Ruby Hope McKee Starling

Chris and I are at our apartment for the night tonight.  We've slept at the hospital the past two nights.  We decided to sleep at the apartment because it's looking like Ruby might have her surgery tomorrow.  Her surgeon will make the call tomorrow during rounds.  This is of course if Ruby holds steady through the night.

I want to stress that the surgery will not fix all of our problems.  It will put her organs in the correct places.  It will not fix the hypertention and shunting issues.  Those sadly enough  can't be corrected by surgery and only time will tell how severe Ruby's cases are.  After her surgery we will have weeks left in the NICU.  She will have to be able to breathe room air (extubated), weaned off all the narcotics, eating, and gaining weight.  We will have a long road ahead of us after the surgery.  The surgery is the first step on our road to getting Ruby home.  She's not ECMO, but she is still very critically ill.

I've been told I can hold her once she's recovered from her surgery.  One of the surgical fellows tried to get the Neonatologist to let me hold her today, but she wanted me to wait until after her repair.  Which I understand and was not expecting to be able to hold her until then.  It would have been  nice though.  It's just one more thing that's up to Ruby's Doctors and Chris and I to decide when the best time will be. 

We will try to post as soon as we know what the plan is.