We Feel Blue

Today was the day we made the decision to leave the hospital.  If you were not here to see the NICU waiting room, we had basically made a little campground in a corner and that was our residence for about 5 days.  Snacks, games, sleeping bags, linens, books, more laptops than people at times, clothes, you name it.  However, since Karsie has been looking so well, we thought today would be the best day to wean ourselves off of staying 24/7.  However, it is turning out to be much, much harder than we thought.  Our little girl is all alone without her mommy and daddy right across the wall, and even though we can rationalize that she is in the best place with the best people helping her, it's devastating us.  We miss her.  

On a positive note, Karsie has been looking better and better.  Again, we are still so very far from over, but she has fought so hard to get better so she can come home.  Her oxygen levels continue to improve, and her blood gases are staying well enough to either wean her or keep her the same.  Just before we left, she was as awake as we have seen her.  She was looking around and stared right at her parents.  Talk about temptation to stay another day.  It figures this was the one time that Kevin didn't have his camera.  She'll do it again and it will be on here immediately after.  

Continued prayers for the EEG test...

Status Update (7-22)

Karsie had another good night. She has done well enough to merit more weaning off the ventilator power, so as far as oxygen percentage goes, she is almost to the goal. The goal is about 21%, which is breathing room temperature air, and she is at about 28%. So, 8% more to go. This will go back up any time the surgeon does something to her organs as it will make it a tad more difficult to breath, but seeing as we started at 100% she's doing awesome.

Everything else seems to be status quo. He blood gases came back good enough for them to ween last night, and they just got results back this morning from another check and it came back as being good. Therefore, she handled the ween well. She seems to be getting stronger and stronger with her breathing. Now we need to continue praying for her EEG test that is coming up. We won't lie. We are absolutely terrified about that test. No matter what the indicators say and what our reasoning and optimism tells us, we are very scared for that test. And we have to wait for it. We continue to ask for prayer on those test results.

Michelle is continuing to do well. She was discharged last night and spent the night at home. She is still pretty sore and very emotional given the circumstances and normal pregnancy horomones, but she is still so strong. We continue to thank God for her eventless surgery and keeping her safe during this time.