A very difficult morning- Day 1

We were both shattered after a very long night but were anxious to see our little girl before she went in to surgery and wanted to meet the team that would be operating on her.  A midwife took us down to the NICU and we were introduced to the lead surgeon.  He was fairly pessimistic at this point after seeing Olivia a few minutes before.  It became apparent that it wasn't just her intestines that were outside her body but also her stomach.  The hole that the intestine and the stomach were protruding from was quite small and the blood flow had been restricted to Olivia's intestines meaning that they were not in as good condition as had been hoped for. There was a strong possibilty that they might have to be put in a bag outside her body to begin with and fed back in over the next week.  The surgeon told us that they would find out more in theatre and would do their best but couldn't promise anything.  We were handed a consent form for the operation and told to agree and sign various sections and then he was gone.

We were devastated at the apparent bad news and sat there in shock for a few minutes before finding the strength to go up to the ward where Lisa would recover from giving birth.  Luckily we had been put in a side room so we would not be disturbed by other mothers who were lucky enough to have their babies with them.

The next few hours seemed to last an eternity, we clocked watched for a couple of hours and hadn't heard anything from NICU.  Eventually we were told that Olivia was out of surgery and they were making her comfortable, we would be allowed to see her when they had connected all the various tubes wires and machines that would help aid her recovery.

We were shown in to the critical care unit and to the incubator and machines that were keeping a beautiful little girl alive.  As we peered in and saw her lying there so helpless, it was very emotional, she looked so fragile and was clearly in a fair amount of pain.  The medication levels were still getting adjusted and she was trying to cry but the ventilator in her mouth and tube up her nose were preventing any sound from coming out but tiny tears were streaming down her face and her body convulsed with each breath.

There was however some good news, the surgeons had managed to get her stomach and intestines back in to her abdomen so she didn’t have her intestines in a bag hanging from the roof of the incubator.  We couldn’t speak to the surgeons straight away as they had gone back in to surgery.  It wouldn’t be until the next morning that we would get the full picture.  The nurses reassured us that all seemed well although it was a tight fit to get everything back inside her but remained hopeful.

We left the Olivia with the nurses and doctors on NICU and went to try and get some rest up on the ward and talk to anxious friends and family.  My Mum came in to see Olivia in the afternoon and was very excited to see her first grand daughter!.

The rest of the day was spent with visits down to see Olivia and trying to keep awake as we’d both not had any real sleep for nearly 36 hours.