One Step Back

CA has been doing so well over the past 11 days, we knew it wouldn't last forever.

Today she had to go back on the ventilator. The NICU staff was having a hard time keeping her O2 sats up all morning-- she was just too tired to breathe properly on her own. About 12:30 this afternoon, they switched her back to the vent, took some blood and ran a blood culture.

They aren't exactly sure why she needed to go back on the vent, especially since her bloodwork came back looking pretty good. They are still waiting to get the blood culture back (which tries to identify the exact bacteria that is causing an infection) and it should be back in a few days. They did give her another blood transfusion since her levels were pretty low, but other than that, they've just been letting her do her own thing.

They've stopped her feeds for a few days, and they're continuing to monitor her progress. At this point, she's not "riding" the vent (she's breathing more than the vent 'forces' her to breathe-- this means she's not relying solely on the vent for O2, she's still trying to breathe on her own) which is great. The doctors and nurses keep reminding us that she's gone so long without being on the vent and that she's doing oh so well, especially for a baby her size and age. She really is a miracle baby.

Once I can figure out how to load pictures onto the blog from Aperture, I'll be all over it.