TNA - Our Life

I have been slacking on my blogs and really don't have any excuses but I can happily report that Cooper is well. Over the past few days we have really experienced the "two steps forward and the one step back."

We found out that Cooper has Patent Duct Arteriosus which is when a valve in the heart fails to close at birth. The valve is open while the baby is in the womb to supply blood between baby and the placenta. Once a baby is born the valve closes keeping the blood going through the lungs, sometimes it takes a few weeks to close. Cooper's is open still. They started him on indicine to help close the valve for him. He will get his third dose of medicine today. The cons to the medication is it can increase the bleeding on his brain, luckily he has been responding to it. He was restarted on antibiotics since there was still an infection in the placenta. He hasn't shown any side effects of the antibiotics which is good as well.

Cooper was recently removed from the oscillator and graduated to a regular ventilator, which is good. The ventilator actually encourages more of a normal breathing pattern while the oscillator was just providing him with air and his lungs permanently open.

Last night while doing Cooper's oral care, I noticed that the white stickies that hold his breathing tube seemed lopsided and sideways. I pointed it out to the nurse and sure it enough it was not only drooping his breathing tube was partially out. She needed assistance from another nurse, and as soon as they pointed out his "breathing bag" I had to walk out of the room. Since the tube was partially out they had to extubate him, meaning take his tube out. I stood there watching the nurses move quickly, the machines beeping, lights blinking, more nurses rushing to the room and then them calling the doctor.

My heart seemed to stop. I will spare you the thoughts running through my head as I sat there through what seemed like the longest half hour ever. By the time he was done, I was a wreck overwhelmed and scared. Cooper was fine. The gave his nasal cannulas rather than a tube in his throat which would be the next step after the ventilator. It was good and bad. The doctor said he was showing great numbers with the cannulas but he may just not be ready for it yet. So he continued to slowly ween with the cannulas. But by 3 a.m. I got a call from the doctor they had to reincubate him, replace the tube in his throat. So he is on a ventilator and it wasn't as though he stopped breathing or anything but his blood gas number were bad for cannulas. As of now he has really weened with the ventilator down to 23 which I think is the lowest since birth.

The new challenge on Strong Prison Wives is "Love <3 You." Taking a minute, an hour, a day, a weekend to do something for yourself. It seems we are always running around worrying about everyone else, letters, phone calls, money on his books - but what do you for you? So I have to admit, I rarely take my own advice, so today I decided I should since its been a stressful week. After dinner I made a quick trip to the store to grab some bubble bath! I had the option of two, Mr. Bubble or some cheap stuff - went with the cheap stuff, not only was is just one dollar, it was raspberry vanilla. I have an obsession with vanilla. Literally. I was really not into it once I got home, but I needed to stick to the "love you." I lit the candles, filled the tub with hot water, turned on the iPod, and watched the bubbles grow. As I slipped into the warm water, closed my eyes I thought to myself, "Ahhhhh, so nice." It is nice to just lay there, whether it was in the bath or not, just to be unbothered, was relaxing. Since I am not a big "bath" person, I must prefer a shower, it didn't last long. As I climbed out of the bath I noticed there was the same amount of water on the bathroom floor than there was in the tub. But it made me use my new towels I purchased months ago. All in all, I feel a little better that I took time for me. I loved me today!