Well, we went to visit last night and all was about the same as yesterday afternoon, so no new updates to share. Below is a picture we took last night. She was looking quite peaceful and breathing better, they said she might be getting a little jaundice, so not to be surprised if she's on the lights in the morning....
No surprise at all, she made it to the lights! She's got the gauze covering her eyes to keep them protected,but the light pretty much stays on her all day long. Her bilirubin level was 10 (for you medical people). They'll take her levels again in the morning to see if it 'charts right' so that she can be off the lights. The Nurse Practitioner said to expect a couple of days of lights though. It broke my heart to see her laying there so helpless, but she didn't seem uncomfortable....just chilling on 'the beach' I guess! She's going to like the real beach so much better though! It sure is hard not to be able to hold her. We were able to 'pet' her for a while this afternoon, so I guess that is better than nothing!
She's back down to 25% oxygen, so that is good...normal breathing air is 21% oxygen. They said she's on it basically to keep the airflow going through her. This morning, her belly was a little puffy, so they did more x-rays to check her out. All looks well, but its full of bowels...she needs to poop! It appears the fully belly is making it harder for her to breathe because the bowels are pressing on her lungs, I guess. They gave her a sipository and that helped some, but she still has more in that needs to get out! It seems that once that is under control, perhaps the breathing will fix...they can remove oxygen...and she can be done with that place?! She's still only eating 10mL of milk. They have electrolytes and fats going in thru her IV in her belly to keep her nourished. The real milk stuff would be helpful to her belly, but since she can't poop, and she's spitting up, they don't want to give her more. It seems to be a never-ending vicious cycle!
Chase wants to go visit her today after school. He can't go in and see her because he's got a cough and she's not close enough to the window to see either. I'm not sure how we're going to avoid this trip today. He has been sleeping in his bed all night for several nights, so we told him we'd go get him a new game today....maybe that'll keep his mind off of a hospital visit?!
Below is an accidental picture, but surely depicts how she (and we all) feel about her visit in the NICU. Don't get me wrong, everyone is very nice, caring and loving...but still, no fun to be a part of!!!! I guess I'll write more later today if (and as) we learn anything new! Love to all of you!!!
Carrie, Mark, Chase and Chloe
