NICU Day 119 ~ (April 16th)

~Noelle after waking up tonight~

Today was a long day but it ended well, and we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel in this bump in the road.  We walked into rounds this morning with who else but Dr. Tatum, and we were incredibly comforted and relieved to have him looking after Noelle today as he knows her so incredibly well.  The day started off slow with little change from yesterday.  Noelle rested very well and would open her eyes from time to time to acknowledge our presence but still seemed quite out of it and not really herself.  They continued to wean her ventilator settings but it was looking as if it would be tomorrow before anything major would happen as far as extubation.  However, around 8:00 this evening, she fully awakened to an alert state and made it clear that she was ready for that tube to come out!

~Getting ready to extubate~

She was breathing extremely well over the ventilator and was making a concerted effort get the tube out herself.  After running a breathing test, they determined that she was indeed ready and the tube came out, and she was put back onto the nasal cannula with oxygen flow.

~It's out!!~

 She still has a replogle tube down her throat to draw any air off her stomach while it is still recovering from the surgery, but we're thankful to have the breathing tube out and see her getting back to her normal self.

~Happy Girl!!~

She was alert and awake for quite some time, and her nurse gave us a mobile which Tom set up for her to watch and listen to while we are gone tonight.

~Watching and listening to her new mobile~

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our sweet little girl.  Our prayer now is for her stomach to "wake up" from the anesthesia and things to start moving through so we can begin feeding her again.  It looks as if Thursday will probably be the earliest day which we come home, but we'll continue to take it one day at a time and not rush the process.   We want her to be fully ready and possibly even weaned off the oxygen completely.  We look forward to another good report full of progress tomorrow!!