Daily Dose: Wednesday, July 8

Hope had a rough night last night and her morning was a bit rough as well. Yesterday, the doctors weaned Hope's ventilator settings down quite a bit even though Hope had an increased number of desats. The wean apparently went too far for Hope's pleasure because she had 50 events between 8pm last night when Mommy & Daddy left and 10am today when her ventilatory support was raised- 50 events is the amount that the computer can store. After her settings were raised, Hope did much better, but still had a few events because her respiratory reserves weren't quite caught up.

Hope was much more pleasant and far less agitated today. She had a very very large #2 (poop) last night that made her much more comfortable.

As you can see from the picture, Hope is still getting the "glove" treatment, and no one is very happy about it.

Daily Dose: Sunday, June 28

Hope trying to figure out what those hideous things are on Mommy & Daddy's hands

Hope had a good day today, but Mommy & Daddy are a little frustrated. She has done well with her feedings lately and seems to be doing well with her ventilation, having an exceptional blood gas last night.

As a routine measure, all the babies in the NICU, including Hope, were cultured for bacterial infections. Hope's cultures came back positive for a bacteria that is not making her sick, but is probably just part of her normal flora. Because of that, as long as Hope is in the hospital she will be in "contact isolation," meaning that gloves and gowns must be worn by anyone who interacts with Hope at all times. Not being able to touch Hope does not work for Mommy & Daddy, AT ALL!!

Tomorrow morning, Mommy & Daddy will be putting up a good fight to try and get some type of exception made. However, as you can see from the picture, today Mommy & Daddy's hands turned to prunes and Hope was not excited about it.