Kaia's our tough girl!

Well, after surgery, her heart was proving too slow and weak to support her. The doctors thought she would have to be on life support for a week, instead of the initial 1-3 days they had prepped us for. That was a huge blow. BUT, Kaia decided one day that she needed to kick some medical butt and turned a big corner and they took her off of her blood pumping machine yesterday! Her little heart is doing all her work for her and she looks great! She's going to be a little blue in color until after her final surgery at age 4 because her blood isn't fully oxygenated, so she has a lot of blue blood running through her. But, she is a little doll and is fighting hard and strong! She will be on a breathing machine for another 5 days or so, until her lungs get a little better. They collapsed from surgery and the lack of use. So, the machine is making her breathe big deep breaths and she is inflating just as suspected. I suspect we will get to hold her in a week or two. Momma can't wait! Her chest is still open. They leave it open so the swelling doesn't put pressure on her heart or lungs. But they are closing it tomorrow and she will get one more tube removed. So, we went from 6 tubes (shown above....the two thick blood ones were attached to her blood machine that was pumping for her) and will be down to 3 by tomorrow. yay! Keep the prayers coming as every minute is a struggle for her. She is on tons of morphine to keep her comfy, but when she wakes up, she looks freaked out and it's really heartbreaking! I know she just wants held. It's so ironic that I went from being an "all natural birth with nooooo meds so the baby didn't have any medicine in her blood" to having a child who relies totally on medicine to keep her alive right now. I guess the medical industry has tried me and won. I'm a believer. Without modern medicine, my baby girl would NOT be here today. I've decided that nobody can call her "angel" because angels are people that have died that watch over you. And she is very much alive and can't wait to be hugged by everyone!