Well we waited all day to see the neonatologist and finally at 6pm today we caught her as she was walking out the door. The news is a mixed bag of sorts. Evangeline had gone up today on her Oxygen concentration so much that they have increased the flow of her high-flow cannula. This allowed them to back down again on the concentration so that she is now on about 35% Oxygen at a rate of 4 Liters. Her respiratory rate is still too high to try feeding her so her fluids have been changed over to ones that have sugar, protein and fat. This will help her maintain her weight while she isn't eating but working hard to breathe.
When asked about the fact that she hasn't improved today she said Evangelynn may get worse before she gets better. It may take up to 72 hours before she starts making her own surfactant. Having a surfactant deficiency has to do with her lungs being too immature when she was born. This makes it hard for her little lungs to stay open which is what causes her respiratory rate to be so high. If she gets worse tomorrow the doctors will consider putting prongs in her nose, putting her on a ventilator or treating her with synthetic surfactant. The doctor felt like at this point she is on the bubble for needing further intervention. As long as she keeps her saturations within normal levels (no matter how fast she is breathing) they will let her continue on her own.
I am recovering well from the C-section. Today was the first day I have really experienced pain, but now my nurses are on top of that! I could be discharged tomorrow, but I have no interest in going home since little Evangelynn is here and my boys are being well taken care of by my in-laws. This means I'll probably be discharged sometime on Sunday. My prayer is that by Sunday Evangelynn will be strong enough and her lungs will be mature enough to try to nurse. My goal is to be with her as much as possible so that we can get off to a good start. The NICU staff here seems so much more pro-breastfeeding than our experience five years ago at Children's.
Thank you all for your prayers! We praise God that he protected Evangelynn from my anti-bodies while she was in utero. Without this protection she would have to have IVIg infusions which would have probably made her too tired to breath at such a high rate. Her stay in the NICU would have no doubt been so much longer! We also praise him for his sovereignty in all things. We know his timing is perfect and I take peace in knowing that he is in control!
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