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| ~The Beginning of "Everything goes in the mouth"~ |
Today was a better day as Noelle quickly adjusted to her new space and has now settled quite well. She was finally able to get some sleep through the night, even while being awakened in the middle of the night for a shot and lab draws {at two different times}; but she calmed quickly and went back to sleep and also took restful naps throughout the day. There is a marked difference in her when she actually rests while sleeping, and she is able to do this more, partly because I have started limiting the medical staff as to when they can bother her. Now that she is no longer critical, it just is not necessary for her to be assessed and have various vitals taken so many times in a row by so many different people {i.e. I appreciate the great care; but at this point, listening to her heart 5 or 6 times in a two hour period is a bit excessive}. Consequently, I now ask them to wait until she is awake, and the result is a contented, smiling baby during her wakeful periods. Her favorite part of today was when they allowed her to take a bottle while being evaluated by the speech pathologist; and thankfully, she did extremely well. There was a hint of discussion about the possible need for her to continue to be fed by tube once home, in order to avoid the choking episodes; but she does so well overall, that it looks as if we might be able to adjust some things ourselves in how we feed her and simply be more vigilant during her bottle sessions. She will be evaluated again tomorrow with a larger amount, and then the medical team will make their assessment and determine where to go from there. For now, they are allowing her to take a bottle every four hours and are continuing to feed her by tube during the off periods so that she is still obtaining all the necessary calories. I must admit that I have truly missed feeding her and thoroughly enjoyed that special time today~especially the sweet snuggle time afterwards!!
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| ~I LOVE my new Zebra Cuddle Rattle from Barbie!!~ |
There are still a few more issues to be resolved such as an evaluation of her desatting episodes at night, her reflux, her oxygen weaning, and the levels of her Lovenox shots along with the blood clot in her leg. She will undergo another echocardiogram tomorrow to recheck the function of her heart, and another ultrasound will be performed later this week to see how things with the blood clot are progressing. The encouraging news is that "home" was mentioned today, and the cardiologist thinks it is possible we will be there by the end of this week. While not trying to get ahead of ourselves, we are still very hopeful that this will be the case and are eagerly anticipating that time. In the meantime, we are learning to rest and be patient, knowing that God already has the date set and will bring us to that point in His time {but that is so very much easier said than actually done...it is a moment by moment process at some points during the days!!}. Thank you for your faithful prayers, and we hope to report another great day of progress again tomorrow.
*She is no longer in the PICU, but I have not yet figured out a new title and decided to leave things for now since she is still within the same unit*
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