Saturday, March 21, 2009

Weekend Update

Now that Callie is a little bigger, the nurses are consistently letting us hold her on every good day that she has. It is such a blessing! On days when Daddy is at work, Mommy can do Kangaroo Care and when Daddy is here, we get to dress her up in her cute preemie clothes and take turns holding her! This is Callie today right before we took her out of her isolette.

Johns Hopkins NICU has 14 Neonatologists that rotate coverage of the unit every two weeks. One issue Callie has is that her Endo-Tracheal tube is getting too small for her and she has a significant leak. This basically means that she isn't getting all of the support that the ventilator is providing. At some point, they need to take it out and put in a larger size. Her doctor from last week was very happy to let her ride on the current ventilator settings and current ET tube, assuming her stats remained consistent, when for the most part they have been. Then her new Neonatologist came on yesterday and has changed the plan. He has taken her vent settings down two levels and plans to attempt extubation tomorrow. If she isn't ready, they will go ahead and put in the bigger tube. It would be wonderful if Callie is ready and could get rid of that tube. You can really see her annoyance with it. She is always trying to move her head away from it...you feel bad for her, but at this point, she does need it. They tell us that many times, extubation is not successful and they have to try several times before it works. So, we hope that it works and pray that either way it isn't traumatic for our girl.

5 comments:

  1. I will keep up the prayers for your sweet Callie! She looks so cute! Here's hoping that tomorrow's procedure goes well and the vent becomes a thing of the past.
    God's love and peace to all three of you!
    Nancy

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a great picture with her arms in the air. It looks like she's saying "look Mommy and Daddy, no hands." No IV's and hopefully, tomorrow, no more tube.

    Callie looks adorable in her new preemie clothes.

    Love,
    Kim and Jack
    XOXOXO

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's terrific news that both of you can spend time holding her. Its also great that she's holding up her arms and cheering, "Touchdown Ravens!" Clearly she is as brilliant as she is cute.

    Much love to you both and prayers always,

    Phil and Delyza

    ReplyDelete
  4. Callie,

    I know you are going to do great without your tube. You are so strong and I can tell that you are getting stronger everyday!

    You look so precious with your new clothes!

    I love you so much Callie!

    Love,
    Aunt Britty

    ReplyDelete
  5. Go callie! You look amazing...we love you.
    Hannah and Joe

    ReplyDelete