Day 15

Yesterday was a really good day. Erin had good sats and blood gases all day long, to the point where Jamie and Barbara Deal, Chief of Cardiology at Children's relented to remove the head monitor that she has been wearing on her forehead since her incarceration. She was very happy with that decision, and Sheila especially so. Sheila was concerned that each time that the monitor was removed (once per day), little Erin was getting an eyebrow wax.

Erin was also given the green light to eat as much as she wants with no restrictions. She is proving to be a really good eater, eating as much as 85 ml in a single feeding. She is also more alert and beginning to smile and interact.

Tom Chester came by to take us to lunch yesterday, which was a nice break. Aunt Colleen also stopped by for a few minutes.

After dinner last night, Erin and I spent two and one-half hours of quality time hanging out. It was marred only by the nurses inability to spend any time on Erin because of the needs of her other charge, a preemie at the far end of the room. I was questioning the staffing decision to have her handle both Erin at one end, and a baby that requires almost constant attention at the other. When I came back from dinner after the shift change, I found that Erin was really agitated and upset. I was unable to calm her down, and couldn't figure out what was wrong. I finally decided to look at her diaper, and found that the had a royal mess. Apparently, they had been too busy during shift change to change it, which is something that they regularly take care of. Once her diaper was changed, she was more calm, but still agitated as she wanted to eat. It took the nurse 30 minutes from the time I asked to get a bottle ready for Erin, and that was only because of the intervention of another nurse. It's not that they weren't trying, just that they had their hands full with the other baby. But it did leave me questioning the staffing decision. The good news is that Erin was hungry, and best of all, her sats hit highs of 93 several times. She was happy and alert, and we had a great time. I had been planning on sneaking out early at 9, but stayed until almost 10:30 because Erin was wide awake and we were having a great time.

Her Milrinone has been cut in half today, with the goal of reducing it to zero on Monday. The last time we tried this it was unsuccessful, so we have our fingers crossed. If that works, then we try to wean off oxygen, a process that will take most of the week.