Lola: Chillin' in the ICU

Miss Lola Bean is spending time in the ICU at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. Jeff and I were with her from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. today during which time we got to hold her, give her a bottle, change her diaper and help the nurse change her bed after she threw up a few times.

Because of being anesthetized for so long it took a while for her stomach to "wake up." When she took her first formula bottle she got a little over-eager and downed about three ounces. Once that hit her stomach, her body said "no thank you," and she proceeded to return to us most of what she ate. The nurses said it's quite common for babies to have an upset stomach the first day post-op, so we're not too worried about it.

Lola's in quite a bit of pain, which is to be expected, so they're keeping her on morphine as well as giving her Tylenol. This combo works really well for her, but it makes her drunker than Cooter Brown leaving her in a pitiful state.

You can see her drain below her right ear. It has been quite full today, but the nurses assure us the bleeding will slow down soon.

Her incision looks a little worse today but that can be attributed to the swelling, which has increased a lot since she came out of surgery.

When Lola is lucid she's able to open her eyes. This is a very good sign as most babies who've had this surgery cannot open their eyes at this stage of recovery. Now, they may swell completely shut tomorrow, but for now she can see us and know we're with her.

We're hoping she'll get to go to a private room in the step-down unit today, but whether that happens depends on bed availability. Please pray we get a room because being in the ICU is both physically and mentally taxing.