55 Days Old: Daily Update

Late one night, sometime shortly after Olivia was born, one of my oldest and dearest friends called, planning to leave me a supportive voicemail. I surprised her, by picking up the phone. We spoke for quite awhile. I shared with her more details about Olivia’s status, her condition, my emotions, than I had with anyone else. See… she’s one of my oldest friends, she’s incredibly straight forward… and she’s a nurse. Not only is she a nurse, but she’s a nurse in an intensive care unit. The words surgical and trauma are in there somewhere too. Maybe in a different state – with adults, not neonates – but regardless, she’s a STICU nurse so she sees a lot of crazy, messed up shit on the regular.

She said a lot that night, but one of the more simple, sticking points was: we have to be prepared for good days and bad days.

Maybe a lot of good days followed by a couple of bad days. Maybe some bad days followed by just one, glorious, good day. But that it was going to be a journey. An up and down, and up and down, and up and down kind of journey. We had to be prepared for a journey that may not be a simple and steady rise of good, better, best days.

This week has been a week of more bad days than good.

The respiratory events have continued each day since Monday. She’s thankfully been sleeping well (and uneventfully) each night, but each day seems to be filled with desats, bradys, bagging, and just an overall uncomfortable little girl. We’ve had a series of x-rays, adjusted ventilator settings, continued our usual tricks of rigorous chest PT, suctioning, and careful positioning, and even changed her ET tube to one with a cuff in an attempt to remove her major air leak from the list of possible culprits.

This morning’s xray looked good: no signs of atelectasis and the tube was positioned well. So next up we’re running a whole slew of labs and blood work to rule out infection. In addition, we’re going to begin giving her some fluids since we’ve paused her feeds, we may start her on antibiotics for 48 hours, and we’re reverting back to her original Reglan dosage (since that was one medical detail that had changed this week).

54daysold-sleepingatnight

In other baby news: Olivia had a massive blow out all over my favorite outfit of hers, and I successfully clipped all 10 fingernails without any issues or accidents 🙂 Grandma and Grandpa Guerrero will be arriving tomorrow for a visit, and Olivia is working on some special gifts to give Dad on Sunday!

9 Comments

  1. Ah there’s nothing like a good baby blow out 🙂 and you can bet it won’t be the last! The first time I clipped Emma’s nails, she bled… a lot! So congrats on that success– I know it’s not easy! Praying for more “ups” ahead. Xoxo Lauren

  2. You are navigating the ups and downs with such love, compassion and bravery ❤️ Sending lots of love and strength to each of you!

  3. God Bless you both for the endurance and love you are giving to Olivia!! I’m sure it matters, although it may not show in her now, but later it will.Hope more ups than downs come along soon.Prayers, strength, and love to all ❤️

  4. Good days are on their way miss Olivia! You keep fighting, I’ll keep praying. Sending so much love your way! 💝

  5. God Bless you all. You have incredible strength and faith. We are praying for you all every day that she overcomes these obstacles and gets stronger. She is precious and a beautiful gift for dad’s first Fathers Day. Love you all.

  6. We will be with you tomorrow Are hearts are with you now. I hope you can cuddle & hold her as much as possible. Please kiss her for me she is so cute. I have some gifts for her also, I hope Mommy approves
    Love Grandma

  7. We hope everyday for a good day for Olivia! And on bad days you have each other and all your family and friends to lean on. We love you both and that sweet little girl! ❤️

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