Well, Things Didn't Go As Planned

I don't really know what to say except to say that what the doctor thought Bailey had was not what she has once he got in there this morning. She has a condition, for lack of a better word, that is called Subglottic Stenosis. Which basically means that her airway is narrow, and has been since birth, just a fluke the way it grew when she was growing. There is no other way to fix it other than a major surgery. We will go back on Tuesday to Children's in Jackson and the doctor, who is the ENT, Dr. Carron, will take some cartilage out of her shoulder area, then make a slit in her neck near her throat, open the airway and put the cartilage in to permantly open the airway. So, ok, that's all fine and dandy. The bad part of this is that they will then keep her sedated and on a vent for about 4 days to let the cartilage graft take place. Then after those 4 days, she will move to a regular room and stay about another three. All in all we plan to be at the hospital about 7-10 days.

So how do I feel? I don't know, I'm pretty numb. The hardest part of this whole thing for me right now is thinking about her having to be sedated for 4 days. 4 days is a long time to keep a baby like Bailey sedated. How is Sid feeling? He hasn't really talked about it much, but has shed some tears, bless his heart. Bailey is for sure a daddy's girl. She adores him, it makes me sick! He thinks that this will be harder than the NICU stay because we are attached and bonded with her more so than at birth and we know she is an active little girl so it will be hard to see her motionless for 4 days. And it will be hard to stay away from her at night for 4 straight nights while she is in the PICU.