What happens now 2/4/1997

Avri weighed 5pds 15oz, and was 19 and 1/4 inches long. She had 10 fingers and 10 toes. Her apgar tests were 9-9 which was higher than any of my other children. She was able to stay the three days with me in the hospital while I recovered from my c-section and while we waited for the nero surgeon to return! Upon the day of my release Avri was put in the ICU. We waited an extra 2 days for the Nero surgeon to show up and when he did, I realized that this was wear the new reality set in. She was going to have to have a shunt placed inside her brain, the tube would then run down the side of her face and into her belly, where the fluid would be reabsorbed. The reality of this was, the medical industry had been working on this condition for many years but it was still fairy new. I was told before the sugary that a computer would flip a coin to decide which procedure would be used. The computer decided the newest technology was the one to go with. This meant that a tiny scope would be implanted on the end of the shunt tube so the surgeon could see where he was going. I remember thinking why would he not want to see where he was going! So I was ok with that decision. I was told she would come out of surgery with a small incision on her head and a small incision on her belly and that was it. The sugary would only take a couple hours and then I could see her. I have to say the doctors did not prepare me for what I saw next! Avri had blood all over her, she had that brown disinfectant they use before surgery all over her, she was bruised and her poor face was so swollen where the tube was shoved down under skin. The incision on her belly seemed huge compared to how small she was and her head no longer looked perfect and round. There was an explanation for most of it! Avris body tempeture dropped so low during the surgery and they could not get it to come back up, so they did not clean her off for fear of her tempature dropping lower. She had so much fluid on her brain that after the surgery and all that fluid finally being able to drain, her head circumference went down 2 inches. This happened so fast the bones in her head just fell where they were. It seemed more like they toppled all right on top of each other. She no longer had bone in the back of her head. So this made her all that much more fragile to hold and support. Avri spent the next 24 hours in an upright position under a heat lamp. So close to the lamp that it burnt her skin. The sweet content baby that I gave birth to was now agitated, her cry that was once a new born cry turned into a high pitched new born scream. She was miserable. She was in pain and I could not comfort her!