I Asked For Prayer......

I asked for prayer: I asked for insight into what Sophie and Sonia needed, This morning, that became perfectly clear - Sophie needed more oxygen, and Sonia needed more lasix. Both babies got what they needed and we saw marked improvements in them, over the course of the day.

At 7am, the power on the second floor went out. The circuit was overloaded. I have never experienced power failure due to overwhelming demand at that time of the day but to prevent further occurrences, I turned off the air compressor and increased the oxygen on Sophie's CPAP. Yesterday, Sophie was pale, floppy and listless. Her jaw was so slack that she could not keep her mouth closed. I had to fashion a home-made chin strap, to keep her mouth closed, so that the pressurized gasses driving the CPAP would not escape. I had serious misgivings about Sophie and the deterioration I was seeing in her.

A few hours after switching her to 100% oxygen this morning, I noticed that Sophie was pink, that her her muscle tone was normal and that she was awake, alert and sucking on her hands again. I turned the air compressor back on and reduced the oxygen, leaving it at a higher percentage than it has been running at before we lost power.

It is now 10:30 pm. I am just back from the NICU. The night nurse called me around 8:30 to review Sonia, a beautiful, chubby baby with a chromosomal disorder that has serious effects on her health. Her airway was closing up and she could barely get air down into her lungs. I gave her two nebuilizer treatments and IV steroids. Initially, she was not responding to treatment. She is on IV fluids again, so that she can rest overnight. Unfortunately, I had to site another IV, since they would not run thorough the line that I have been using for her drugs. She has settled to sleep now, which, I think, is just what I should do.