The day prior, little Flara looked really bad. She was pale, lethargic, limp, would barely open her eyes for us, and wouldn't grip my hand at all. We didn't hold her so she could just rest. Last night, with a good 24 hours of meds going in, she looked a lot better. She was given more blood, so she had color again. Her eyes were wide open for us, and she was in constant motion. Mike and I felt a lot better. Even though it's really hard to see her sick, we both separately in praying felt like our little Flara is going to be okay.
Flara did have to also stop her feeds yesterday. Her little belly really 'blew up' in size, so the doctors put her feedings on hold. Her abdominal xray revealed that she had a 'ton' of air throughout her entire digestive tract. Most likely, her OG (the tube that is supposed to evacuate air from her tummy) had drifted in too far, allowing the air from her nasal SIMV to push through into her intestines. When I was looking at her the day before, she was guarded about touching her tummy, so I know all of that air was causing her distress. Hopefully, the rest will help her out and she'll have no more trouble when her feedings are restarted. Flara's nurse today thought it could be tomorrow. In the meantime, Flara did have to go back on full IV fluids and fats. Restarting feeds is a slow process, so she'll be on IV-mode for quite some time. I really loathe the setbacks.
On a positive note, Flara has gone quite some time without having any heart rate drops and oxygen level drops. She's doing really well respiratory-wise. Hopefully, she'll be a new baby after these infections clear. We're hopeful she'll get to come off of the n-SIMV soon.
Mike and I had a wonderful mini-vacation right here in our great county. We had a friend treat us to watching 'The Miracle' in Pigeon Forge... our friend is over the whole production! (HUGE job!) It was GREAT! Our theater-going was our first date in nearly 3 years. We rode a camel (Mike's first!), took a backstage tour (very impressive), got free snacks (yummmm!), and enjoyed a very good musical. We have several friends in the cast, too, so it was really neat to get to see them in action. After the show, our friend took us back to the animal barn and let me love on Radar the Sicilian donkey. So cute! I told Radar that he could come live at my house when he's ready to retire. I think he liked me... or the animal crackers I was feeding him. =) We were also blessed by the staff at Riverstone Resort who provided us with a 3 day 2 night stay for nothing... just to give us a break from all of the stress in our lives lately. We were provided a massage and manicure, too. Wonderful! My dad so kindly drove down and stayed at the house to keep T-Boone the wonder dog and let Noël sleep in her own bed. Poor Grandpa... we told him she doesn't have stinky pants during the night and so he didn't need to change her in the mornings (because we would come right over). Well, when she woke up, she bombed her poor Grandpa. He didn't get to avoid diaper duty. =) During the days, we had fun swimming in the indoor pool (well, I hot-tubbed it). You can't beat living in a tourist town... there's no need to travel! It was hard to not be distracted, though, by our sweet little sick baby in Knoxville. Thankfully, our visits went well with her, and her wonderful nurses gave us updates when we weren't there. I am very thankful for my sweet hubby who arranged all of this, too.
So, my shout-out to support these great people... if you're in Pigeon Forge and need an awesome place to stay, I highly recommend Riverstone Resort (http:www.riverstoneresort.com). Also, be sure to check out The Miracle Theater (http://www.miracletheater.com/).
Please keep praying for us and especially little Flara.
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