Yo soy La Lay

adventures in family, faith, and Down syndrome

PICU Day 2

on May 1, 2014

We came in this morning to an angry baby.

Tessa basically has two cries – a weak, pitiful, won’t-you-please-make-me-happy sob and a full on, all-Hell-has-broken-loose scream. We were greeted with the latter today.

When we saw her, she stopped, smiled, and then started up again. The good news is that because of this (and because our room is directly outside of the nurse’s station and everyone was tired of enjoying her anger) they let us hold her.

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We also got to feed her a bottle because we thought she was sick of having an empty tummy. Just two ounces (and two great burps!) and she was exhausted, but content.

A little bit of normalcy. 🙂

This morning, they set her oxygen back up to 30%. The goal is to get it down to 21% on the CPAP so that we can start weaning from it and get her onto the high-flow oxygen cannula. There are three levels of oxygen input – four if you include total intubation – and CPAP is the highest that we are dealing with. It forces the lungs open more than the other types. Since she’s working so hard to breathe, the extra force of the CPAP is needed for now, but the oxygen need going up a little is a minor setback. The nurse says it’s pretty insignificant and we’re trying to see it that way as well. As the doctor reminded us today, this is just going to take time. A week? Maybe longer? We don’t know.

Ellie’s pink eye is improving. She hates the drops. Even my assurances that Doc McStuffins herself called me today to recommend them to help her feel better weren’t helpful. My next step is to put on a Doc McStuffins costume and convince her that way. Not really… But sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures. 🙂

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9 responses to “PICU Day 2

  1. swerhane says:

    I’m so happy that you were able to hold her and that she was allowed to put a little snack into her tummy. Also, I can probably do a pretty good impression of lambie from Doc McStuffins if you need a convincing conference call. ❤

  2. Peter Sakash says:

    Is it bad that I when you mentioned Doc McStuffins I thought it was a real doctor?

  3. Oh no! I just read your blogs.. sorry to hear that they are both sick… You have some strong girls and they will be on the mend before you know it.. hopefully without you having to dress up as Doc McStuffins….

    • Maggie says:

      Haha, yes. The drops are going a little better… Though tonight, John told her that if she didn’t come over by him, she would get a time out… And of course, she begged for the time out.

  4. jenna says:

    I am so glad that you got to feed your sweet girl! I have been praying so much for your family these past 24 hours. I have also had to use the Doc McStuffins bit when we got pink eye last year.

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