Sleeping Beauty

Mary Louise rested reasonably well last night according to Brent with one or 2 interruptions: she likes to keep her slippers on but her oxygen sensor is on her foot. She seemed to be breathing well but not maintaining saturation with sleep so they apparently removed her slipper to check the sensor...enter 2am fit thank you very much...Brent was unsure of the level of oxygen she was getting but knew they'd not been able to really wean her overnight as they'd hoped. When I arrived, they had her down to 1/4 liter which is where she is now - but she had been awake all morning so we're all waiting to see how she does with sleep...

Brent reported that she was in good spirits this morning - asking for "swipes" (baby wipes) to clean her board books, playing with her Play-doh, Sticky Wickies and reading and coloring with her Dada. I got here around 11am and she pretty happily at a bit of melon, a chicken tender, all of the carrots in her soup and some of the soup liquid (it'd be great if she'd eat like this at home much less in the hospital!). She continues to drink well too. Brent said she did pretty well at breakfast too eating some oatmeal and pancakes.

She finally fell asleep on my shoulder a few minutes ago and I was able to gently transfer her to bed. She was holding steady at 90% for a good 20 minutes, but I just checked her monitor again and she is at 88% now.

She has begun to have a very productive and congested wet cough - a good thing as it means the mucous in her chest is beginning to break up. The nurse said she sounded quite good this morning but became more congested just before her breathing treatment was due. She blew her little nose really well with me to avoid suctioning there for now, but we'll see how the afternoon goes...She does not cough on command which would really help move things along - maybe I can come up with some sort of game to entice her? Any suggestions??

That's the news for now. We're still waiting to see the doctor this afternoon - who by the way remembers us well from the NICU even remembering David's name, our little Kuylen and where each of their isolettes were while they stayed there- amazing right?

I'm feeling much better after a couple of nights of decent sleep. Ma Mere has been getting up during the night and early morning with David which has been a HUGE help to me. I still have some congestion, but can actually breathe through my nose today!! woot woot!

David still has a bit of a runny nose and dry cough but it seems to be slowing and the cough is pretty much down to that pesky overnight periodic business. He's been pretty grumpy today and I think has had enough with the upheaval of his routine and environment - and he's wondering where the heck his "Meese" disappeared to...I'm hoping he can hang in there for another day or 2 without making himself sick again.

Mary Louise wasn't maintaining her saturation again while sleeping - they just came in to increase her oxygen supplementation again...1 liter. Boo on this...

Updates as we know more...I still can't quite believe all of this is happening...over 2 and half years without even so much as a breathing treatment, very few illnesses in general and now this...and now this...

xo,
Heather