Almost There

This is how they monitor Lila's oxygen saturation

This is Lila with a drawing that Sky made for her.

The oxygen was turned off this morning at 10am and so far Lila is doing well. The doctors like to see her oxygen saturation number at 92 and she's been between 89-93 consistently, mostly at 90. She needs to sustain this for 12-24 hours and, from what the nurses tell me, this will be most difficult while she's sleeping at night. So, we're in the home stretch. She still has some congestion but it has vastly improved. I told the doctor that I am not eager to leave the hospital until we are sure that she is well enough. The doctor also told me that some blood tests that were done

on Sunday while we were at urgent care have returned results and Lila has a type of bacterial influenza (so she will continue on the antibiotic even after we leave)-influenza B.

Animal Assisted Therapy

Lila had a great night with virtually no coughing episodes. This morning they tried to take her off the oxygen again (they turned it off for a 1/2 hour) but she couldn't sustain the oxygen saturation numbers that they are looking for. She is on the smallest dose possible but still seems to need that help. She's also still on the IV but also breastfed 5 times already today so I am encouraged by that. Her appetite seems to be returning. She continues with breathing treatments that will help break up some of the mucous in her lungs.

I like to try to engage the people who come through and I usually ask the repiratory therapists if they have any kids of their own. Well, today that question backfired. I asked this guy Marty that question and the floodgates opened. He told me all about his wife and how she didn't tell him before they got married that her tubes were tied, how she was already married to someone else when he married her, and on and on.

We had a special visit from a lady with her dog Bailey this morning. It's called Animal Assisted Therapy and the website is www.loveon4paws.org So apparently this lady and her dog visit people in the hospital and the patients' contact with the animal helps in the healing process. Lila didn't know quite what to make of it all but Bailey enjoyed Lila. I told the lady all about Lila's Pepere and Memere who breed labs in CT. A eldery man/volunteer also came to our room today looking for kids that he could read to. Lila was a little too young for that. God bless these volunteers who are out trying to brighten people's days!

Steady Improvement

Lila slept most of the day today but she did wake up long enough to "talk" on the phone with her big sister Sky. Right before the picture was taken she was very fussy and crying and then when she heard Sky's voice she settled right down. Sky sang her a few songs and she just had the cutest look on her face. Sky and Brad are not allowed to visit the hospital during flu season (which is now) but they are planning on joining me for dinner in the basement cafeteria tomorrow while daddy gets his Lila fix.

I saw the doctor today and he seemed to think that we might be ready to leave by the end of the week. Lila continues to receive breathing treatments every 6 hours. She coughed up a lot of gunk today, which is good. I also let the nurse deep suction her with a catheder. She just couldn't fall asleep and kept choking and sputtering. Everyone here thought it would be a good move to speed up the recovery process. I didn't want to watch that so I took a walk but the nurse told me that she was able to get a lot of gunk out. She is now breathing with no rattle sound. She is very peaceful right now. The nurse also gave her a bath which she enjoyed.

I know that lots of people are concerned about my well being but I really am fine. I am very grateful that Lila is getting such good care and is getting better and, quite honestly, I'm enjoying this slower change of pace with less responsibilities. I am calling this Club Kaiser as it is a sort of vacation for me.

Ken is the one who is really taking the brunt of all of this chaos as he has to manage taking care of Sky and Brad as well as his job. We have had some wonderful friends help out with caring for the kids. I can't imagine how we would be managing without them!

I enjoyed a nice visit with my friend Amy tonight. She had watched Brad today and said that she caught Brad and her son Trevor sharing a rotten tomato from a plant in her yard. She said that Trevor doesn't even like tomatoes but he was eating it along with Brad. Brad does have a problem with eating food out of other people's gardens-ripe, not ripe, or over ripe, he eats it all.

My friend Christine is graciously picking up and dropping off Sky at school everyday this week, and even taking her after school to do special things. I tell ya, we have some wonderful friends!

The Patient

Lila (and I) slept very well last night-the best in about a week, I'd say. I tried to feed her a few times during the night but she wasn't interested. Around 5 am, her breathing started to accelerate so the nurse did some chest percussions (light pounding on the chest) and that did seem to help. She also received a breathing treatment which usually settles her down.
She breastfed a little bit and then the nurse insisted on putting her back on the IV since she hadn't eaten since 9pm. That is fine with me. I don't want her to lose weight or not have enough nurishment. I continue to pump milk and try to keep my supply up.
I was encouraged last night when Lila was awake for a while and was very alert. I even got a few smiles out of her as I played with her. She is improving, it's just going to take time.
Last night I had a few thoughts as I reflected on this whole ordeal:
1. What if Lila didn't respond to the treatment given to her? She, of course, is responding beautifully and we are so thankful! But then I thought about God, as our Parent, wanting to give his treatment of grace to everyone but so many people don't want to accept it or simply don't respond to it. I know how I would feel if I had to just watch Lila slip away and get sicker and sicker. I wonder how much more God feels as He watches so many of the Creation that He made and loves "slip away" and be nonresponsive.
2. Haiti. Enough said, right? Those poor people! Lila has every comfort and treatment possible right here in her own private room in a big, beautiful hospital with her mom and dad by her side and an army of people praying for her. We have so much to be thankful for!

Room Change

Here are 2 pictures that I've been meaning to put on the blog:
Top: No, that is NOT Lila in the bouncy seat. It's the kitty that adopted us. Sky has named her Princess Peanut. Last week we had her spayed and gave her the vaccinations she needed. We still don't know where she came from but the kids love her and she is great with them, even Brad who terrorizes her.
Below: A few days ago we made Valentine cupcakes and decorated them. Sky had a great idea of how to make a heart shape with 2 candy canes.

Lila has been moved from Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) to just pediatrics. She never really needed to be in the ICU but there weren't enough beds in the ped. floor. Now there are enough beds in the ped. floor and they needed our room for a little one who really does need to be in the ICU. We enjoyed the extra care while we had it but our new room has a great perk-it's own bathroom with shower. And, wouldn't you know it, our new nurse is also a lactation consultant. God is good and He is definitely with us through all of this. We have really felt the prayers and have an inexplicable peace through this whole ordeal.

In my last post Lila's oxygen had been turned down a bit. Well, her oxygen saturation numbers were dipping too low so they turned it back up. However, she hasn't had to have the IV again and has breastfed a few times today.

Bells, Whistles, Wires and Tubes

Lila continues to receive great care and monitoring here at the hospital. She breastfed twice since my last post and they have taken her off the IV. She is producing pee and poop diapers which is something that they also monitor closely, even weighing them. They have turned down the oxygen level in her breathing tube and so far she is pretty much holding her own with just a few dips now and then. She will need to improve more in this area before she can be done with the oxygen tubes in her nose. Her cough is still horrible-still lots of gunk in the lungs.

The highlight of her day was being able to spend some time with daddy while I went home to take a shower. It feels good to be clean. There is no bathroom in our room. We actually have to go quite a ways down a few halls to get to the bathroom.

Not RSV

The nurse just came in a few minutes ago and said that the test for RSV came back negative. I'm now waiting to speak to the doctor to hear any other throries on what it could be. Lila had an ok night. Still lots of coughing and choking. She did vomit up a bunch of mucous early this morning. During the night she was suctioned again and had 2 breathing treatments. She's definitely sleeping more peacefully. Her blood work came back and showed an increase in white blood cells which makes sense if her body is fighting off an infection. Please pray for my milk supply to stay up even though she is receiving almost all of her nurishment via the IV. I'm pumping but I already feel a drop off in production.
On a different note, Ken got an interesting report from the babysitter. Here's what he wrote:
So here's a story for ya. Shayleen (the mom who took Brad yesterday) said that she changed Brad's poopy diaper and that Brad told her he knows how to go potty. So after that, when he had to pee, she said that he stood up in front of the toilet and did some pee in the potty!!! I said "What!? No. That isn't right. He's never done that before." She said, "Well, he seemed to know what to do." Then I said, "OK Shayleen, Brad will be spending more time at your house this week!" So after everyone left, I asked Brad about it. He said "I did a mo-bit (that's how he says "little bit" pee in the potty."