Day 3- Saturday

Saturday started out pretty well, but ended a little bit on the rougher side. Oliver had stayed the night with her on Friday night and had an uneventful night. She ended up staying in the PICU on Friday night, which we were grateful for. It was much quieter and apparently it was too busy in the step down unit for her to get enough attention, and because she was still de-sating they asked if we wanted to stay in the PICU on more night. I slept at home again on Friday night and drove back to the hospital yesterday. When I got to the hospital, Sofia was awake and very alert in the PICU. Looked very good. She even had gotten up and taken a walk down the hall to see the aquarium before I had gotten there. She napped on and off during the afternoon. Chris came up to see her, and I had driven Oma in with me so she had a nice time visiting. In the evening, she wanted to take another walk, but ended up wanting to ride in the wheelchair instead. Walking is encouraged at this point because she had a little fluid around her right lung and walking would be good for strengthening her lungs. Respiratory therapy is also coming a few times a day to do some exercises. After moving over to the step down unit, Emily and T.J. came up in the evening and Oliver left to go home and be with Adelaide. It was a nice visit, but Sofia wasn't feeling particularly well. She kept complaining that her side hurt. She ended up throwing up twice, which was kind of unexpected because she had been fine up until this point. She also looked pale and didn't appear to be feeling well. The step down unit is full and there is are crying babies on both sides, which are essentially separated by curtains (the dreaded "pod" area). A good night's sleep is almost out of the question. At about midnight the nurse woke me up because she had been de-sated for about 15 minutes and the nurse paged respiratory therapy check her out and she also paged the doctor. The doctor came and checked on her and wasn't too concerned with her sats. There appeared to maybe have been a kink the in the humidifier on the oxygen and when they got a new one, her numbers were better. He was a little concerned that she hadn't pooped yet though since surgery and was pretty distended. He gave her something to help with that and she was uncomfortable all night and was up for a few hours. At one point I asked her how she was feeling and she said "kind of awful." Poor baby. She kept falling asleep sitting on the potty too. Finally this morning after being able to go to the bathroom, she felt much better. Her color looks better and the resident said that they will be taking out one of the chest tubes today. I'm waiting to get the results of her morning x-ray to see how her lungs look today. Progress is slow, but I think we're getting there. She is such a good girl. Let's hope this mother's day turns out to be a great one.

see the resemblance? Sofia at 3 and a half

and Sofia at a few days old

getting ready for her stroll

with one of her favorite nurses getting some morphine before our walk