Breathing Easier

The title of this post is "Breathing Easier", which is a good title for both Sarah and me as well as Elora.  We've continued to take very positive steps forward this weekend in both respiratory and digestive arenas.  You can see our happy faces in the picture included in this post! :)

To our surprise, the doctor told us this morning that they were taking the ventilator tube out (extubating) and were going to be moving Elora to a less intense type of breathing support.  The breathing tube, although required up until this point, is pretty hard on Elora's fragile little lungs.  This new breathing support fits over her nose and helps provide oxygen and positive air pressure in her lungs.  It is very similar to the machines that people will sometimes use if they have sleep apnea.  I'm not sure if they would ever put her tube back in, but for right now, this is a big step forward to help her lungs recover from the previous ventilator and allow her to breathe more on her own.

Elora has also been doing great with feeding.  Finally!  Sarah's constant pumping is being used for something! Since her digestive system started moving things through last Tuesday, on Friday Elora began getting 1 ML of milk every 6 hours.  On Saturday that went to 1 ML every 3 hours.  Today, since she has been processing this so well they have moved her to a continuous drip of milk that equates to about 1 ML every hour.  Eventually they will get her on a cadence where she gets more milk less often, but this again is a huge step forward and answer to prayer.  These true feedings (not just the IV feeds) are going to be critical to her development and growth.  We are already starting to see some extra chunk on her (if you can believe it) and I would imagine that if we continue, she'll be fattening up soon enough.  (I guess that kind of makes her sounds like the Christmas goose.)

All in all, this was a very good week! Praise God from whom all blessings flow! We would be grateful if you would continue to pray with us that her feedings increase, her lungs strengthen/heal, and the blood in her brain continues to drain.