Losing the tubes

Blaise came out of surgery on Monday replete with tubes (although NOT a breathing tube; they were able to remove that in the OR). We've spent the last couple of days watching them come out: no more arterial line, no more secondary IV, no more epidural, no more urinary catheter. She still has her NG-tube (through her nose and into her stomach) and her g-tube and PICC line (the big IV in her leg). The g-tube and PICC are old "friends" and we'll have them for quite a while longer. The NG-tube should come out tomorrow, preferably because a nurse or doctor removes it, not because Blaise takes it out on her own. She's off the morphine and her only pain medication right now is occasional Tylenol, but she seems comfortable. She has also shown us that yesterday's poop was not a fluke with several dirty diapers.

With the epidural out, we should be heading back to the regular floor soon. The NICU is fine, but there's no privacy at all and it's really noisy and bustling a lot of the time. Not a great recovery place for a kid who isn't good at tuning out the world to take a nap. Still, it's been fun to have Blaise's old nurses see how big and playful she is.