Slow and steady wins the race?

We have had a couple fairly quiet days and Caroline is doing really well. She was extubated on Tuesday evening. It happened really fast. The doctor basically came in and said, "Let's try it and see what happens." and she has done very well since. It is so amazing to get to see her whole face and hear her cry. She still doesn't have her full vocal cord power - she is still sore from the respirator so her cry sounds like a little cat cry. She is on the nose cannulas for oxygen but is being weaned off of that. She is currently at 33% oxygen support with a flow rate of 3 liters. Room air is 21% so once she gets to 21%, they will wean the flow rate.


Her feedings are also going well. They are up to giving her 25 cc's of my milk through a feeding tube every 3 hours. I tried breast feeding yesterday and it didn't go very well. She got very upset so it didn't last long. Earlier today, we tried again. She didn't get upset but didn'treally care about it. Then, on a whim, we tried again tonight and she latched on for about 5 minutes. So, we are definitely on the right track.



Last night, we had kind of a scary episode. Well, it was scary for Jesse and me. Apparently, no one else thought it was a big deal including Caroline. She got something called Supraventricular tachycardia. At about 9:45 last night, about 10 minutes after this picture was taken

I was standing next to her bed, stroking her leg and all of the sudden her monitor started beeping. I looked up and it said that her heart was beating 247 times per minute. I of course said, "Well, that's not right!" Unfortunately it was. Within seconds, what seemed like the entire NICU staff was in her room. They kept insisting that it wasn't a huge deal; she could stay like that for several days if not weeks. They tried to get an EKG but they couldn't get the machine to work so to get her out of it, they got two pint sized bags of ice and put them on her face. Almost instantly, her heart rate went back down to normal ranges. The nurse said something like, "Well, she doesn't seem to be bothered by it at all." And she didn't. Basically until the people flooded in and the ice was applied to her face, you wouldn't have known anything was going on. This added tremendously to my concern. What if this happens when we get her home? How will I know if it is going on? I of course asked these questions and apparently, they do eventually show signs like not eating and fever. We were reassured repeatedly that this was not a big deal and it may never happen to her again. We had trouble leaving her last night but were so exhausted we had to leave to get some sleep by around 11:45.


This morning the cardiologist visited and again went through the episode and discussed the implications of the condition. He reiterated that this could have been an isolated incident but they would monitor it closely. He decided to put her on a beta blocker to help with her heart rate. This would be something she would need to be on before her heart surgery as well.


So, today was spent holding her and watching her sweet face! She is such a miracle!

It is so hard to leave her at night. Just like when I was pregnant with her, her most active time is at night. She is so alert and wants to look around and play. So, we have been staying pretty late to get in some extra bonding time. This has caused some pretty tired parents!!!


Please continue to pray for her and our family. We continue to feel like we are in a battle for her. She has come so far in her two weeks of life but she has a long way to go. Please pray for the doctors specifically. Pray that they know the right timing for each step they take with her. Praise God for everything He has done in her life so far and the impact she has already made.