Eventful night for Emilia

This morning when I arrived at her bedside, the first thing I noticed was that her breathing machine had changed. I lifted up the incubator cover and found her with a CPAP mask/prongs instead of the ventilator tube in her nose. First I was so excited that she was off the ventilator but, two seconds later I asked myself "why is she off the ventilator??". I had left the hospital around 10:30pm the night before and she couldn't have miraculously grown out of the ventilator overnight. Definitely something "bad" must have happened to make the respiratory therapists perform emergency extuabation. So, the nurse reported to me that Emilia apparently "self-extubated".

I don't know what she was doing exactly but somehow the tube accidentally came out (I know from my observation that the tape was quite loose all day long and she kept pulling that tube out too). According to the report written by the night nurse, Emilia extubated herself, her O2 was desaturated to the level of 29, Nurse called for help, RT had to use a puffer to manually breathe her, and her heart rate dropped to 59 bpm or something as low as that. Yes, it is quite upsetting and unsettling. Accidental extubation is one thing but I don't know how long she was "off" the vent and how long she was desatted. Was her brain or other major organ deprived of oxygen during this accident? Was the nurse not nearby to help her when she was obviously desatting below 60? Or did this happen in a matter of seconds? Or did Emilia desat to 29 all the while the nurse was trying to help? .....Could she have died???

Any how, by accident, Emilia is back on the Biphasic mode again. Last time she was on Bipahsic, they had to put her back on the ventilator only after 2 days. I hope this time she does not get tired too soon. I want her to prove to everyone that she can do better now. During the morning medical round, the doctor said we have been everywhere with Emilia in terms of respiratory support and she does not see any benefit of going back to the ventilator. She wants to "steer clear of intubating her again". I really appreciate her direction, as the other doctor (who is not on duty this week) kept saying she was not in a hurry to wean her from the ventilator.

All I can hope right now is Emilia keeps pushing and breathing. I know it is very difficult for a tiny baby to breathe like us grown-ups, but I want her to do well and surprise everyone. I know... my expectation is too high and unrealistic. Right now the only medical complication she has is her respiratory system and I feel that is the only reason she is in Level III NICU.