Progress!

June 20th, 2009

Chloe, Chloe, Chloe. It seems I eat, breathe and sleep little Chloe! She is never a nanosecond away in my thoughts, like the waves rising and falling at the beach, the thoughts have become constant. It is a quiet day at the hospital, a welcome, quiet day. The last week, since the surgery, passed incredibly fast, yet at times the intensity was grueling. I just want this baby to not be going through this, sadly enough, that will never be the story my words tell. We are approaching the nine week mark and thankfully making progress and little by little watching all those nasty but necessary tubes and wires disappear. Yesterday, the arterial line that had to stay in for a while to monitor blood pressure was removed, giving Chloe much more freedom to use her little arm and be assured much more comfort. It was tethered to her arm on a little board so she couldn't pull it out and it looked very irritating to her. She has been pretty medicated, but as of Thursday the weaning of pain meds had begun. She still needed a bit of Ativan yesterday along with some Tylenol to help her settle and rest, but seems to be doing so well! Last night required some of the pain medication again during the night and she has still been a bit restless today, but does not appear to be uncomfortable. The nicest thing is that since the Nissen G-tube has been placed, there is no more tube in her nose! and since they began feeding her, ever so slowly, she has made her way to full feedings dispersed over about an hour. Her tummy is lovin' the nourishment, so that in itself is prayers answered. Remember when the stomach was too small for the g-tube? It growing and accepting the larger amounts of food each day AND her GREAT pooping are all signs that point to the road home! Early next week the trials for removing the ventilator will begin and that is our next big hurdle. That success level of that will be a big determining factor about when she will go home.

So, we still spend most of our time here, although I took some time for myself this week and did a few hours of work here and there. I have really missed my students, many of whom have been with me for quite a while and seem like family themselves. It was good for me to do what comes so naturally in a bit of a routine. Joe, my husband, has returned from New Mexico just this morning. It has been three days since before Chloe was born that he left for work there. Having had his work hours cut in half at his company did not allow us the flexibility we might have had at some other time to have him take some leave from work to help out here. It is going to be much appreciated on all fronts to have him back at home! He'll be back to working half time, but we have lots of things to keep him busy! Ha! The weekend hopefully will pass with no to-do and we will have a quick Father's Day BBQ for Joe and Lance at our house on Sunday. Thanks everyone, for the truly amazing prayer work! It is ABSOLUTELY impacting the outcome here. I hope to continue to reach more people, I just keep having this feeling that reaching that 1,000 people mark is going to be significant! Please continue inviting everyone you can reach. Hoping you all have a restful weekend. I'm going to go have a little chat with Miss Chloe, who has just woken up from a nice nap. Lovingly, Nancy