Friday, February 24, 2006

Thursday, 2/23/06, 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. updates



7:00 p.m.

I am happy to report that Emma is doing AWESOME! We took Caden to visit her and he was so excited to hold her hand. Unfortunately for Caden (fortunately for sweet Emma) she had just been excubated so she needed to rest so she could get used to breathing on her own. So they didn't want us to open the portholes in her isolette oor disturb her too mucn which is totqally understandable. Poor Caden didn't understand this and had a total meltdown. sean has to take him out of the room. W were lucky enough for Sean to get a few seconds of video of her off the vent for the first time. We were thrilled. We left after 5 minutes to take Caden home and get the kids in bed with intentions of going later to see her. Caden continued his meltdown and we were all on edge from stress, and whatnot. I know it's hard for him to understand, but it;s frustrating that he wouldn't listen to us. I guess this is how the next few months will be. trying to balance parenting and going to see our sickest one. This is tougher than I ever imagined it could be, but I guess we'll just take it one day at a time.

10 p.m.

Sean and I were so thrilled to be able to go back and see her. She had maintained all of her oxygen levels without desating and was doing really well over the past 3 hours since being excubated. she is so beautiful now that we can see her fqace without HUGE tubes all over it. She ended up having to get a med which was not compatible with her PPIC line so she did need another I.V. line which she got quite upset about, but that meant she cried and I FINALLY got to hear my baby cry. She made these barely audible squeaking sounds. We got it on video but you REALLY have to listen to hear it. It was the best sound in the world. she desatted a little while getting the I.V. and her diaper changed (she had her 2nd poop and man was it alot considering she's not even eating. LOL, got that on camera too. i know I'm weird). After her care it took gher a minute or so to recover and they upped her oxygen just a tiny bit for a few mintes to "help her out" but she was just fine after that and went back to resting peacefully. If her blood gasses remain normal for the next day or so then they will pull out her umbilical arterial line and then we may be able to start "kangaroo care" and holding her. I am so excited and also scared to death at the same time. Oh, the bililights were removed so she no longer needs her sunglasses either. Her level was 4.1 which was close enough to 4 for them. they want her to start gaining weight again and the bililights really dry them out and make them lose weight so they figured she was close enough. so hopefully she'll being plumping up again.

Emma's Stats 3 hours after being excubated. The blue number is her oxpulse number. They want to keep it above 89 and she is doing GREAT. The top number is her heart rate, right on track! Keep it up baby!

Overall, it was just an awesome day and overwhelmingly emotional and heartwarming visit. I can't wait to visit her today. Speaking of which I need to get dressed...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow... looking at those pictures you really can tell that she's lost weight. But what incredibly good news about the bili lights and oxygen!!! Without either of those in her way, she's going to gain back that weight incredibly fast!!!

It sounds like she's making good progress and I'm so glad to hear that!

You, Emma, and your family continue to be in our prayers.

Anonymous said...

Elaina, I don't know you but I came across your blogs on some of the forums. I am just writing to say you and your precious Emma are in my prayers. Emma is such a beautiful little girl, I am praying that she keeps on fighting and comes home before you know it.

Anonymous said...

Go, Emma. Go, Emma....

Cheering your strong girl on from Nashville!

What an amazing day you've had. I can't believe she's off the vent already. That's amazing. My nephew (30 weeks, 2.5 lbs.) was on the vent for much longer -- and he had his steroid shots long before delivery!

Children are resilient. Caden will bounce back from sharing his mom and dad with a sick sibling. Don't feel guilty (I know you will, but TRY not to feel too guilty). And don't feel guilty about being there for Emma every minute either. Those nurses are wonderful and they will care for her.

As always, in my prayers.