(Slowly) Getting Better

I can't believe it's been a week since she checked in! She's doing better each day. Over the last few days they've been able to wean her oxygen very slowly. Every time they've tried to move too quickly she's had to be bumped back up. Lat post she was at 16/8 on BiPAP. Now she's on CPAP at 7. Yea for progress. It's such a slow process (her more so than a term baby without lung issues). They've turned her oxygen flow down a couple of times today, and they're going to again tonight. Hopefully she will be able to get the mask off tonight in time for bed! Time will tell if we're moving too fast.

They did another x-ray to see if she had pneumonia. She's on antibiotics because they weren't sure if she did.  They said her right lung was collapsing a little (this was when they had turned her down a couple of days ago and her oxygen saturation kept dipping). That was one of the times they had to turn the flow back up (flow is the amount of pressure blowing into her lungs to keep them open). She also got a diaper rash that turned out to be a yeast infection.

She started smiling again the last day or so and today she laughed. I missed that a lot. She's playing peek a boo with all of the doctors and waving hello and goodbye. Oh it makes my heart glad to see her happy again. I hope we're home by Monday or sooner. It's hard to know exactly how long she'll be here, but she has definitely turned a corner and is improving more quickly.

Thanks to everyone who has asked how Hazel and I are doing. Now that she's feeling better I'm holding her the entire time I'm here which doesn't leave much time for blog posts, texting, or phone calls.

Love,
Ella

 

 This was when she finally woke up. She wasn't very active, but she didn't want to let go of me.

She has been reaching for the light arm since she got here. I would think she was asleep 

and all of a sudden I would see her little arm reaching up. Ha ha.

She rips off her leads all the time. 

Poor baby. She's pretty used to the mask. She will get really mad all of a sudden and start grabbing it trying to rip it off.  She's ripped it off a few times today. The saddest is when she starts rooting while I'm holding her and she cries because she can't nurse. I have to lay her in her bed because she won't calm down if I'm holding her.