so it's been a busy morning. Next up, an echo.

She got a visit this morning from Dr. Overman, her surgeon.  Although she wasn't thrilled, he is our hero and we'll be forever grateful to him for taking such good care of our girl!!

Her Children's Cardiologist, Dr. Gremmels, also stopped by for a visit.  She gave him the stink eye too!

Zzzzzzzzzz

And she sleeps!  Hattie fell asleep around 8PM and has slept soundly most of the night.  She wasn't happy at 2:45 when her nurse was checking vitals and gave her Tylenol, but she fell back to sleep pretty quickly when he left.  Unfirtunately, the x-ray cart comes around at about 5 and having your covers peeled off and your chest x-rayed isn't a pleasant way to wake up.  Up next, blood draw from her finger since the IV from her arm that they were taking blood draws from is out now.  She is not going to love that!!