I'm feeling better today

Zoë is doing a lot better today. She seems like her old self. She has been more awake today then yesterday. She doesn't looked wiped out anymore. She is also eating like a champ. She has been eating every 2 hours. She has been taking down 75cc (2 1/2 oz) each time. She also takes it down from 4-5 minutes. This is much faster then when we were at home. She has even started doing her hungry cry. Her hungry cry is her being mad. She has such a temper.

Today they started to wean her oxygen down. This is going to be the kicker for us going home. She started out at 5 liters 50% and is currently down to 2 liters and 40 % oxygen. They are going to try to take her off of the low flow oxygen machine and put her on pure oxygen. We need to get to .2 liters with no apnea episodes. Her last apnea episode was late last night. She also needs to finish her rounds of antibiotics. Her XRay from this morning came back. The pneumonia is starting to go away, it is less then the other night but not fully gone. The antibiotics are helping. Since they are given by IV, she wont be able to go if the IV is still in her. Also since her veins in her hands and feet were week because of the NICU IVs, they had to stick the IV in her head. I know it sounds kind of weird, but this is done on preemies all the time. It is a bunch of tape and gauze covering it up, so it doesn't move. I call it her hair bow. She did not have to have her head shaved, I've already had that question asked. We did try her feet first, but the veins were too week. She is still in the PICU, we may move to a regular room but this is not for sure. This all depends on her progress

She currently has a cough and runny nose. She sounds so cute when she sneezes, its like she is trying to hold it in. We need to record it and post it. It seems like with her that every 12 hours we have seen some type of improvement.

We are here for another night and will possibly be here through the weekend. Sorry we will miss the pool party on Saturday for cousin Bryna and cousin BJ's birthday.

I have ran into several nurses that took care of Zoë in the NICU. It was good to see them, just not under these conditions. Her pediatrician also stopped by today to see how we were doing. This really meant a lot, since she came to see how we (Soilo and I) were holding up. Her pulmonologist also stopped by to check on her, they had been downloading the information from the apnea monitor directly to his office. Phoenix Children's is the best.

Since she is stable, I am off to work tomorrow. Daddy has the day off, so he will spend all day with Zoë. It is good to see her smile again and converse with us. Right now Daddy is holding her and she is awake looking around the room. Only a couple more days of this and we are back home......