Day 3: hardest day thus far.

Today was just plain long. We got to the ICU tired to start, so it just automatically felt like the day would be long.

Overnight, Piper had let go of a lot of blood via her chest tubes, a whole 90mls, which is quite a bit. It was probably just a little clogged over night and finally let go, but it just meant that today they wouldn't take out her chest tubes because of that. There might be more to drain.

Oh well. Not all that bad.

They had to give her some blood over night, because her red blood cells were low (might be because of the blood she lost through her tubes). It was strange to walk in this morning to see her hooked up to a little baggy of blood. But they just kept it there until her hemoglobin was back up again.

She has been peeing enough, which is good, nothing too worry about there.

Next was the extubation.

This turned into a much bigger deal than I thought.

The RT (respiratory technician) came and got everything ready and got the tube out in no time. That part wasn't dramatic at all. It came out no problem. They just really wanted her to cough some of the lung garbage out. You could hear it in her lungs and in her throat but she was still a bit too drugged to really want to cough.

She did start a really mini cry. It was so tiny and weak, she sounded like a little kitten! Or a mouse. It grew a little bit more and more with all of her thrashings and wigglings. This was hard to watch as she was squirming so bad and making crying sounds and looked like she wanted to be picked up so bad. She would turn over with her arms out towards the side and I just wanted to scoop her up so bad! It really looked like she wanted her Mommy.

But alas, not time yet! With a lot of pats on her back and front, with saline up her nose and down her throat and some gases being put in her face all in an attempt to make her cough and loosen some of that lung phlegm .

At one point, the RT was dripping with sweat trying to work on Piper, as our nurse was half holding her, continually shaking her. Thinking back on it now, it did look like they were really jostling that baby.

At some point her heart rate was at 211. Oh my. That is fast! Her temp was also high, but that was from working pretty hard.

Anyways, she really didn't end up coughing, but got really close. They suctioned her a few times and got some of the stuff out, but decided to just give her a break and let her rest.

Phewf. That was the first time I wanted to just walk away and not know what was going on. I really wanted to, but I wanted to be there more, I guess, even though it was hard.

She now has super good for you oxygen that is in her nose, and it was at 100% to start off and when we left tonight they had decreased it to 70% and they will keep bringing it down so she can do more on her own.

Once that was all done, her temp was still high, so the next job was to get her cool. Her temperature was at 39 at some point, again, too high.

She got this cooling bed thing, which is like a blow up mattress but with a bunch of tiny perforated holes that blow out cool air. It also makes great white noise, so this thingy calmed and cooled her down really fast. And it just looked so comfy.

Those blue arm bands are just to keep her from grabbing her tubes now... I think they kinda look like super-hero pieces that could hold like poison darts or GPS or something like that.
I think she looks so much more like herself without the breathing tube. I think she was happy to have it out, too, and to be done with all the cough-cough drama.

Then, as we were talking to another mom who's baby also had TOF and we were comparing notes, Piper had a nice little awake time. This time, she was really looking around at us. She was pretty dozy still, but could look at both of our faces and really kinda take it in.
Her awake times have only been a few minutes at best, but at least they aren't the same crazy wiggling times when she is fighting so hard. Now it seems like she is just slowly becoming aware of what is around her. She is still on morphine, so she is still pretty dopey, but it is so nice to see her eyes!


We are loving our nurses :) All the ICU nurses have been great and we see the cardiology and hematology nurses on the weekdays. There are lots of good people taking care of us. We talked some more with the nurse Piper today about being a grown-up Piper and how she feels about the name. It was pretty neat.

Here is our ICU nurse who has been so great. She told us that when Piper does finally cough (as she will much more when she resurfaces on this planet), we should hold a stuffed toy onto her chest as a brace, to help with the pain.

We had a good few visits today from family and friends and that was pretty nice. We even got out more than once, which I think is really healthy. We walked somewhere for lunch and then got taken out for dinner, which helped me feel really normal. I got a pretty martini :)

Here is a new friend for Piper. It is a ball-shaped giraffe. But these toys are donated, and even given little individualized notes from today. How cool! He is such a happy giraffe ball.

All in all, things are looking pretty decent. It looks like Piper will be in the ICU for tomorrow and probably be sent up to recovery on Monday. There is a teeny-tiny chance she could go tomorrow, but unlikely. That is ok. If she needs more attention for a while that is ok.

It is a bit tiring being in there, but I know she is getting what she needs. Hopefully tomorrow, we'll be able to hold her. I think that would really, really, really make my day. I am really starting to miss her...