At noon, she got the cannula on her nose and started on low flow oxygen. I was by her side all day long yesterday feeling terrified, not knowing what to expect. Was she going to be distressed because of the hard work of breathing without any CPAP air flow? Was she going to get tired and stop breathing? I felt Emilia was so vulnerable without the CPAP mask. Perhaps I have grown dependant on CPAP more than she has. The clock was ticking and as each hour passed, I was so glad to see her do well on low flow. She had 2 spells yesterday but the whole evening and night, she had no problem. I really enjoyed looking at her face without the dreadful prong mask, ties, and hat.
She continued on low flow into this afternoon, but at around 6pm, she had three apneic spells and the nurse thought it was an indication that Emilia was not ready to be off CPAP completely. So when I came back to NICU from dinner, I found her back on CPAP, which made me disappointed and sad because I had been all excited about giving her a real bath in a small bowl tonight. With CPAP, she can't get a real bath... only a sponge bath. I was told that Emilia was really mad when they had to put the CPAP mask and hat back on her. It saddens me to think that she had only a day of freedom from all these things that cling on her face and head but also I am very proud of her for breathing so hard for 30 hours. We are going to try to put her on low flow again in several days and see how she does. Hopefully with each try, she will grow and learn to breathe on her own.
No comments:
Post a Comment