Updates

I just missed the call from the doctor this morning so she left a message on our home phone. In the message, she said that they did another car seat challenge on Elise last night and that not only did she fail again but they put her back on the pulse oximeter (to measure the O2 saturation in her blood). My heart dropped. I called Kit, and he was upset too, especially since we didn't know they were going to do it and hadn't been there like we had previously requested.

Well, after calling my mom crying on the way to the hospital and having her pray for me, I got to the hospital to find out that the nurse had read the car seat challenge form wrong. It wasn't from 5/14; it was from 5/4 - her first (and only) challenge. Phew! Please pray because tomorrow she's having her second challenge while I'm there. They'll put her in her car seat while hooked up to the monitors, including the pulse oximeter, and she has to do okay in it for 1-1/2 hours since that's the length they figure is the longest road trip most people would take with a newborn. Last time she had troubles with breathing and with desaturation.

In other news, after talking with the doctor on the phone at the hospital, she had me go ahead and schedule an outpatient eye exam for Elise for next week. They're keeping her Tuesday inpatient appointment in case she doesn't go home, but this way she'll still have an appointment if she does go home. The doctor also confirmed with the cardiologist that he wants to see her 4-6 weeks post-discharge for a follow up on her PDA.

As for her high blood pressure and possible kidney issues, I was able to be there for her ultrasound to check for blood clots yesterday. I got to hold Elise's arms and legs still so that the ultrasound technician could do all that he needed to do. It took a little over a half an hour, but she did relatively well given that he started right at her feeding time. Today the doctor gave us the results, and everything looks normal. They're still waiting on a couple of other tests, and they actually started her today on a medication for her kidneys (I'll confirm the name tomorrow because I neglected to write it down and therefore don't remember) that she'll continue taking once she comes home. Tomorrow the pediatric nephrologist (kidney doctor) will see her and set the official dose of the medication. Once he does that, the neonatolgist (NICU doctor) will write a prescription for us to get filled so that we have it ready should Elise come home on Sunday. Elise will also need to follow up with the nephrologist post-discharge since I guess it's hard for the pediatrician to get an accurate blood pressure.

So at this point the doctor is still hopeful that Elise will be ready to go home Sunday. Please pray that she doesn't have any more spells and that she passes that car seat challenge. Please also pray that if there are any other issues that need to be dealt with they will surface before we take her home as we want her to be as ready as possible to come home and don't want anything to be rushed.

The footprints on the left are from when Elise was first born. The ones on the right are from the Mother's Day card the nurses made.

Cuddling with daddy last night. Can you tell they're both exhausted?

She was out cold and enjoying her daddy.