Chin Strap

After they finally got the CPAP strapped to Averi's face Monday night, the alarms kept going off saying that there was a leak in the pressure.  All it meant was that her mouth was hanging open and letting the forced air out instead of making it go down into her lungs.  This was quickly fixed by putting a chin strap on to keep her mouth closed.  Luckily it wasn't so tight that she couldn't get her beloved thumb in.  She looked so silly I couldn't help but giggle.

Nothing really happened yesterday, other than waiting for culture results, beating on Averi's chest, and giving antibiotics and diuretics.  OT and PT both stopped by but couldn't stay because Averi was once again sedated to the point of just sleeping all the time.

At one point the nurse mentioned to another nurse that the doctor wanted someone to hold Averi in hopes that a change in position would help dislodge the junk in her lungs.  I had been letting her sleep in her bed since they were doing so much stuff to her and was not too happy that the nurse hadn't bothered to tell me.  Um...hello, I'm the mom; I will gladly hold my daughter that I haven't been able to hold for the last week.  Give her to me NOW!
(This, of course, ended with her pooping on me twice and soaking the front of my pants.  What can I say?)

By the end of the day, the sedative had worn off a little and I was able to get her to shake her rattle a few times.  She had gotten more stable, with no fever and a normal blood pressure, so the scare of another infection died down a little.

This morning things were looking a lot better.  Averi was much more awake and kept holding onto the top of her CPAP like she was worried it might come off or something.  They turned down the pressure on her CPAP and when she handled it just fine they took it off completely later in the afternoon.

Her oxygen levels stayed high until she fell asleep (in my arms because I am now holding her all the time and making the nurses work around me, thank you very much) and they had to put the nasal cannula back on her.  This only lasted until she woke up and ripped it off multiple times and then kept her levels up all on her own.  I guess she finally got tired of having all that crap on her face. :)

The only problem with having the CPAP off was that her sedation meds were turned off as well and she went right back into jittery withdraws.  Hopefully it will subside in a few days.

OT was finally able to come this afternoon and do a few things with Averi.  She's not stable enough to sit up yet but she did draw a few scribbles while lying down and shake the heck out of a squishy ball.  I'd call that progress after not being able to move for over a week.