Ruth is doing well. Yesterday was a good day. Though the doc added a new antibiotic because they diagnosed her with mycoplasma pneumonia - on top of the double pneumona, rhinovirus and a double ear infection. Poor kid! She progressed well yesterday, though!
Today she moved up to the regular pediatric floor today. I'm not sure what it says of me that I had no clue we were on the Pediatric Intermediate Care Unit (PIMC)... I've lost most sense of time and place ;) But the nurses and hospital staff have been awesome!
Ruth moved up to the regular floor because she no longer needs a heart monitor. She had a number of PVCs, arrhythmias and bradycardias (abnormally slow rate) last night - which everyone assures us is completely normal, especially during sleep. Faith has PVCs. I have tachycardia thanks to hormones (abnormally fast rate episodes). And I know both are benign so I'm not worried, in the least, about Ruth's events last night. But that darn heart monitor alarm... Ug!!! I would have actually slept had it not gone off so much. So saying goodbye to the monitor is good news on a few levels!
Ruth's O2 levels are great during the day! But when she sleeps, it's another story... which, everyone tells us is normal. You're not moving around when you sleep, so everything slows down. Last night started off well, but by 2am, I had to start adjusting her sleep position a lot to get her 02 stats up. I'm sure we'd be home by now if it weren't for how low she dips at night. But the doctor isn't concerned. In fact, she sees so much progress that she's removed the constant O2 monitoring. Ruth gets checks a handful of times throughout the day now, and when we let the nursing staff know she's asleep. Yay for even fewer wires and tubes :)
Her breathing rates are still hopping from 20s to mid 40s. Mid 40s is too high for her age, so the doc is slightly concerned about that. But not too much. Her retractions have almost completely disappeared - and that's more important! The doctor has uped her nebulizer treatments, though. Instead of every 4 hours, she got 2 every 2 hours today and now it's up to every 3 hours from now until we're discharged. Thankfully she takes these well while sleeping, too :) When we're discharged, we'll be going home with a nebulizer machine, too - not just an inhaler, it sounds like.
Once she's proven to do well without oxygen, they'll discharge her. We're praying and hoping that's early tomorrow. But no one knows. I've had many friends share with me their stories of their child in the hospital with pneumonia and it sounds like everyone stayed 4-9 days. Here's hoping we're one of the 4 day families :)
Ruth's a trooper!! She has been soooooo good! She hasn't complained too much about being stuck in bed, the nasal tube, the pulse oximeter on her toe, or being unable to use her right hand (the night they gave her the IV, she was very much favoring her left hand, so the IV went in her right hand even though I think she usually prefers her right on a normal day).
When a nurse, Respiratory Therapist or tech comes in, Ruth hands them her IV hand, or leg (for blood pressure), without even being asked. She's a pro! She reminds me so much of my Dad right now. Not complaining about a thing. Just taking it all in stride, with patience and full trust in the medical team (and her parents). What a blessing she is to us!!
Last night, she was giggly and telling all the staff "night night, bye bye, have fun!" after they came to check on her. Guess she thought we were all at a big party. haha But she did eventually go to sleep. I was hoping to share the bed with her... cause the parent "bed" in her room was made of gravel. I feel bad for any parent who stays more than one night in there! But Ruth decided she needed the WHOLE big bed to herself. haha.
When she's awake, playing with netflix, watching family videos of her siblings, or doing puzzles on the iPad are her favorite things. Playdoh and reading the same books over & over until my eyes bleed, have also helped to entertain her. Every few hours crankiness hits, so we rock and snuggle and eventually she calms down.
Yesterday she was so tired. Hopefully today is better since she slept a long time last night (12 hours, 10pm-10am). Jacob has been with her since 1pm. He said she napped for a few hours, but still was cranky some. He'll stay with Ruth tonight and the big kids and I will go over in the morning. The parent "bed" in her new room looks not so grand... but 2000% better then the bed made of gravel in the PIMC room. So hopefully Jacob can get some sleep tonight with Ruth. And no heart monitor to beep every 3 minutes :D
Nathan & Faith have been AMAZING big siblings! They have been helpers when we're home (what little time that's been), and super patient at the hospital. Jacob got to take them on a Pizza Hut date last night, and tonight I spent time playing games with them, too. They miss their sister lots, and she misses them. We all miss Ruth. I'm use to sleeping at home with Jacob out of town, but going to sleep Thursday night with Ruth not home... that was WEIRD. I didn't like it. Is this what it's like for parents of teens and college students? Dislike! I imagine tonight will be just as odd.
Friday, Jacob's coworkers got Ruth a get well present. It was really sweet of them. And, especially considering they know nothing about her, I'm not sure they could have given her a better gift...
A "Read with Me" roro! She LOVES her Violet Leapfrog toy (aka roro). And she loves books! So she, obviously, loved her present. :D
And she probably loved reading the books with Daddy and her new roro even more.
In fact, all the kids enjoyed Daddy story time!
And nap time is more complete now with TWO roros :D
Well, that's about all the news I can think of. Thank you for praying for Ruth. Pray she goes to bed easily for Jacob soon and sleeps well tonight, with good oxygen levels all night! And that tomorrow we get to bring her home.
No comments:
Post a Comment