Today as I walked through the doors to the NICU, the surgical resident and head nurse smiled at me and gave me a big "Good Morning!", and followed me into the room.
I looked to see where her "Breaths per minute" were at. They were twice what she was at yesterday. I then turned to look at the ventilator to see if they had increased her rate and noticed that the vent machine was GONE! The resident looked over with a big grin.
Apparently, the decision to take the vent off was Sarah's. When she gets those mittens off, she goes right for the tubes. She pulled the tubes out and by the time the staff got to her, she was breathing better on her own.
She also has not had morphine for eight hours and was sleeping soundly. Everyone here seems to be very surprised at the quick turnaround.
The next hurdle will be seeing if she can "produce". Once that happens, we will see if she can tolerate feedings.
(She just woke for a second, made a sound and went back to sleep)
Her belly looks good. If the last tube comes out, we will hold her in the not so distant future.
Showing posts with label Sarah Cystic Fibrosis Surgery NICU Vent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Cystic Fibrosis Surgery NICU Vent. Show all posts
Monday, August 13, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
Day 2 in the NICU
Finally, I am caught up with today.
As a parent, you never know how much attention you should give to your baby in the NICU.
Sarah is hooked up to so many things that it is hard to know what hurts.
12 hours after surgery is still too soon to think she is not in pain. I know that I would not want visitors this early if someone just cut me up.
To make recovery even more difficult, Dr Leff's attempt to massage the bowel came with a price. When you spend that much time touching an infant's insides, you increase the trauma and recovery time for the infant. Sarah will have a couple of days to recoup before she even comes to some cognitive state.
(UH OH, Somebody is beeping. Not us.)
Any way, we have 3 other kids and know that this will be a 4-6 week ordeal. My wife and I decided today that I would come here in the morning and she would come about 4:00.
She will be here in about an hour.
Sarah is not responsive, so I kiss her brow every 20 minutes and whisper in her ear. If you touch her too much, she curls her knees up to her chest. I guess that is pain or discomfort. No more of that.
I think the point here, that we learned with Will, is that someone has to be here every day. But you can't neglect your other kids in the process. Sarah will be fine without us sleeping here. We will most likely be here for 10 hours a day, in shifts and see how that goes.
I am lucky enough to report to a guy who has similar experience.
Well, the beeping and blinking is for Sarah now. She needed to be suctioned and she does not like that. She tenses up and that makes her shut down. The nurse had to resuscitate her manually with a hand vent as the machine did not have enough pressure. She is back to good.
I am sure glad it is 2007.
As a parent, you never know how much attention you should give to your baby in the NICU.
Sarah is hooked up to so many things that it is hard to know what hurts.
12 hours after surgery is still too soon to think she is not in pain. I know that I would not want visitors this early if someone just cut me up.
To make recovery even more difficult, Dr Leff's attempt to massage the bowel came with a price. When you spend that much time touching an infant's insides, you increase the trauma and recovery time for the infant. Sarah will have a couple of days to recoup before she even comes to some cognitive state.
(UH OH, Somebody is beeping. Not us.)
Any way, we have 3 other kids and know that this will be a 4-6 week ordeal. My wife and I decided today that I would come here in the morning and she would come about 4:00.
She will be here in about an hour.
Sarah is not responsive, so I kiss her brow every 20 minutes and whisper in her ear. If you touch her too much, she curls her knees up to her chest. I guess that is pain or discomfort. No more of that.
I think the point here, that we learned with Will, is that someone has to be here every day. But you can't neglect your other kids in the process. Sarah will be fine without us sleeping here. We will most likely be here for 10 hours a day, in shifts and see how that goes.
I am lucky enough to report to a guy who has similar experience.
Well, the beeping and blinking is for Sarah now. She needed to be suctioned and she does not like that. She tenses up and that makes her shut down. The nurse had to resuscitate her manually with a hand vent as the machine did not have enough pressure. She is back to good.
I am sure glad it is 2007.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)