Day 8, Wed., Dec. 10

<---Dad's foot <---Just in case there was any questions this is my little girl--look at this foot.

Bubbles ^
<---New ventilator

Mom saved my baby blanket from 34 years ago ^

<--- 1st family portrait

Another good day for our princess. They took her off the harmonic ventilator (HIFI)and put her on a regular one, which is a big step. The harmonic ventilator would keep her lungs expanded pretty much all the time, and it vibrated her. The regular ventilator gives her a pre-set number of breathes per minute and expands and contracts her lungs. They first set her at 40 then reduced it to 36, which is good. They continue to reduce her dopamine, which is now set at 5. I cannot keep track of all the numbers, but apparently this is another step in the right direction.

Her nurse practicioner, Liz, said she did have a level 1 bleed in her brain (we were waiting on these results from yesterday), but this is fine. They will give her physical therapy in a few weeks or months (we'll be involved too), and this will help her tremendously. She shouldn't have any long-term effects from this. More good news!

She is still retaining a lot of fluid, but this is normal. She's peeing quite well, which is helping to eliminate the fluid. And she's not eliminating too fast either, which would screw up her electrolytes. The nurse said she should excrete most of it within the next week or two. Once she does eliminate more fluid they'll be able to put in a PIC IV, which is better than the regular IV's they've been giving her. It will last longer so they won't have to keep finding new spots to stick her :-(. Poor baby.

If she continues to do well on this new ventilator then they'll take out the tube in her chest tomorrow and seal up the incision Friday.

Today we met another couple that has a baby next to ours that was born two months ago at about the same weight. Her name is Cameron, and she's doing very well now. It was so nice to meet someone else going through the same thing. We chatted for about 30 minutes. They live in north Tampa, so we may become good friends.

We cannot express how thankful we are of all the support, prayers, and good thoughts everyone is sending her way. It does make a huge difference, as you can see. We could not go through this by ourselves. XOXOXO

Her 1st video