I'm Thankful For... Googie Pt. 1

I am always thankful to have such beautiful, healthy children. I like to reflect on how their lives started to remind myself how far they've both come. It seems even more significant to me as the Holidays approach. This week, I'm revisiting the first 10 days of Googie's life, when she was in the NICU of the local Children's Hospital..

This was originally posted on her BabiesOnline webpage.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

I'm finally home after a long 4 days. Googie is still in the NICU at USA C&W. She is still on a ventilator and will be for at least a couple more days. They were able to decrease her oxygen from 100% to 70%, so that's a great sign she just may be on her way to getting better. Her blood pressure and heart rates are great and they say everything else is just fine. Googie has started responding to the Cerfactin, which will help lubricate the tissues of her lungs and get them in good working order.

Watching over Sophie, 3 days old, in the NICU

X-rays also show an improvement in the fluid levels in her lungs, so I think she is getting over the pneumonia. She will have an echocardiogram in the morning, to make sure there are no heart defects, but the nurses and doctors seem sure there are none, as she has shown no signs of any heart trouble in any other tests.

Googie still has a long road ahead of her, as they try to wean her first off the oxygen and then off the ventilator. Her nurse says Googie's first 36 hours exhausted her, because she was fighting for each and every breath (at one time, breathing 110 times per minute, that's now down to about 40-50 times per minute). But the little GoogleBug has definitely got a fighting spirit... since she pulled her first breathing tube completely out... then fought against 3 nurses as they tried to insert another. :) She's got a temper (wonder who she inherited that from??????).

We're optimistic she may be home by the weekend, but for now we just have to wait and see. Regardless of when she comes home, we've been assured there will be no lasting effects from this... and it will all be a distant memory.

I'm slowly improving, though the C-section was horrible (just ask anyone who enjoyed my story about it on Friday). I'm thankful I got an early release from the hospital, because I desperately needed to see Googie. It's been hard, only having had the chance to hold her once since she was born. For now, I'm happy sitting by her bedside just looking at her... as long as she continues to improve... I can wait for the snuggles!

Googie was the talk of the nursing staff at the hospital, thanks to her tv debut! The nurses loved that she was getting so much attention from their favorite tv station.