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.