Extubation

Lynnea was taken off the ventilator this afternoon around 3:30. She was put on high flow oxygen support at 8 liters of flow, 100% oxygen (which is something rare for her -- typically we don't like her on more than 60%), which is a lot of extra support. The first two hours were pretty rough, but the doctors and I agreed that it would be best to wait it out as long as we possibly can to give her the chance to clearly show us whether or not she can handle the work of breathing on her own. Now, she is still working really, really hard to breathe, but her SATs have stayed up, and her blood gasses haven't looked terrible, and we've managed to wean the oxygen down to 60%. It is still a bit too soon to tell if she's going to make it through the night without needing to be reintubated, but I'm hopeful that she might do it. Today she also spiked a fever, and her white count is up again, so they started her back on her antibiotics (blood and urine samples were sent, but they decided to start the antibiotics without waiting for the culture results because those can take several days). This evening I was able to hold her in the rocking chair for a couple of hours, which I think she liked -- she seemed to be a little less fussy when I was holding her, and when she would cry, it was a little bit easier to get her calmed down again.

There was a party in the family lounge this evening that Ashlyn enjoyed. She made an awesome visor (to go along with her awesome hat and awesome t-shirt that she has made at other hospital parties), and she enjoyed a root-beer float.