Month: March 2010

Today was a good day.

 - by Brittany

Kevin was able to spend time with Ella Wednesday night and feed her. When he climbed into bed, he tried to tell me about the nights events, but I don’t think I fully woke up to appreciate them. Apparently, he has officially been through fatherhood initiation. He was changing Ella’s massive diaper that has been building for 11 days, and in the middle of changing it, she decided to continue her initiation process. He said he went through 3 diapers in one changing sessions. Makes me laugh now that I’m coherent.

This morning Kevin went to the hospital while I took Jameson to play group. We both needed to get out of the house, and not just to go to the hospital. Jameson loves playing with his friends. Kevin gave me the update about how her arterial line was taken out and she is up to 65 cc of food which is just over 2 ounces. This means the only tubes she has is her feeding tube, and her monitor wires.

I went over for her afternoon feedings and she actually ate 68cc for me. She doesn’t do as well with a bottle. She pretty much makes a mess. I fed her at 5, then left for a special occasion. My friend from highschool was getting sealed tonight. We were suppose to go to the endowment session Tuesday, but had a slight change in our plans. I guess a baby can do that. I really wanted to go see them, though, so it worked out I could go by the temple tonight and see them after their sealing. I got there and asked the group sitting out front if they were part of the Brooks family. They said yes, and were quick to make me feel comfortable with them. They introduced me to all the uncles and included me in the 20 minutes we spent together. I am so excited for this cute family and hope they don’t care I post a picture for our friends in Vegas.

dsc01504-large.JPG (Sorry Scott’s eyes are  closed, but all the girls are adorable.)

Before leaving, I snapped this picture.

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I sat in the parking lot, looking at this beautiful sight, and thought about this building’s meaning. I am so grateful for all the prayers and blessings given on Ella’s behalf. She was on a few different temple prayer rolls, and more people than I know were praying for her. Everyone keeps asking how I have been so calm while talking about what’s been going on. I have felt peace throughout this experience. I know it is because of the prayers that have been said and are still being said for our family. Being at the temple tonight, and being reminded that this family has been sealed for time and all eternity, made me think about my own family. I’m so grateful for the knowledge that no matter what happens with our little girl, she is ours forever.

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Wednesday Update

 - by Kevin

Ella is really doing great now. She’s off of the Photo Therapy (lights that help reduce Jaundice) and into some nice comfortable PJs and swaddling blankets. She’s much happier now and is starting to fall right into the classic 3 hour infant schedule (sleep, eat, play). I got to hold her and feed her with a bottle today which was really neat. Brittany was right when she said that she will fall asleep half way through feedings and not wake up. She got about half way through her bottle and was fast asleep. I tried tickling her feet, burping her, rubbing her back, all the classics to no avail. She was resting comfortably and that was the end of it. If she wasn’t hooked up to a million lines, it may have been easier to wake her, but she could use the rest anyway. The nurse came in and fed the remainder through her feeding line.

 Although I don’t know for sure, I think we only have a few more days until she’s able to go home.

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One less tube

 - by Brittany

They were able to take Ella completely off oxygen last night, and she’s been doing great. Now all she has left are the feeding tube (now in her nose) and the line through her belly button. They are hoping to take that line out tomorrow. They didn’t do it today just in case something happened when they took the O2 away. She will be done with her tanning sessions tonight at 7 pm. Her jaundice levels dropped today to 12. (They put her on the lights, because she reached a 16.5) They will continue to watch her jaundice over the next two days, while increasing her food supply. Right now she is at about an ounce every 3 hours. Every feeding they are giving her a little more to get her up to where she should be and a little less in the IV.

I was also able to feed her this afternoon… no bottle, no feeding tube, just me. I really never thought I would be glad to nurse, but today I am. She had no problems figuring out what to do, and got about an ounce. They figure this out by weighing her before and after her feeding. The nurse said it’s pretty accurate, except she still has a lot of wires which could through the weight off a bit. They gave her the rest of her feeding through the tube.

Here she is today, getting her tan on. Sorry she looks blue, that’s what the light does.

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One week

 - by Brittany

***For those confused, at the bottom of each post, the author is listed. By admin= Kevin, by Brittany= Brittany.***

Ella is now one week old and in celebration, I got to hold her. Kevin had called Sunday night telling me I should be jealous, because he was finally getting to hold her. I was. But I was also so glad she was finally able to get some love. When I got there last night, after all her stats were taken, they put her in my arms. Finally! She was sucking so hard on her binki just before, so the nurse was getting her food. Once she was in my arms, she no longer cared and just sat staring at me.

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Then it was my turn to call Kevin and tell him to be jealous. I got to feed her a bottle. She is getting 10cc which is half an ounce. She drank half her bottle, including her blue juice (morphine) and the rest was given to her through her feeding tube. Once she got all her food, she snuggled in close and was content.

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They let me hold her for about an hour, before she needed to go back under the lights. I told them next time to turn the lights and we both can tan while I hold her. She’s under the lights, because her jaundice level jumped to over 16. Hopefully, with some food to get her liver working, those levels will come down. Just before I was going to leave she got a little upset.

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She was getting hungry, but the nurse had taken her feeding tube out. The tape was starting to wear, and it was sliding around. She put a smaller tube back in, but put it through her nose instead. She said it’s actually more comfortable through the nose than mouth. Ella was not a happy camper about that one. She still had the oxygen, so there was a few things going into her nose. Katherine, the respiratory nurse, didn’t think she would need the oxygen much longer. She was looking so good. We finally got her calmed down enough to give her the milk through her feeding tube. Once she got some food in her stomach, she fell back asleep.

P.S. The nurses call her mittens her boxing gloves. Every time they try and do anything she fights them off.

Monday Update

 - by Kevin

I’m happy to report that Ella’s still doing very well. Last night I was at the hospital really late because Ella was pretty restless and I was finally able to hold her! The nurse and I tried to console her for nearly an hour before we finally got the idea that she just wanted to be held. Once she was in my arms, she fell fast asleep. It was a little akward because she still has around a million wires hooked up to her, but it was really good to finally get to hold her.

the doctor decided to continue her on Morphine for a while so that she can get better rest during this crucial recovery period. She’s starting to get her voice back again and make some real baby noises which is really encouraging. I think most parents would be less excited about that, but we’re both really looking forward to a good, loud, hard cry.

Ella’s been doing really well with her feedings and the doctor just doubled the amount, which means she will get 10cc of milk ever 3 hours instead of the 5cc that she got late yesterday. She’s still on the nasal cannula, but the flow was turned down from 5lpm at 23% O2 to 3lpm without any enrichment (21% O2) and her O2 saturation rates are steadily 97-100%.

Are they related?

 - by Brittany

Today has been a good day. Ella had her breathing tube taken out, and has done well all day. She only gets upset when the morphine wears off. We had an uneventful afternoon which is good. Kevin headed back to see her tonight. She is supposed to be getting actual milk (about 1 teaspoon) tonight around 8 pm. Hopefully she will do well and be able to receive more. I think this will help calm her down a little, too. It should also help with her jaundice. Every day she gets a little more yellow, but not enough to treat. Once she starts digesting food it should help flush her system. She loves to be held tight, but for now all we can do is place our hands over her body and arms. She also loves to have things next to her head, just like her brother.

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Everyone keeps telling me how much she looks like Jameson. Today she opened her eyes for long enough to snap a picture. What do you think?

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Sunday Morning Update

 - by Kevin

Mission: Extubate

Status: Complete

Ella’s doctor didn’t see a lot of the swelling go down overnight which is usually realized when you start to hear “baby noises”, though they did see some nostril flaring meaning that there was air leaking around her tube. With this information, the decision was made to extubate here. I wish I had a picture of this because there was equipment and tools and all sorts of medical equipment all over the place as a backup in case the extubation failed. When the nurses pulled the tube, she let out a good, hoarse cry, the first we’ve heard in a long time. It was a tense few minutes as the nurses frantically worked around her to get her mouth cleaned out and the nasal cannula installed, and the doctor and I stood in the back watching the O2 saturation level and heart rate. They also administered a quick dose of epinephrine mist in some of her first breaths to open her trachea and lungs. Finally, things started to get a little more stable and we could all hear her breathing quickly.

One of the recurring problems is that Ella is so strong and feisty. She really gives the nurses a hard time with her arms flailing and her legs kicking. They have had to get creative about restraining her and are constantly calming her when she wakes up upset.

Right now she is breathing through a cannula with 23% oxygen enriched air and is under a hood that is 80% Helium and 20% oxygen. The helium is used in place of nitrogen because it’s less dense, and is easier to breathe through a small space. She’s on a little bit of morphine right now to keep her calm. The nurses tried to soothe her for about 30 minutes, but finally relented and gave her some drugs. She’s much more calm now which makes me happy to know that she’s resting and not fighting the equipment thus risking further injury. They plan on giving her some milk later today to see how her digestive system is working. She only had a few cc’s of colostrum on her second day, and we are all anxious to get her eating. I am also really looking forward to holding her.

Saturday Night Update

 - by Brittany

Last night was a little more eventful than the past few. Not because anything medically happened, but because Ella keeps trying to extubate herself. She was really upset not long after I got there. It took a while to calm her down. She looks so sad when she’s upset, because she can’t cry but makes the face of crying. The nurse gave her her small dose of morphine for the night and cleaned her lines, which helped her calm down.

About an hour and a half later, she was sleeping peacefully when I could hear air leaking, and her little hand was in the air. I looked and she had pulled on the tube that cleans her ventilator and unhooked it! I told the nurse her tube was leaking air and she came running. I think I gave her a heart attack. I wasn’t sure how big of a deal it was. Luckily, it was not her main line, and it wasn’t too bad. She was just concerned as to why the alarm didn’t sound. She called in the respiratory specialist to check the lines and alarms. I guess it takes 20 seconds for the alarm to sound. Then they debated how to restrain her. That was about the 3rd time in the 2 hours I’d been there she had gotten out of her mittens and make-shift restraints. The nurse ended up wrapping blankets over her legs and chest, and then she added a sandbag on top of her chest for weight. (They don’t like to wrap the blankets because then it blocks the heat lamp, but we have our priorities.)

The nurse told me Ella acted up Friday night trying to get to her tubes, and she sat in the room the whole night with her. She planned to do the same thing last night, and brought a book. It made me feel better knowing when I left she would have someone with her constantly. Hopefully she left her tubes alone the rest the night.

Saturday Morning Update

 - by Kevin

Ella had another uneventful night in the NICU. She did well with her steroids, but she hasn’t made the progress that the doctors were hoping for.

The tube that is inserted into her trachea is a smaller tube than was originally installed, and is small enought that a baby Ella’s size should have some room between the outside of the tube and her trachea that air could move freely. currently, there is no air escaping through this expected gap which tells us that there is swelling in that area which is sealing against the outside of the tube. The doctors were waiting to see (on the machines) and hear air passing through that gap as an indication that the steroids are working on the inflammation and she’s ready to be extubated. Because they haven’t seen this yet, they are going to try another more targeted steroid and give her another day to see how she progresses. If she makes progress in this time, they’ll reattempt the extubation.

On a very positive note, her lungs are even better today than they have been, and she’s been breathing non-enriched air (21% O2) while maintaining a 99-100% oxygen saturation rate. This means that her lungs are not an issue anymore, we just need to get the swelling down in her throat.

Friday Night Update

 - by Brittany

Ella has been stable all day. She’s about to get her second round of steroids. They’ve reduced the amount of morphine she’s on to start to wean her from that, also. They will do another round of steroids at 4 am and then evaluate where she’s at. If all goes well they can take her tubes out tomorrow. The steroids will continue for 24 hours after that. (The steroids will help reduce any swelling and help when the tubes are removed.)

She had a roommate today named Betsy. She came in with the same thing, but was able to go back with her mom tonight. She liked to sing and make lots of noises, but the doctor cleared her to go. Her mom is going to have a long night listening to her. 🙂