We had a good night’s rest. When we arrived at the Children’s Intensive Care Unit (CICU), Izzie was asleep and the nurse wasn’t around. But we saw a portable TV by her bedside. So I chose to believe that she was more awake and alert and they had to keep her entertained. Hehehe.

Victories today:
1. She went off oxygen which was put on her after they took out her breathing tube yesterday. She is breathing totally on her own and is able to maintain good oxygen saturation.
2. They took out the two tubes from her chest (for drainage of fluids).
3. She was fed 20ml glucose and tolerated well. Not enough in fact. Finished in seconds and cried for more. But they couldn’t up the volume because they didn’t want to stress the heart.
4.Another IV line, the arterial line (for measuring real time BP and blood drawing) has been removed + rectum thermometer was removed.
5. Izzie was moved out of CICU into Children’s Step Down Unit (CSDU) at 5pm today!
6. Izzie was given 20ml of milk at 8pm! First milk since 27 Aug, 1030pm!

What remains are the central venous line on her neck and the urine catheter. They are still measuring her output volume because it is borderline. One of the side effect of morphine. They are gradually her weaning off this painkiller.

God is good and Izzie is a fighter!!

Pastor Yong came by at noon to pray for Izzie. Wendy, Ting Ting, Audrey and Schumann bought lunch for us and an Elmo balloon for Izzie. My mom brought us dinner. I am grateful for them.

The hospital business office called us in the afternoon and asked if we wanted to downgrade Izzie from B2 to C class. Regardless of class (except A class which is not subsidised) the level of care at CICU, High Dependency (HD) ward and CSDU is the same. This means we get the same treatment despite paying less. Praise God! Psalm 23 became a living word to me: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

While waiting this afternoon, I wandered off again to my spot in the garden but it rained and was wet so I went off to another place. There I re-watched last weekend’s service. My faith was built up. When I came back to CICU, the nurse informed me that they were preparing to move Izzie out of CICU to CSDU.

Keep speaking and thinking positive!

Since Izzie was born, she has been to all children’s hospital units: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Special Care Nursery (SCN), normal children’s ward, HD ward, CICU and now CSDU. Indeed she is going places!!! She will proclaim God’s goodness and mercy.

I left Izzie at the OT from 8.30am. Waited till almost 3pm before I got a call from KKH CICU that they have settled Izzie and we could go in and see her. In between, PAZ came to pray with us. It was a great comfort. We also went online shopping for baby clothes and stuff…just a little distraction from the intensity felt during the surgery. We were already prepared to see many tubes on her the night before when we had the orientation with the ICU staff nurse. I was ready. When we saw Izzie, she looked good!!! Better than expected. The doctors were happy and said that she was stable for the surgery and would be expecting her to be stable in recovery. Praise God. I am thankful for the church family who supported us and prayed with us throughout the entire time. Jeffrey came after dinner. Pastor Eileen, Connie and Joanna Sin came shortly after. Blessed by their presence.

We couldn’t stay over by Izzie’s bedside at the ICU because there were too many machine around so we decided to come home to rest. Tomorrow is a new great day! Just before we left, the doc removed her breathing tube. Praise the Lord! One tube down. Counting victories one at a time. Izzie wears the victor’s crown!

I had some me time with God just before PAZ came. I wandered off on my own and ended up in a garden. While absorbing God’s presence, He told me that if He could take care of birds and plants, what more Izzie? I could trust in Him to take care of Izzie and of us, even our untold needs.

I decided to write entries to journey the entire process of hospitalization. Let’s hope I keep through this being as real as I can be.

It has been 24 hours since we admitted Izzie to KKH for her surgery to correct the LPA sling. What has happened so far?

Izzie was warded at Children’s Tower Ward 55 Bed 23 yesterday. We went through the admission process, then answered some standard interview questions, went through ward orientation, talked with doctors and anesthesiologist. The ward MO tried doing ECG on Izzie but she cried badly, so they tried again this morning around 6am when she was asleep. They took blood tests in the ward treatment room and she came back crying, hair all over the place and eyes were red. She was ok during the chest X-ray. We went for ICU orientation as well. We were briefed what to expect.

How was the night? I stayed over at KKH with Izzie. She fell asleep close to 1am. I finished up a bit of work till 2am and went to sleep. Woke up at 3am because the baby next bed to Izzie cried very loudly. Izzie was also disturbed for a while but she went back to sleep. It was Izzie’s turn to cry very loudly at 4am. I carried her on me till about 5am and then I asked the nurse to give Izzie her last glucose drink. Her fast started at 2am and the last water intake was 6am.

At 715am I bathed Izzie with the antiseptic body wash provided by the nurse. At 8am they brought us down to the OT. Feng followed us and there she prayed for Izzie. Then only one parent could go into the OT waiting area with Izzie. I went. Soo Chee cried as his heart broke. I remained calm. I let Izzie play with a princess toy car at the waiting area.

She is one brave baby!

Then the medical staff just checked and confirmed name and that I know what is going on. We were guided into OT 11. It was a pleasant short walk as there were many beautiful murals. At the OT, the staff explained to me exactly what they were going to do and prepared me for what we were about to experience. It wasn’t new. Izzie and me went through this before when she did the bronchoscopy in July. They made Izzie feel at ease then gassed her. She went to sleep and the staff asked me to let go while two staff carried her from my lap to the bed. They guided me to exit.

I have been outside waiting since 830am. PAZ came around 12 plus to pray with us. It brought great comfort to us. Before he came, I wandered off on my own and found a spot at a garden. There I was just absorbing the song Victor’s Crown and praying. There I came to a place of brokenness. I needed God to be real, I needed to trust and I needed my own space to be myself. It is okay to cry.

Soo Chee and I just had lunch and we are back to waiting…

We went to KKH for a whole day today. Izzie has an appointment for hip ultrasound scan, an appointment for hearing test and an appointment with the neonatal doctor for follow up assessment. Her scan is normal and she passed her hearing test. The doctor said she could do what a full term 4 month baby could do. For example, she could raise her head 90 degree when placed on her tummy. Her height is at 50 percentile while her weight is catching up to 50 percentile. Praise the Lord!!! Izzie is our champion.

4 months 1 week: 62 cm & 6.33kg

She is one happy bub

Two thumbs up for Izzie who weighs 6kg on 28 Nov. She will turn 4 months on 1 Dec.

Looky look! I am so proud of my girl for lifting her head so high above her mattress. Milestone achievement on 28 Nov when I gave her tummy time. Izzie is a champion.

I am also very proud of Soo Chee for bringing Izzie out alone to KKH! First time for him. 🙂
We met at KKH and brought Izzie for her cardiac follow up. We will continue to believe and confess and pray for Izzie’s total healing.

After we were done at KKH, we headed to Tampines 1 Muji and got ourselves a little Christmas tree. It so brings the mood of the happiest time of the year to our home.